White Hill Open Space Preserve

When you and your pooch are craving some wide open spaces, check out the White Hill Open Space Preserve. This preserve offers a network of trails and fire roads that wind through rolling grassy hills, surrounded by rugged slopes and mountain peaks. You’ll want to slow down and smell the wildflowers on these trails. Here you can find some easy trails for a more casual stroll, or if you want more of a challenge, you can summit White Hill at an elevation of 1430 feet.

The White Hill Open Space Preserve contains a sprawling wilderness of 390 acres, roughly in the shape of a “C”, surrounded by neighboring preserves. The trailhead and parking can be found along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard just west of Fairfax, on the left as you’re driving up White Hill. You won’t find any amenities in the preserve, so be sure to stock up on supplies in the town of Fairfax.

The trailhead starts you off on the 2.2 mile out-and-back White Hill Trail and wisps you away from the busy street and into a grove of redwoods, offering lovely views of Mount Tam. The trail is quite primitive and lightly trafficked, pawfect for some peace and solitude with your best pal. 

One of the highlights of this preserve is the Blue Ridge Fire Road, a more challenging hike that passes over the White Hill summit and offers breathtaking views of the rolling landscape. If you and your energetic pup want to continue the adventure, you can enjoy a variety of offshoots like the Wagon Wheel Trail and the Tamarancho Trail.

Dogs are welcome to join their humans on these trails, as long as they stay leashed! This is a multi-use network of trails that is often used for mountain biking, horseback riding, and trail running, so be sure Fido shows proper petiquette. Don’t forget the doggy waste bags and to leave no trace so you can leave the park looking just as beautiful as when you entered. The easily accessible trails amongst the breezy hills in the White Hill Open Space Preserve are sure to get your dog’s tail wagging!