Snow on Mount Tamalpais

Click on the thumbnail images below to display a full-size image.

Snow on Mount Tamalpais, 1976 This is the view of the summit of Mount Tamalpais after the 1976 snowstorm, taken from an open field about 3 km south of Mountain Home. This is about five minutes walk from the Muir Woods Park Improvement Association clubhouse where the opening scene of the Clint Eastwood movie Dirty Harry: The Enforcer was filmed, just a few months before this photo was taken.

Snow in Marin County California: View toward the Pacific Here's a view toward the Pacific Ocean from the same point. Muir Woods National Monument is in the valley in the left centre of the image. Grasslands are entirely covered by snow, even close to the coast at low altitudes, while chaparral and forested lands show less snow.

Snow on Mount Tamalpais: Western Slope This is a view of the western slope of Mount Tamalpais, to the left of the first image on this page. Two meadows on the ridge, usually green in winter, are bright white with snow.

February 1976: Snow on the Acacias February on Mount Tamalpais is usually heralded by the magnificent yellow blossoms of the many Acacia trees that flourish there. Seeing those flowers crowned by snow is rather more unusual.

San Francisco Snowman If you come to San Francisco, don't plan to make a snowman anywhere. But, if the opportunity presents itself, go for it! Perhaps you'll have the charity to attribute this humble instantiation of Frosty to lack of practice.


All images referenced on this page are original photographs by John Walker, placed into the public domain. They may be used in any manner without permission, restriction, attribution, or compensation. Back links to Ski Marin are welcome.

by John Walker
June, 1998