Red Rock Beach
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Recommended!
Improved directions!
Rating: A
With good trail conditions and sand that's been returning after winter storms, the biggest change at Red Rock this year involves what its visitors are doing for fun. Long regarded as having the friendliest Bay Area nude beach crowd, ultimate frisbee games that last as long as three hours have become almost legendary on the sand.
But this season, more nudists are trying their luck at two other frisbee games: double disc court, in which you toss two frisbees at once ("we throw them really hard and fast," says Stinson Beach attorney/teacher Fred Jaggi), and Befuddle, where, explains Jaggi, "you throw the first one softer and the second disc harder."
For those who want a little more calm, naked scrabble has replaced nude hearts as the most popular game played by sunbathers. "It's very peaceful at the beach," says Jaggi. "Nobody ever brings down a large boombox."
"The trail is in very good shape," says another regular visitor, realtor Hugh Fullerton. "It's a work of art," agrees frequent visitor Michael Velkoff. "It's as easy as it's ever been," adds Jaggi, who reports counting 50 to 60 people on the sand on a Sunday in late June.
Tips: the lower part of the trail sometimes is slippery, especially later in the year, so wear good shoes on the path instead of flip-flops. Because the beach is far smaller during high tide, visit when the tide is low (check tide tables before visiting). Or stake your claim on sitting and sunning space early in the day, before crowds arrive, and/or bring a folding beach chair with you.
On hot days, arrive early so that you can grab parking in one of the lots on either side of Highway 1. If you want privacy, try visiting on Monday, which is known by regulars as “club day” because it attracts the largest percentage of longtime, repeat visitors.
Legal status:
Part of Mount Tamalpais State Park. State rangers rarely make the trek up and down the beach trail. In May, two rangers showed up on the sand, took a few photos, and left.
How to find it:
Go north on Highway 1 from Mill Valley, following the signs to Stinson Beach. At the long line of mailboxes next to the Muir Beach cutoff point, start checking your odometer. Look for a dirt lot full of cars to the left (west) of the highway exactly 5.6 miles north of Muir and a smaller one on the right (east) side of the road. The lots are at milepost 11.3, one mile south of Stinson Beach. Limited parking is also available 150 yards to the south on the west side of 1. Or from Mill Valley, take the West Marin/Bolinas Stage toward Stinson Beach and Bolinas. Get off at the intersection of Panoramic Highway and Highway 1. Then walk south .6 mile to the Red Rock trailhead. The path to the beach starts near the large Dumpster near the main parking lot. It's a long, steep, three-to-five-foot-wide trail, so take your time, especially in the middle and near the traditionally crumbly last few feet of the path, near the beach, and when walking back up.
The beach:
Except for high tide, when it sometimes nearly disappears or has more rocks than sand, Red Rock features a quarter-mile curve of sandy shore with rocky sides.
The crowd:
"On weekdays most of the visitors are men, but there are some women too," says Velkoff. "They tend to be regulars. We get a lot of newcomers on the weekends." Jaggi counted "over a hundred" visitors on a few hot days; during a June visit this year, he counted "almost as many women as men." A sign banning dogs has been removed, which irks some visitors. "It's a people problem," asserts Velkoff, who usually tries to talk the dog owners into leaving and once asked a ranger via cellphone to intervene. "When I'm out there playing frisbee, I don't want a dog chasing me."
Problems:
Crowded on weekends; long trail walk that is sometimes slippery; some poison oak near trail has been reported in various years (seems to be okay in 2011); car break-ins in the lot reported; cold water; rough waves; small beach; dogs; gawking is said to have eased; a little trash (often picked up by regulars); past reports of fly infestations.
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