Pickleweed Creek
Pickleweed Creek (or Inlet) is also called Mill Valley Creek because it leads into Mill Valley. Enter Pickleweed Creek only when rowing a private shell, as club boats are not allowed in this area. As you can guess from the large area of brown-green around the edges of Pickleweed Creek, it is very shallow. At a minus tide these areas are mud, i.e. they are above water. In addition, boat wrecks, shopping carts, trees, and other objects that are not friendly to thin shell hulls can be found in the shallow areas. It is dangerous to row here when the tide level is below +2 feet. To get arial views go to maps.google.com and enter Mill Valley CA.
The wetlands around the creek may not be directly useful to rowers, and are not often picked as Calendar Art. However, as any biologist can tell you they are home to insects and other invertebrates that are food for the juvenile fish that mature here. Without wetlands there would be far fewer large fish and mammals in the Bay, and also in the ocean. How fortunate that these wetlands were preserved from "development".
A reasonable round trip path is indicated by the yellow lines. Enter the area along the path on the right side of the map. You enter with Strawberry Point SPt on your left and the main houseboat area HB on your right. You must then be on the lookout for seaplanes taking off and landing. If you are close to the shore you are safe, but if you are not, you are on your own. When the planes take off the engine makes a lot of noise, so you should be able to hear them and get out of the way. However, when they land (often coming in over the Highway 101 overpass, 101 HW) they are very quiet. The seaplane home base is SPlane.
As you approach the 101 overpass you can go through the boat channel, or pass under more to the North. Then keep to the North shore, row toward the small floating dock and then pass the entrance to a little boat harbor. Continue up the Creek staying about 20 m from shore. You will see a dog park DP on your right, and then a small floating dock and a pedestrian bridge, which is the end of the navigable creek. On the return trip stay to the South or left (on this map) of your entering route (but not much to the left before you get to the overpass).
In the early mornings this route is favored by several rowers in flat water boats that may be moving very rapidly. For your safety and theirs be on the lookout. The convention of this group is to stay on the right side of the dotted red line entering and on the left side returning. The dotted red line is defined by viewing the Clock Tower CT of the Tamelpias High School as it is framed by the Highway 101 overpass boat channel.