I live in Marin County, about 15 minutes away from mount tam so i was very familiar with the location but I had never done this particular hike though. We started at Stinson beach and took the Dipsea trail up the beautiful ravine, and ended up at Pantoll campground. From there we went up the old stage road to the summit. Surprisingly, I had never been to the summit peak before and it was beautiful. With the nice early morning crisp air and the fog rolling in, made me appreciate where I live. This is a very shaded hike up to Pantoll, but after that you are pretty exposed to the sun. I would recommend to travel around mount tam and catch sun set if you can. Overall, not to hard of a hike, can get pretty steep at time but in the end is worth it.