[whitebark]

Point Reyes is a hiking paradise in beautiful Marin County, fabled land of yuppies, hot tubs, and fine California living, located just north of San Francisco. I got in a nice 10 mile hike there during a Christmas trip to the Bay Area. Starting at the Bear Valley Visitor Center, Jim and I headed up the Mount Wittenberg Trail, followed the Sky Trail to the coast, and returned via the Bear Valley Trail. The winter weather was gloriously clear that day, as it often is in California, the sun packing a soul-warming punch not much seen in Seattle right now (being 10 degrees farther south really makes a difference). Grassy balds near the top of Mt Wittenberg ( 1300') offered an expansive view of the entire peninsula of Pt Reyes and an infinity of Pacific Ocean. However, the actual summit of the mountain was forested and viewless, taking the short side trail to the summit is not recommended. The Sky Trail was a long romp through a ridgetop forest. Branches and blowdown on the trail, a result of a recent powerful storm, reminded me of the damage up in Seattle. We reached Arch Point just in time to watch the sunset over the Pacific. The hike back was in the dark, but we had headlamps and the wide Bear Valley Trail offered no obstacles. Amazingly, parking and hiking here is free! The rangers even hand out free maps. With 130 miles of trails in this area, you will need a map! Backpack camps are available for extended visits. This being Northern California, the winter weather is not reliably sunny, and can be downright stormy at times, but in general it will be better than in Seattle. If you head down to San Fran, hiking at Point Reyes is highly recommended.

Arch Rock-Point Reyes

[nuclear_eggset]

Whoohoo! A taste of home! (Well, hubby's from near there, and I'm a little less than an hour farther south of that.) I'm glad you enjoyed it. Despite growing up so close for nearly two decades, I haven't been there, and I can't get the hubby to go back. ("But I *lived* there! Why would I want to vacation there?")

[seawallrunner]

whitebark, thank you. I'll be going to CA quite a bit this year, so this info is more than useful. got more photos?

[Malachai Constant]

What is also cool is that it was the first English landing in what became the USA by Sir Francis Drake in 1579.

[Andrew]

I mistook the title to be the Point Reyes in Monterey County, south of San Jose. Nevertheless, your picture of the Marin C. version shows that it is equally beautiful.

[kiliki]

I lived out at the Point Reyes lighthouse complex a few summers ago when I was doing research. I think I hiked every trail in that park and most in West Marin. It's a truly remarkable area. Parking and hiking are technically free but they do have a thing for donations at the visitor's centers. This park suffers from the same $$ shortages as other national parks, they just don't have an efficient way to collect fees since there are so many points of access. The park is very lucky to have an army of volunteers and SCA kids doing the trail maintenance, staffing the visitor's centers, etc. AndrewD, are you thinking of Point Lobos?

[Andrew]

Kiliki, Point Lobos is correct. It wouldn't hurt to drive the Cali coast again to refresh my mind, I suppose!

[Quark]

[wolfs]

There are some Point Reyes hikes that are full on adventures. The ones I've managed to pull off are: 1.Following the coast from Alamere Falls past Wildcat all the way to Kelham Beach. This involves going through a sea cave with a deep tidepool in the middle of it. 2. Going under Point Resistance through an improbable sea cave network to the 'secret beach' on the other side. 3. Sculptured Beach to Secret Beach, ending up just shy of Point Resistance where to best of my knowledge there's no way around even with lowest tide. The one I've never managed to finish is the 'Lost Coast' stretch from McClure Beach to Kehoe Beach. It's supposed to be spectacular. All these trips require minus tides, low wave action, lots of time, willingness to get wet. But they are some of the best beach hiking I've ever done. There's a book I think by Phil Arnot that covers some of these routes. Or at least it did in earlier editions.

[ree]

Thanks for the tr. Isn't Point Reyes where they filmed "The Fog"? Love how the trees arch with the force of the wind. Amazing. Yah, got more pics there?

[whitebark]

Didn't take too many pictures but here are two more:

Arch Rock, looking north

Sky Trail vista

Don't know about the movie "The Fog", but it makes sense as Pt. Reyes is very foggy in summer. The classic Hitchcock movie "The Birds" was filmed at Bodega Bay, just to the north of Pt Reyes. The moody foggy landscape here just invites the filming of horror films, I guess.