Dipsea Race course map and water stations

Three flights of stairs, Muir Woods and Cardiac Hill on the way from downtown Mill Valley to the beach at Stinson, 7.4 miles in all.

2027 dates not announced yet, usually in June Mill Valley to Stinson Beach, California

The Dipsea has run from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach since 1905, and the organizer calls it the oldest trail race in America. It's on the second Sunday in June, with a field of about 1,500. Runners get head starts of up to 25 minutes by age and gender, and the first one across the line wins. Past winners include an 8-year-old and a 72-year-old.

The course climbs out of town on the Dipsea Stairs and drops into Muir Woods. From there it grinds up to Cardiac Hill, the high point at 1,360 feet, before falling through Steep Ravine to the Pacific. It's an open course: you can take the historic shortcuts, but some are off limits, and course monitors disqualify runners who stray. "I was just following the person in front of me" won't save you, the organizer says.

Download the map before you train on the course. The organizer warns that its turns and branches are hard to find the first time. The map shows the 2026 water stations and cutoffs; the 2027 race information isn't out yet. The organizer publishes no course file, so the line on the map is one finisher's recording of the 2026 race. It follows one allowed route, over the Moors, and other runners take other historic routes.

This is an unofficial guide: Goat Maps isn't affiliated with The Dipsea Race. Check the official site before you enter or race.

Dipsea course map

Every course's aid stations on the Goat Maps topo map. Each course has a map of its own further down.

Download the Dipsea map to your phone

Save it in Goat Maps for a recce or race day. GPS shows where you are even without a signal.

Open in web map

Dipsea courses

Course	Distance	Climbing	Start	Time limit
Dipsea Race	7.4 mi (12 km)		Sun, Jun 14, 8:00 AM

Start times are the 2026 edition's.

Dipsea Dipsea Race

Mill Valley to Stinson Beach through Muir Woods and over Cardiac Hill, on stairs, roads and trail.

Distance: 7.4 mi (12 km)
Start: Sun, Jun 14, 8:00 AM

Take this course offline

Download its map in Goat Maps and you can find the next aid station without a signal.

Open in web map

You start in front of the Depot Bookstore and sprint down Throckmorton Avenue to Old Mill Park. Then come the three flights of Dipsea Stairs, which the organizer likens to a fifty-story building, and you have to climb every step of all three. Past Walsh Drive the trail crosses Panoramic Highway at Windy Gap, runs a coned lane down Muir Woods Road and drops into Muir Woods across Redwood Creek. Inside the monument you stay on the marked trail.

The long climb is Dynamite and then Cardiac, the highest point of the course. After that it's mostly down: the Swoop for sure-footed runners, then the rocks, roots and steps of Steep Ravine, where the organizer says many race day injuries happen. Insult Hill comes after the bridge at mile 6. Then the Moors slope gently toward the ocean, with Stinson Beach in sight a mile ahead. The last stretch crosses Highway 1 at the Stile and runs the service road to the finish in the beach parking lot.

The three water stations are about a mile in on Walsh Drive, at the top of Cardiac Hill (mile 4.3) and at the top of Insult Hill (mile 6.2). They have water only. There's also a fountain in Muir Woods beside the steps to the footbridge.

aid stations

mi	Where	Cutoff
0	Depot Bookstore, Mill Valley (start)
1	Walsh Drive
4.3	Cardiac Hill	Sun 10:30 AM
6.2	Top of Insult Hill	Sun 11:15 AM
7.4	Stinson Beach (finish)	Sun 11:30 AM

Sunlight through tall redwoods and ferns in Muir Woods — Billy Huynh / Unsplash

Getting in

A blue Dipsea Trail signpost beside a dirt path near Muir Woods — Royce Fonseca / Unsplash

There's no online entry. You make an account at signup.dipsea.org, print your application once it opens (March 13 in 2026), sign it and mail it with a check to Dipsea Race, P.O. Box 30, Mill Valley, CA 94942. It has to be in the box by April 1. FedEx and UPS don't deliver to the box, so use the Postal Service. The 2027 application period starts around mid-March 2027.

Finishing well is the surest way in. Invitational runners who finish in the first 450, and Runners section entrants in the first 750 overall, qualify for next year's Invitational section. The other 900 places go 500 to the first applications received, 100 by silent auction to those who send the most over the fee, and 300 by lottery. About twice as many people apply as get in. If you don't get in, your fee comes back less $10 around April 20, and there's no waitlist. Once you're in, withdrawing gets you no refund, and lending your bib gets both of you banned.

