A favorite walk in Marin is along the Tiburon Bay Trail, which follows the edge of Richardson Bay from Blackie’s Pasture to downtown Tiburon. The constantly changing views include Richardson and San Francisco Bays, the San Francisco skyline, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Sausalito peninsula, the Tiburon Hills, Mount Tamalpais, and Belvedere Island. You can enjoy this path on foot, bicycle, or roller skates.
Richardson Bay and Mount Tamalpais from Tiburon Bay Trail
We usually park at Blackie’s Pasture, at the intersection of Tiburon and Trestle Glen Boulevards, to start our walk toward downtown. Right next to the pasture is one of the choice residential streets in Marin, Greenwood Beach Road, the subject of a special page at LivinginMarin.com. Just across Tiburon Blvd are the very popular neighborhoods of Belveron East and Belveron West.
Blackie was a retired US Calvary horse who spent his last years, up to 1966, in a private pasture at this site. He was enormously popular with the children of Tiburon. Blackie was not in a war, but was housed at the Presidio, and helped patrol Yosemite National Park in the summers.
The pasture and the 2.6 mile trail are carefully maintained and improved by the Tiburon Peninsula Foundation. Along the trail are large playing fields, a new kiddie park, and benches.
Downtown Tiburon is at the east end of the trail, a destination with many high-priced homes and spectacular views. From 1884 till 1967, downtown Tiburon was the site of a 44 acre railroad train yard and industrial site. Trains from the northern California coast brought commercial product and passengers to Tiburon, where the cars were transferred to ferry boats for the short trip to San Francisco. The present Tiburon Bay Trail replaced railroad tracks along the bay.
The only vestiges of the railroad history of Tiburon are the restored Depot building at the east end of the trail, which houses a rail museum, and historical markers along the trail. The Tiburon Peninsula Foundation plans to restore part of a railroad trestle at the west end of the trail.