point reyes national seashore

this past holiday weekend we ventured up the california coast for some backpacking and camping at point reyes national seashore. the park is located in beautiful marin county just north of san francisco. the purple glow of point reyes is much less evident when you are on the ground than when viewed from space as demonstrated in this map.
the amazing thing about marin county, and more specifically point reyes, is that you can be within a few miles of one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world (oakland), and yet amongst only tiny villages, breathtaking mountains, and coastal wilderness.

leaving cars at two locations, we set out on saturday morning from palomarin near the south end of the park. we hiked north along the coast for about 6 miles to reach wildcat backcountry campground. our the team was made up of (from left to right) olivia, chris, casey, david, and marta (behind the camera).

we made a number of small side ventures along the way to beaches, lakes, and waterfalls to get a feel for all the natural beauty the park has to offer. below, marta leaps over a stream above where it becomes a waterfall that empties into the pacific.

here marta and casey blaze a trail through the grass with hills to their right and cliffs down to the pacific to their left.

wildcat campground contains seven sites spread out over a small valley above a beach. this photo was taken from the hills above the campground.


on day 2 we hiked north along the coast for 9 miles to the coast campground. here is the whole gang as we broke for lunch along the way. we are on arch rock. it is a bit tough to see the arch when you are standing on it, but we'll take their word for it.

their were lots of boyscouts visiting point reyes. they were on the trails, in the campgrounds, using the "latrines", and pretty much everywhere. i must say that they were a pretty well behaved lot. i guess the word i would use to describe them would be prepared. here a young scout has plopped down next to marta and olivia to catch a little rest on a trailside bench.

this is a view of the trail as it zigs and zags along the cliffs above the pacific. you can see the point (point reyes) along the horizon as it stretches out into the pacific.

this is a shot of one of the many beaches along the hike. the weather was a bit cool for sunbathing, but the beaches made ideal spots to stop and rest our muscles which were weary from lugging heavy packs.

our weather for the trip was nearly ideal. nearly. day 1 was sunny, calm, and warm. day 2 was partly cloudy, a bit cooler than the first, and pretty windy, but still very nice. during the second night we had some rain showers, but they stopped when morning came and we were able to take down camp and get onto the trail in relative dryness. we only had 2 miles to hike to get to chris and olivia's car parked at the north end of our route. we almost made it there before the rain started. it was only lightly sprinkling when the parking lot first came into view, but during the few minutes it took to walk to the car and strap the packs to the roof the weather degraded rapidly. first it turned from a light sprinkle into cold pouring rain, then it began hailing, and finally clumps of slush started falling from the sky. this picture does little to capture how foul the weather was, or just how quickly it came on. luckily the weather problems only affected the last minutes of what was a lovely martin luther king jr. weekend.

since it was such a nice weekend, we should end this posting with a photo of a more enjoyable part of the trip. like this one: