Stinson Beach is an unincorporated town in west Marin, next to the mouth of Bolinas Lagoon. It had 541 residents at the 2020 census, but a long, sandy beach that draws day-trippers from around the Bay Area. Wikipedia puts it about 35 minutes from the Golden Gate Bridge on Highway 1. The National Park Service runs the main beach as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Getting there and parking

The park service warns that the road is steep and winding. On hot days the lot often fills before noon, and there's no overflow parking. Cars left after closing get ticketed. The beach is open every day of the year, the entrance gates open at 9 a.m., and closing times vary by season. Without a car, Marin Transit's Route 61, the West Marin Stagecoach, serves the town. Hiking trails from Mount Tamalpais also lead down to it, including the Dipsea.

Swimming, surfing and lifeguards

Lifeguards are generally on duty from the first week of July through Labor Day, so for most of the year no one is watching the water. The NPS says winter and spring are the best surfing seasons, that afternoon northwesterlies favor windsurfers, and that summer surf suits rafters and bodyboarders. Fishing is allowed under state rules. Inner tubes and motorized equipment are banned in swimming areas. There are restrooms by each parking area and a cold shower at the central restroom building. Camping isn't allowed.

Sharks are a real risk. Wikipedia notes that the waters off Stinson are part of the area known as the Red Triangle, and that great whites attacked a bodyboarder there in 1998 and a surfer in 2002. Both survived. Marin County put up 12 tsunami warning signs along the shore in 2012.

Dogs

Leashed dogs are allowed in the parking lot, in the picnic areas and on the adjacent county beach. They aren't allowed on the National Park Service section of the beach.

From Willow Camp to Stinson

Coast Miwok people lived in the area before European colonization. Nathan Stinson bought land there in 1866. After a coast road from Sausalito was built in 1870, a tent settlement grew up among the willows and was called Willow Camp. People displaced by the 1906 earthquake built some of the first businesses. The town took the name Stinson Beach in 1916. The beach was sold to Marin County in 1939, transferred to the state in 1950 and to the National Park Service in 1977. The Pacific Sun newspaper started in 1963 in the back of Bill's Superette before moving to San Rafael.