Driver Rescued After Plunge Off Muir Woods Road

An unidentified driver was rescued Saturday off Muir Woods Road near Mount Tamalpais after a car ran off the pavement and plunged about 150 feet down a ravine, according to the Marin County Fire Department.

Battalion Chief Mike Giannini said the driver did not have life-threatening injuries but was transported to Marin General Hospital by the Southern Marin Paramedic System.

An emergency call was placed by a hiker at about 4 p.m., saying a vehicle had run off Muir Woods Road just west of Panoramic Highway. Personnel from the Throckmorton fire station located the driver in pain and freezing about 150 feet down the side of the road, Giannini said.

First responders had to use chain saws to hack through the brush and reach the driver, who was evaluated and secured in a rescue basket. The basket was hooked up to a rope and pulley system and the driver was hauled back up to the road.

Giannini said the driver's identity and the cause of the crash were not available Saturday night, but he said the road was wet at the time of the incident.

Aiding in the rescue were the Southern Marin Fire District, the Marin County Sheriff’s Department, the Marin County Search and Rescue Team, the Mill Valley Fire Department and the California Highway Patrol.