On top of Mount Tamalpais, a short jaunt from the entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge, sits a 100-foot redwood cabin written about by Jack Kerouac in his novel 'Dharma Bums' and home to poet Gary Snyder from 1956-57. During the year Snyder called this tiny cabin home, he extensively explored the mountain while writing verse about his excursions. Now Snyder and fellow artist and writer Tom Killion have memorialized the cultural history of Mount Tamalpais in their new collaborative book "Tamalpais Walking: Poetry, History and Prints."
This collection of poetry highlights the landscape of Mount Tamalpais through verse written by Snyder and others, including Lew Welch, Kenneth Rexroth and Ina Coolbirth combined with Killion's woodblock style illustrations. Through research the early history of Mount Tampais was learned. In the early part of this century William Kent, whose family owned Muir Woods, decided to give the land to the state for use as parkland. Bay Area residents and tourists have been travelling to Muir Woods to explore this amazing mountain for over a century and continue to flock to this colossal mountain to enjoy the Muir Woods wilderness.