Get Your Greens

Marin's Green Gulch Farm Zen Center is a crossroads figuratively and literally. Part working farm, part overnight escape, and part meditative retreat, this Bay Area institution lies smack in the middle of some excellent hiking trails, including a 4-mile loop that passes through the farm. Start at Muir Beach and stroll on a wide dirt trail that leads to the heart of Green Gulch. Within minutes you'll be walking through fields of leafy green organic produce. As the trail cuts through the center, check out the gardens: perennials, natives, culinary and medicinal herbs, shrubs, bamboo and fruit plants all grow here (and some are available for purchase). Follow the trail up to a ridge, passing one of Marin's best overnight retreats, Hope Cottage (a simple one-bedroom bungalow reminiscent of "Lord of the Rings"). From the top of the ridge, San Francisco's skyline peeks over the headlands and the Pacific sprawls to the west. The trail descends to Muir Beach, with dramatic cliff overlooks along the way. Zensational!


Park at the Muir Beach lot. Cross the bridge, and turn left. After a couple hundred feet there's an unmarked junction, go right. Follow the signs to Green Gulch on the Green Gulch Trail. Once you get to the farm you'll go through a large gate at the end of a fenced section. Continue straight through the farm on the wide dirt road; don't go right up to Coyote Ridge on the Middle Green Gulch Trail. Pass through the zen center (going by the office) and down a paved road lined by eucalyptus trees. After a few hundred feet, look for the Green Gulch Trail sign on the right (it's easy to miss). Follow it all the way up to Coyote Ridge Trail and turn right. At the T junction, turn right and take the Coastal Trail down to Muir Beach.