The Leo Cronin Fish Viewing area near Samuel Taylor State Park in Lagunitas is a popular spot to try to spot spawning salmon, which means a crowded parking lot on weekends. But if you can get there before the crowds or after they’ve thinned, it’s also a great jumping off point for several hikes into the redwoods and beyond.
Just across Sir Francis Drake is the Cross Marin Trail, which takes users across the bridge over Inkwells and onto the flat, usually roomy path into the park. It’s possible to do about 11 miles in total if you take the trail past the campgrounds to most distant turnaround point. For a shorter journey, you can turn around at the bridge in the park that leads to the picnic area for a total four-mile round trip.
If you’re looking for something with a little climb to it, then consider heading the opposite direction, away from Sir Francis Drake and through the trailhead gates at the parking lot. From there, keeping right on the path labeled Shafter Grade will connect you to Bolinas Ridge Road. It’s an uphill climb for much of the 2.8 miles or so, and with all the rain, the trail is rutted, gullied and crisscrossed with water flows that conservatively could be called rivulets. Cyclists are as focused on avoiding some of the deeper mud as much as those of us on foot, so keep an eye and ear out for each other out there.
Another option if you need a destination to motivate you is to take Peters Dam Road to the left and make your way to Kent Lake. Take in the lake view, take a few spurs to get closer up, and then make your way back by the same route.
The area offers several other do-it-yourself hikes that cobble together fire roads from the state parks and Marin Municipal Water District. One possibility is at Kent Lake to continue to Grassy Slope Road and then head west onto San Geronimo Ridge Road. That’ll get you a lovely loop hike of about six-plus miles.
One thing you won’t find as spring blooms afresh all along these trails is salmon. The viewing season is past its peak, and we saw none of the fish on a recent outing. Lagunitas Creek was flowing fast, a welcome sight after the extended drought.
For when the salmon are in season, we have this viewing area thanks to the efforts of Leo Cronin, whose name it bears. The native to Marin spent his life advocating for fishery protection, including the Lagunitas watershed, which has been described as home to the largest of the wild coho salmon runs in California. Protective efforts took off in the 1980s with construction of salmon ladders, but the fate of the salmon species in this area has been a roller coaster ride. Among the highs, though, has been the appearance of two salmon species other than coho – pink salmon and chum salmon — in the area in 2017. At least some naturalists took their presence as a positive sign of a thriving ecosystem.
Getting there: The parking lot for the salmon viewing area is on the south side of Sir Francis Drake. About a block down from this entrance on the other side of the road is a pullout area with space for a handful of cars, but parking there means taking what I view as a somewhat treacherous jaunt to any of these trails. Dogs are allowed on leash.
Emily Willingham is a Marin science journalist, book author and biologist. You can find her on Twitter @ejwillinghamphd or on Mastodon at [email protected].
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