Over the years, we've spent hours upon hours upon hours exploring and trekking many, many dozens of 
miles of the 220 mile trail system that winds it's way up and around Mt.Tamalpais. Our many visits have convinced us that there are a specific ten or twelve trails that are the best that Mt.Tam has to offer so, we've stuck to our favorites these past two years. Today, however, we decided to be a little more adventurous. Studying a full trail map for the entire Mt.Tam area, we honed in on the trails beginning at the Mountain Home trailhead, one we've never hiked 
from before. Not far along the long and diverse Matt Davis Trail, we decided to take a spur trail that climbed up to what was marked on the map as the West Point picnic area. Oh, what a serendipitous decision that turned out to be! West Point is actually the site of a Mt.Tam treasure, the historic West Point Inn. Built in 1904, this 
lodge has been painstakingly refurbished and maintained over to the past several decades in order to restore it to it's early 20th century charm when it was a stopover point for visitors riding the Mt.Tamalpais Railway to the peak before shooting 
back down the slopes on the world's longest rollercoaster on the world's crookedest railway in what was called the "Gravity Car". Today, the West Point Inn remains off-the-grid, electricity free (gas light only), and amazingly renewing in its rustic glory. There is no road access and the shortest trail to the lodge is 1.9 miles long. How we didn't know about this incredible, historic lodge, I just don't know. However, it's great to know that there is much left for us to discover in the Bay Area. Now, the question is not if, but when we will spend our first night there. I. Can't. Wait.
miles of the 220 mile trail system that winds it's way up and around Mt.Tamalpais. Our many visits have convinced us that there are a specific ten or twelve trails that are the best that Mt.Tam has to offer so, we've stuck to our favorites these past two years. Today, however, we decided to be a little more adventurous. Studying a full trail map for the entire Mt.Tam area, we honed in on the trails beginning at the Mountain Home trailhead, one we've never hiked 
from before. Not far along the long and diverse Matt Davis Trail, we decided to take a spur trail that climbed up to what was marked on the map as the West Point picnic area. Oh, what a serendipitous decision that turned out to be! West Point is actually the site of a Mt.Tam treasure, the historic West Point Inn. Built in 1904, this 
lodge has been painstakingly refurbished and maintained over to the past several decades in order to restore it to it's early 20th century charm when it was a stopover point for visitors riding the Mt.Tamalpais Railway to the peak before shooting 
back down the slopes on the world's longest rollercoaster on the world's crookedest railway in what was called the "Gravity Car". Today, the West Point Inn remains off-the-grid, electricity free (gas light only), and amazingly renewing in its rustic glory. There is no road access and the shortest trail to the lodge is 1.9 miles long. How we didn't know about this incredible, historic lodge, I just don't know. However, it's great to know that there is much left for us to discover in the Bay Area. Now, the question is not if, but when we will spend our first night there. I. Can't. Wait. 
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