It’s doubtful that San Anselmo’s Barry Spitz thought his 1990 self-published book Tamalpais Trails would go on to sell 25,000 copies, yet that’s exactly what happened. Going to extremes to get the job done, Spitz measured every trail with a wheel, a task that proved to be quite a challenge on some of the steeper paths like the Dipsea. Now, six editions and more than a quarter-century later, the well-known and respected book has received another honor — being published by the Parks Conservancy in association with the One Tam initiative. The seventh printing, newly christened Mount Tamalpais Trails, offers hikers a comprehensive guide to the entire One Tam (the community campaign by the new Tamalpais Lands Collaborative) region, expanding north into Pine Mountain and the Bolinas Ridge, as well as the Randall and McCurry trails, and south into Green Gulch. “It’s a revered mountain and if I had a hand in helping protect it and open it to people, then I’d feel very honored,” says Spitz. Meet the man behind the book and get a copy signed on National Trails Day, June 4, at Book Passage in Corte Madera.
This article originally appeared in Marin Magazine’s print edition under the headline: “Famous Guide Revamped.”