Race morning and getting home

In 2026 bibs were handed out on Saturday at the Mill Valley Community Center, 180 Camino Alto, and from 6:30 to 7:30 AM on race morning at the Downtown Plaza. Bring your entry card or a photo ID. There are no race day entries.

The Invitational section goes first: its oldest and youngest runners leave at 8:00 and its scratch group at 8:25. The Runners section follows in the same order from 8:27 to 8:52. The race doesn't hand out water at the start, so bring your own. Sweats buses leave Mill Valley for Stinson from 7:00 to 8:00 AM.

The Dipsea is point to point. Free buses for runners only take you back to downtown Mill Valley from 9:30 AM, and the last one leaves at 1:00 PM. Parking in Stinson Beach is very limited, and cars in the dirt lot south of the finish can't leave until 11:30, so meet your ride outside the park. With the roads controlled, nobody can watch both the start and the finish. In 2026 friends could follow splits from mats at the top of the stairs, Windy Gap, Muir Woods, Cardiac, White Gate and the Stile.

Water, weather and the rules

A hiker resting on a rock above golden hills and pines near Mill Valley — Lital Levy / Unsplash

The organizer says most medical transports are for dehydration, heat and fatigue, and suggests carrying a bottle. June normals at Kentfield, a few miles north of Mill Valley, are 79.6°F for the high and 52°F for the low. Down on the coast at Stinson Beach, summer afternoons are often cool and windy, and usually foggy. The race goes ahead rain or shine.

Headphones aren't allowed, and the organizer warns about poison oak. The consensus route is marked with blue and white streamers, and the organizer suggests slower runners stick to it, since the footing is better. The closed areas include the shortcut at the top of Windy Gap, the Trench at the bottom of the Swoop and Moose Hill at the end of the Moors. The application packet lists the rest.

Dipsea aid stations and GPS coordinates

For crews and spectators: each place on the map in decimal degrees, latitude first. Paste them into any map app or add them as waypoints in Goat Maps.

Depot Bookstore, Mill Valley (start)

37.90618, -122.54801
Walsh Drive

37.90148, -122.55909
Cardiac Hill

1,355 ft (413 m)

37.89743, -122.60165
Top of Insult Hill

37.89124, -122.62532
Stinson Beach (finish)

37.89682, -122.63902

Dipsea FAQ

When is the Dipsea Race 2027?

The Dipsea is always on the second Sunday in June, which in 2027 is June 13. The organizer hasn't posted 2027 details yet; the 2026 race, the 115th, was on June 14.

How do you get into the Dipsea?

By mailed application, due at the race's P.O. box by April 1. After the qualified Invitational runners, 500 places go first come, first served, 100 by silent auction and 300 by lottery. See How to Enter.

How do the Dipsea head starts work?

Each runner gets a head start of 0 to 25 minutes from the race's table, by age and gender. Scratch runners, with no head start, go last in each section. The first runner across the line wins, so the 2026 winner, Chris Lundy, won with a 15 minute head start while Eddie Owens ran the fastest time, 48:29.

Is there a cutoff on the Dipsea?

Yes. In 2026 you had to reach Cardiac Hill by 10:30 AM to go on. If you reach the top of Insult Hill after 11:15 AM you can keep going, but you need to finish by 11:30 to be in the results. After 10:15 the historic route onto the road from Insult Hill is closed and everyone goes over the Moors.

Can you take shortcuts on the Dipsea?

Some. Runners may use the historic routes from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach, but not in Muir Woods, on the stairs or in the areas the rules close. Volunteer monitors in lime green shirts can disqualify you.

Can you have a pacer on the Dipsea?

No pacers in the Invitational section. In the Runners section a registered runner can go along as a trail companion only to guide a first-time child runner or a visually impaired runner, and both start with the later of their two groups.

Try Goat Maps free.

Topo and satellite maps, slope angle shading, public land, track recording, waypoints and GPX import are free. Membership adds offline maps and the route planner for $29.99 a year.

Or open the web map

Updated October 15, 2026. An unofficial guide, from the organizer's published information. Coordinates from the organizer's course and OpenStreetMap contributors. Photos from Unsplash. Organize a race? We help with course files.