Bothin Marsh [Marin County Open Space District] and Bayfront Park [Mill Valley]          AA-C;* 2+ milesvSJ                               INFO
I walked this trail in 2004 or 5 as a volunteer helping out on Bonnie Lewkowicz' very useful Coastal Conservancy book, A Wheelchair Rider's Guide: San Francisco Bay and the Nearby Coast. This is available free from the Coastal Conservancy, and also online as a searchable PDF, and I have borrowed the review below from it. Although Bothin marsh has its pretty spots, the nearby roads and bicycle traffic on the main trail were not to my taste, and the trails in the marsh were marginally accessible and didn't provide enough solitude to be worth the hassle. I can't recommend it as an outdoor experience.

From the Wheelchair Rider's Guide:

THE BIKE LANE and sidewalk along Bridgeway in downtown Sausalito connect with the Sausalito.Mill Valley Trail at Harbor Drive. This wide level asphalt section of the Bay Trail, popular with cyclists, runners, and rollerbladers, leads 1.5 miles north and under the Richardson Bay Bridge to Bothin Marsh. The trails in its 112 acres of open space and restored salt marsh are dirt and can be accessible during the dry season. From the south, the Sausalito-Mill Valley Trail follows the edge of the marsh for one mile to Bayfront Park. Along the way, the trail crosses four small wooden bridges that rise over creeks and channels. When bicycle traffic is light, these are great places to watch for marine life as the tide surges in or out. Shorebirds abound and interpretive panels give historical and ecological information about Richardson Bay.

Fourteen-acre Bayfront Park, which surrounds a quiet inlet at the northernmost tip of Richardson Bay, offers on its western side a large dog run, soccer fields, a skateboard park, picnic tables, and a pier for launching small boats. The pier has one step and is steep at low tide. A bridge with a two-inch ledge at both ends leads to the park's eastern side, with a playground, softball field, and more soccer fields. From the east-side parking lot, a paved trail leads south a few hundred yards. At the Public Shoreline sign, follow the decomposed-granite trail uphill for a view of the lagoon below. In my power wheelchair I safely climbed a steep section with a cross slope, but
people in manual wheelchairs may need assistance. Steps lead down from the crest of the hill to a .25-mile trail that hugs the shoreline, traveling behind a landscaped condominium complex.To reach this section by wheelchair you need to backtrack to the shoreline sign and continue on the sidewalk, turning onto Shelter Bay Avenue where it dead-ends at the trail.

GETTING THERE To reach Bothin Marsh from Highway 101 North, take the Highway 1/Mill Valley/Stinson Beach exit, then veer right. Turn right at Mt. Tam junction, then left at Pohono Street. To reach Bayfront Park from Highway 101 South, exit at Tiburon/East Blithedale Avenue. For the park's west side, turn right on East Blithedale, left at Camino Alto, and left at Sycamore. For the east side, from East Blithedale turn left at Roque Moraes Dr. and right on Hamilton Drive.
Bothin Marsh parking is off Pohono St. in the Shoreline Office Center's parking lot. You will see Bay Trail spaces, but none are designated blue. You can park legally in one of several blue spaces associated with the office complex. Two lots serve Bayfront Park. Six blue spaces are in the Mill Valley Middle School lot off Sycamore Ave. on the park's western side. On the park's east side, approaching from Hamilton Dr., you will find one blue space in the northern lot and one at the trail entrance across the road from the public safety building. (Golden Gate Transit buses 4 and 17 also stop on both sides of the Park)

RESTROOMS Accessible public restrooms are in the Sewerage Agency building on the west side of Bayfront Park. Take Sycamore Ave. and cross the agency parking lot. The bathrooms do not have raised toilets, and the entry door is heavy. Good accessible restrooms are in the northern parking lot on Hamilton Drive.