Sunday we woke up to a completely clear day, with clear in the Bay Area meaning no fog. Saturday had seen some fog at the northern end of the Point Reyes peninsula, so with the clear day ahead we decided to take what we’d heard was a hike with amazing views at the north tip of Point Reyes. The description was apt! First, a couple of maps so this makes a bit more sense. As you can see from the first map, San Francisco is at the end of a peninsula, connected to Marin County (marked Mill Valley on this map) by the Golden Gate Bridge. Northwest of there is West Marin and the Point Reyes area.
The San Andreas Fault pretty much goes right through the Tomales Bay inlet that makes the tip of Point Reyes into a peninsula. We stayed closer to Point Reyes Station (on the right side of the map below, by the map fold. On Sunday, we drove north to the Historic Pierce Point Ranch then walked the 3 miles out on the trail through the Tule Elk Reserve, then the 1.5 or so miles on the “unmaintained” trail to the very tip.
Most of the landscape was exposed hills with small shrubs, making the few groves of Monterey Cypress trees all the more impressive.
At the beginning of the walk, with the Pacific to our left, there was an impressive fissure of some type in the earth. When you’re in an earthquake zone, everything starts looking earthquake related!
We knew the area was an elk reserve, but wow did the wildlife promise pay off! At this former farming stock pond, about 50 male elk waded and drank, sharing the pool with some ducks.
The second tree grove we saw. The trail becomes “unmaintained” past this spot but was still very easy to follow. It got a lot sandier and softer though.
Looking toward the Tomales Bay or east side.
Toward the end that classic question arose – where exactly is the end of this trail? We saw other people winding their way down this increasingly skinny bit (though not as skinny in real life as it looks below – there’s lots more land just beyond what can be seen below) and it opened up into a perfect picnic spot.
At our rest and picnic spot!
Around this tip the Pacific and Tomales Bay meet.
Once others left, this little guy below peeked out to see if any snacks had been left behind for him. I don’t think he realized that we were still there! We aren’t sure what kind of animal this is. The signs warned us about mountain lions, but this wasn’t a mountain lion. Cute, though!
These cliffs up near the tip are a complete sheer drop.
On the way back, we saw the elk resting near the pond. Swim time seemed to be over.
We also saw female elk along the trail in a couple of places – also in a group.
One of these beaches is accessible down a steep trail but there are a lot of warnings about the danger of the waves, tide and surf.
All in all it was a great way to spend about 4 hours! On the way back to wash a whole lot of dust off us, we stopped for a little post-hike snack of oysters and stout (me) and a glass of wine (John). Delicious!
Looks like a lovely walk and what an unusual animal!!
That was an absolutely gorgeous walk!
It looks really beautiful there, and you got some great weather too! The animal reminds me of a koala! There really were a lot of animals there! The food and drink looks great too!
Looks great there Cindy, you guys should try a safari sometime, ye would enjoy it!