A Wonderful Spring on the Tamarancho Trails | | |
Greetings!
Thank you all for your patience during the occasional Winter storm systems which closed the trails due to exceptional precipitation. Your accommodation of these closures has allowed us to maintain excellent riding conditions throughout the changes in seasonal weather patterns. If you neglected to renew earlier this year, don't hesitate to renew your pass membership before heading back out along Fairfax Ridge, still among the most scenic places in Marin to escape to the beautiful outdoor environment on your mountain bike!
As a concerned member of the mountain-biking community, read through this e-newsletter to find out how you can be a better recreation steward or get involved as a volunteer to have more fun out on the trails! Special thanks to those riders who have reported trail hazards and other conditions needing attention; you can always find regular updates on the Scouts' Tamarancho webpage or at the local Tamarancho Report!
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All Trails Closure on Friday-Saturday, May 8-9
for the Annual MarinDuro Competition!
| | The entire Tamarancho Trails network including Caballo Rojo, Flow, Hobo and Wagon Wheel will be closed for 2 days this week, May 8-9. All trails will be re-opened on Sunday, May 10 for Mother's Day! | | This big event organized by Marin Trail Stewards will provide participants with new opportunities to challenge themselves up on Fairfax Ridge. You can be a spectator along the course or come down to SplitRock Tap & Wheel parking lot for all the post-race festivities! | |
Purchase Tamarancho Trail Pass Memberships | |
The 2026 ANNUAL Pass is valid for unlimited riding through December 31, 2026. The regular trail membership is $55 for the Individual Pass, and $85 for a Family Pass (2 adults 18 or older living in the same household, and up to 2 youth 13 to 17 years old).
To purchase a membership online with a credit card, visit the Tamarancho Mtn-Biking webpage with links for the various passes. If you don't want to purchase through the website, or if you want to pay by check, print out a current membership application form: FoT Application and mail it to the Marin Council Scout Service Center.
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The 2026-27 GOLD Pass is valid for the next two years through December 31, 2027. The regular cost for a GOLD Pass is $95 per Individual or $135 for the Family plan (2 adults 18 or older living in the same household, and up to 2 youth 13 to 17 years old).
For your FoT membership purchase, the appropriate plastic card pass displayed above will be sent to you by US Mail with our new helmet/waterbottle sticker shown here; please allow up to 30 days to receive your official pass. In the meantime, print your receipt or store a digital copy on your cellphone, and you can start riding the trails the same day!
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One-Day Trail Passes still cost just $6, and are available online; click here to purchase a 2026 Tamarancho Trails day-specific pass. When you buy one, print out the pass receipt on your own printer or save a digital copy on your cellphone, and carry it with you for verification when you ride at Tamarancho. Also, One-Day Passes are available for purchase at the following locations: Splitrock Tap & Wheel, Sunshine Bicycle Center, and the Marin Museum of Bicycling (all in Fairfax).
All "Friends of Tamarancho" Trail Passes are considered a donation program and therefore tax-deductible. If you have any questions, email the Friends of Tamarancho!
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Exciting Trail News Updates
From Our Partnership with Marin Trail Stewards
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We’re working hard to bring you more and better trails while keeping the stoke in our community high. The Marin Trail Stewards, formerly Access4Bikes got a fresh vibe! Our revamped website includes a program calendar where you can see all of our upcoming events. Also, we are announcing a special event in celebrations of the National Trails Day on Saturday, June 6 . . . stay tuned for further details!
While the Marin Council spent nearly a half-million dollars to repair landslide damage on Iron Springs Road last year, the Marin County Open Space Preserve constructed 2 fantastic new bridges on Wagon Wheel Trail during the dry Autumn to cross deep stream gullies below the White Hill/Blue Ridge Saddle. In addition, two new segments of the Tamarancho Trails network have opened to provide even more fantastic riding:
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1) Caballo Rojo, a 1.5-mile downhill-only flow trail with four bridges officially opened on December 13, just in time for the holiday season. This project has been a decade-long dream of our Scout landowners, a generous neighbor and the Access4Bikes community. The A4B volunteer leadership became a fiscal bridge to get this project back on track following an extensive environmental review completed on behalf of Camp Tamarancho!
2) Saddle Cut Trail, a tight connector between Wagon Wheel and upper B-17 that was completed in Januuary. We’re grateful to our volunteer community for helping to make these trail additions a reality!
| | Camp Tamarancho Bathrooms/Water Access | | |
In addition to the water-filling system at the Camp front gate kiosk by the J-8 intersection of Broken Dam & Goldman Trails, remember that there are two easy locations on the Tamarancho Trail Loop for your convenience where riders are allowed near the regular camp facilities to access the new flushing(!) toilets and adjacent hand-wash/water-filling stations on the Scout Camp property. Please help us maintain these bathrooms and keep them clean and in good working order for all users!
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The Southern access is located at the J-2 intersection of Goldman and Serpentine Trails (shown in photo at left) leading north a quarter-mile along the fire road through rolling meadows to the Twin Cities Group Campground.
The Northern access is located at the J-7 intersection on Broken Dam Trail not far from the Dan Hennessey memorial bench. The trail leads uphill on a fire road 100+ yards through the forest to a chain gate at the Ghilotti Family Camping area.
| | Tamarancho Trails Pass Patrol Volunteers | | |
All mountain-bike riders at Camp Tamarancho must have a current One-Day pass, or an ANNUAL or GOLD membership pass with them. Some riders have day pass stickers from a bike store, some have the plastic membership tags attached to their bikes or packs, and others have a pass receipt saved on their cell phone. Expect to see volunteer Tamarancho Pass Patrol members in bright safety vests checking passes on the trails. These volunteers will also be available to give directions, answer questions, and handout information about the membership program.
Support the "Friends of Tamarancho". Make sure you and your friends are all riding with a current pass! Overall compliance has been fairly good this year, but there are still a number of riders "poaching" on the private property of the Marin Council, Scouting America. This is a youth recreation facility, and by law it is considered to be the same as school grounds regarding youth protection from strangers and unknown adult trespassers in the vicinity. Get a Friends of Tamarancho Pass NOW and Ride Legally!
Remember: "Friends don't let Friends Poach on Tamarancho!"
| | History of the Tamarancho Trails Network | | |
When you are visiting Fairfax village to ride the Tamarancho loop, don't forget to stop downtown at the Marin Museum of Bicycling and the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame to check out the amazing history of this outdoor recreation activity home-grown right here in Marin County! Also, enjoy this updated recording of the very popular June 2018 Museum Speakers Series presentation:
Video link on YouTube: The Bicycle Trails of Tamarancho!
You'll hear the amazing story of how the Tamarancho mountain bike trail network was built directly from the people who built them! Featuring local legends of the Forest Knolls Freewheelers including Jim Jacobson, Danny Forer and Vernon Huffman!
| | www.boyscouts-marin.org | Kiosk on Iron Springs Road, Fairfax, California | | | | |
