WEEKLY
WALKER
By Tom Davids
Get Away to
Point Reyes
"God never made an ugly landscape. All that the sun shines on is beautiful, so long as it is wild. . ." - John Muir
Directions: Point Reyes National Seashore is about one
and one-half hours from the mid-Peninsula. Take Highway 101 north across the
Golden Gate Bridge to Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, and continue west through
the towns of Fairfax and San Anselmo to the intersection with Highway 1 at
Olema. Follow the signs to Park Headquarters and the parking lot.
Grade: Strenuous.
Distance: 22 miles (or as short as 4.5 miles).
Time: 10
hours (or as short as three hours).
Special Conditions: Be prepared for windy, foggy weather,
and watch for poison oak. Water and toilets available at Sky Camp and Glen Camp.
Dogs are not permitted on trails. Point Reyes is administered by the National
Park Service. For information, call 415-663-1092.
If you are a regular hiker on the Peninsula but are looking for something new, try Point Reyes in Marin County. Considering the hour-and-a-half-hour drive to reach it, you may want to plan an overnight at one the many small hotels, country inns, or cottages available in the area. Call 800-539-1872 for information and a brochure.
We try to visit Point Reyes twice a year for a midweek getaway and some long distance hiking. We usually climb over the ridge, head for the coast, and then wander south along the Coast Trail until time runs out. That puts us in the vicinity of Wildcat Camp, where we turn east, head back over the ridge, and return to Park Headquarters along the Rift Trail.
We returned to Point Reyes last month (July) and decided to hike along the ridgeline from north to south. From headquarters, we walked north through the recreated Coast Miwok Indian Village, which provides a glimpse of how those Native Americans lived when Sir Francis Drake visited the area in 1579. On the far side of the village, we joined Horse Trail and turn left. After a few steps, the trail crosses a bridge and begins its thousand-foot, 18-mile upward climb through a heavy forest of fir, oak, and bay trees to the junction with Z Trail.
Near this junction, the trail levels out with good views to Limantour Beach and the Point Reyes Peninsula. For those who want a short 4.5-mile hike, turn onto Z Trail and turn left on Sky Trail, hiking back down to the Bear Valley Trail. We continued on Horse Trail for .4 miles to the junction with Sky Trail and turned left. The next half mile is mostly level. We found good views to the west and much evidence of the disastrous wild fire that rolled through this area some years ago. Twelve camping sites are at Sky Camp, a decent pit toilet, and solar panels used to power the camp water system.
Continuing from Sky Camp, we passed a cluster of large fir trees. Many years ago I took our young sons and friends on a backpack trip to this camp. The sites were not yet marked, and we arrived at dusk looking for the perfect spot. We set up camp under the trees in the dark and woke up soaking wet. During the night, the fog had rolled in, collected on the branches, and we became a bit wiser about the "drip zone concept" in the morning.
Sky Trail passes below Mount Wittenberg and continues on to Kelham Beach. It is one of our favorites, as it travels a ridge blessed with ocean breezes and frequent encounters with fog. Giant fir and cypress trees line the trail, with a dense undergrowth of ferns, shrubs, and the occasional but beautiful blue mountain iris. When the fog rolls in over the ridge, the treetops disappear and the giant trunks stand like sentinels beckoning on to the unseen trail ahead.
The day we were there, the sky was clear and the breeze warm as we hiked Sky Trail past Woodward Valley Trail and Old Pine Trail. At Baldy Trail, we turned left and descended for one mile to Bear Valley Trail. In this section, it is important to watch for poison oak crowding the trail and for treacherous footing through eroded areas.
When we reached the Bear Valley Trail, we had hiked eight miles. By turning up Bear Valley Trail, you would reach headquarters in three miles. Instead, we crossed over to Glen Trail, hiked over the bridge, and began climbing the elevation we had just given up on Baldy Trail. The trail is a wide, former service road that skirts a large meadow, then moves under tree cover to the next junction. We turned left on Glen Camp Loop, a mostly level meander to the campground. Near the camp, we hiked through a eucalyptus grove (unusual for this area), then passed by a pond that is slowly filling in from silt and vegetation.
At Glen Camp, which has 12 campsites, there is water and another comfort station.
Leaving Glen Camp, we walked up the active service road to the junction with Greenpicker Trail. There we turned left and climbed up to the Ridge Trail. An alternate route would be to continue until Glen Trail meets Stewart Trail (actively an old ranch road) and then turn left. We recommend the single-track Greenpicker Trail as the most interesting and quickest route to the Ridge Trail.
At the Ridge Trail, we turned right and continued south of Stewart Trail for 1.3 miles to the Bolema Trail. The first half mile is arguably the most unique trail in the park. It is fairly new, quite narrow, lush with vegetation, and has the feel of walking through a rain forest or jungle in Hawaii.
Our hike continued a short distance south on the Ridge Trail until the next junction with Bolema Trail, an eroded ranch road. There we turned left and descended for 1.1 miles to the Olema Valley Trail. A left turn onto Olema Valley Trail to Five Brooks Horse Camp allowed us to pick up the Rift Zone Trail for the five-mile hike back to headquarters. The Rift Zone Trail is a pleasant, level hike through a narrow pasture valley. Typically, cattle are grazing in the area. Various sag ponds along the way mark the general location of the San Andreas Fault. During the Great Earthquake of 1906, the Point Reyes Peninsula was thrust 16.4 feet northwestward.
Our final trail miles went through a large cow pasture over a road to the Vedanta Retreat, which brought us into another pasture, over a minor ridge, and on to the Bear Valley Trail and Park Headquarters. During a hike here last year, we saw a flock of wild turkeys on the ridge. This year we saw a herd of fallow deer, several of them pure white.
We hope you make arrangements to take this hike, then spend the night in the Point Reyes area. After a good meal and a night's sleep, you may want to hike to Tomales Point, visit the oyster farms or the lighthouse, or just hang out and get to know this 65,000-acre jewel.
WALKS COMING UP:
Aug. 26 - Join the seventh annual
Peninsula Humane Society's "Mutt Strutt" from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at
Coyote Point Park. This is the only day of the year that dogs are welcome at
Coyote Point Park. For information, call 650-340-7022, ext. 709, or www.muttstrutt.org
Aug. 25-26 - Join the American
Cancer Society's "Relay for Life" - "Twenty-four hours you'll
never forget" at Highlands Park, San Carlos. For information, call Dawn
Yalsovac at 650-578-9902.
Sept. 13 and Sept. 23 - American Heart Walks planned at Redwood Shores and Coyote Point to raise funds to benefit American Heart Association. For information, e-mail Pamelaf@heart.org
Your comments and hiking suggestions
are always welcome.
E-mail to: trekertom@aol.com.
Footnote: Check out the Weekly Walker Web at www.weeklywalker.com to see other hikes in the Point Reyes area.