Mount Burdell Preserve is Marin County’s largest open space preserve. This oak-studded mountain rises 1,559 feet to a summit that offers breathtaking views of the entire Bay Area.
At the summit, a four-foot stone wall—hand laid by Chinese laborers without mortar in the 1870s—marks the boundary into Olompali Historic State Park. The west slope of Burdell holds the remnants of a quarry that supplied cobblestones for San Francisco streets in the late 1880s.
The preserve is crisscrossed with hiking trails and fire roads through lush grasslands and impressive forests that contain some of the oldest oak and bay trees in Marin County. Along the slopes, serpentine soils give rise to rare and unusual plants, as well as fertile grasslands alive with spring colors during wildflower season.
Mount Burdell’s Hidden Lake is home to an assortment of rare plants and during the rainy season is swarming with frogs, salamanders and other amphibians.
Follow the directions to the San Andreas Fire Road using the Google Maps link above. Take the San Andreas Fire Road to the Bay Area Ridge Trail to the Deer Camp Fire Road, then the Cobblestone Fire Road to Hidden Lake. From there you have a number of options for circling back around to your car.
Dogs must be leashed on trail, and under voice command on fire roads, with leash readily available. Be sure to check your dog for ticks before leaving (and before they have a chance to attach and start feeding!)