Vignette > Eagle Trail

In 1988, Matthew Davis authored a book titled, On Foot in Homestead, A Hiker’s Journal of a Coastal Valley”. Referring to Homestead’s open space trails, he states, “When you step out your door with eyes and heart open, the land unfolds as you walk it.”  Each trail described in the book has an interesting story to tell. Eagle Trail is an example. It begins at the end of Montford Ave. and leads through a redwood forest to other trails on Homestead’s open space land as well as to GGNRA trails.  It was Fred Stolte who first acquired the steep hillside land that Eagle Trail traverses.  In the 1920s, his young son Frank would climb up beyond the redwoods to a flat clearing with a view of Mt. Tam where he would camp out. In the 1960s, having inherited the land, Frank planned to build a house up there. But he concluded that the required long steep driveway would be too expensive. In the 1970s, Betsey Weedon, who lived in the adjacent Tamalpais Canyon, purchased the property from Frank and donated it for open space.  It is now known as Weedon Redwoods.  Boy scouts rehabilitated the trail to earn merit badges for Eagle Scout status.  They named it “Eagle Trail”.