Point Reyes National Seashore

Last Update: July 18, 2009

Description:

There are some wonderful WEB sites on Point Reyes. This web page will focus only on hikes we've done, directions, and comments. Most of this page isn't written yet (sorry!) so you'll want to see the national site instead.

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Trailheads and Hikes:

Trailhead	Driving Time To Trailhead	Hike	Difficulty	Length (miles)	Elevation	Carpool and Hike Time
5 Brooks Trailhead (free)	~60 minutes
Bear Valley Visitors Center (free)	~60 minutes

Other Links
Point Reyes NP (National Park Service Official Site) Point Reyes NP - Map Site Local copy of the park map (pdf) Local copy of the area map (pdf)

Note: times are approximate. Time to trailhead assumes that the starting point is near Coddingtown Mall in Santa Rosa. (our main carpool meeting spot).

Directions to Point Reyes Area:

From Highway 101 southbound take the Washington Street exit westbound to Petaluma Blvd. Make a left turn onto Petaluma Blvd. and follow it for a mile or so to "D" Street. Take a right turn onto "D" Street and follow it until you are out of Petaluma. Once you are out of town, "D" Street turns into Point Reyes/Petaluma Rd. Follow this road 25 minutes past the Novato Blvd. turn-off and later the Nicasio Reservoir. Soon after passing the Reservoir you will come to a stop sign. A right hand turn will take you to Point Reyes Station, however the quickest route to the park is to continue forward onto Platform Bridge Rd. (there is no sign). After following Platform Bridge Rd. for 5 minutes or so, you will come to another stop. This is Sir Francis Drake Blvd. with a choice of a left or right turn. You will want to take a right and follow Sir Francis Drake to the stop light in town of Olema. This is a 3-way stop, and you'll need to go left for some trailheads, such as 5 brooks.

For all other trailheads, you'll need to take a right turn here at the light onto Highway 1 and a quick left about 50-100 yards down the road onto Bear Valley Rd. Once you are on Bear Valley Rd., just follow it for 0.5 miles and you will reach a turn off on the left for Park Headquarters and the Bear Valley Visitor Center.

5 Brooks Trailhead:

Picture/map to be added later.

Directions to trailhead:

From Santa Rosa: follow the directions to the town of Olema. Go left for a few miles along HWY1, and look for the 5 brooks trailhead on the right (west) side of the road. Pull in and drive up to the parking area and trailhead.

Wildcat Camp Loop Hike

Picture to be added later.

This hike has a lot of variety. The greenpicker trail up to the top of Firtop peak is lush with vegetation. Firtop lives up to its name as well, there are no sweeping views, as it is covered with a beautiful fir forest and some large old trees with huge trunks. There are some nice fields here for a picnic, and those interested in a shorter hike can turn back. The descent down to the ocean goes through a different climate zone, and is often full of wildflowers, predominantly iris, and poppy. Wildcat camp sits in a large meadow of mustard, a wide sea of yellow flowers in the spring. The beach has majestic views of Alamere falls to the south and the tip of point Reyes to the north and is a great place for lunch. The

Hike and Event Itinerary (trail map)

Trail	Details	Description
Setup	Duration: 1:00	First drive to the trailhead on HWY1.. It takes about 1 hour from Santa Rosa. You start at ~2200 ft, or 1600 feet above the Calistoga valley floor.
Stewart Trail	Duration: ~:30 Distance: 1.6m El. Gain: ~?ft El. Loss: none	Hike west from the trailhead on a narrow dirt road. You'll pass a small lake on your left (south), and continue straight pass the rift zone trailhead to your right. You'll come to a T-junction, where the Olema valley trail heads off to your left, and the Stewart trail continues to your right. Continue right on the Stewart trail until you reach the Greenpicker trailhead. You'll pass a small trail junction on your right to the Stewart horse camp and rift zone trail.
Greenpicker Trail	Duration: ~:50 Distance: ~2.0m El. Gain: ~?ft El. Loss: none	The greenpicker trail is a single-track trail through lush vegetation and ferns. As you climb up the side of firtop mountain, it slowly changes into a old growth fir forest. After about 45 minutes (1.7 miles), you'll have the choice of continuing straight on an unmarked trail, or going right to continue on Greenpicker. Go straight as it is the faster route to Wildcat camp. You'll reach the dirt road Stewart trail, turn right.
Stewart Trail Again	Duration: 1:00 Distance: ~2.0m El. Gain: ~?ft El. Loss: none	You are now near the top of firtop mountain. Continue west, as you'll stay on Stewart trail all the way to Wildcat camp and the ocean. On the way, you'll pass many trail junctions to other places. On your right, you'll pass some grassy meadows, perfect for a nap if you choose a shorter hike. Continue onward. You'll pass a trail junction with the Greenpicker trail on the right, skip it and go straight. On your left, you'll see a sign indicating you are at the top of Fir Top mountain, elevation 1324 feet. It's flat and fir-ry, covered with huge, old growth fir trees. There is no view here, but the forest is magnificent. You'll pass another trail junction with the Greenpicker trail on your right. Ignore it again and continue straight. You'll pass a junction with the Ridge trail to your left. The trail will continue downhill, and you'll see views of the ocean. Later on, you'll pass the Old Out road trail junction on your left. A little bit further, you'll pass the Glen Trail on your right. A bit after that, this dirt road will become the coast trail. Continue straight, and pass the coast trail junction on your right.
Coast Trail	Duration: 0:25 Distance: 0.7m El. Gain: none El. Loss: ?	Continue on the fire road trail straight down to the coast and wildcat camp. The camp has bathrooms and non-potable water, which can be used for washing hands or with a water filter.
Wildcat Camp	Duration: 0:30	We recommend continuing another 0.1 miles down to the beach and enjoying the breathtaking coastal views. This is a great spot for lunch. When you're ready to continue, come back to the Wildcat campground, and take the Coast trail.
Coast Trail	Duration: 0:08 Distance: 0.2m El. Gain: ~?ft El. Loss: none	Take the coast trail for a short 0.2 miles, then turn right on the Ocean lake loop trail. The first lake is xxx, which is not easily reached from this side. If you are feeling adventurous, you may wish to continue a short distance on the coast trail to the lake, enjoy it, then come back to this trail.
Ocean Lake Loop Trail	Duration: 0:33 Distance: 1.2m El. Gain: ~?ft El. Loss: none	This trail will take you by 2 lakes that are difficult to hike to from any other trailhead. The ocean lake loop trail will return to the coast trail.
Coast Trail	Duration: 0:20 Distance: 0.4m El. Gain: ~?ft El. Loss: none	When you reach the coast trail, head back towards wildcat camp. (optional: if you plan ahead, you could hike onwards to Palomarin for a long and spectacular hike, though you'll need a car there to take you back to the 5 brooks trailhead) This part of the coast trail was a bit overgrown when we hiked it, early May 2006. You'll pass an unmarked pond to your left. On your right, you'll reach the Old Out road. Take it to the Stewart Trail.
Old Out Road	Duration: 0:35 Distance: 1.4m El. Gain: ~?ft El. Loss: none	Take the Old Out road towards Stewart trail. You'll start the slow climb back up to the top of Fir top. After 1.1 miles and about 30 minutes, you'll see Alamea Trail to your right. Continue straight. (Optional: you can take this trail, but we skipped it this time as it looked overgrown)
Stewart Trail	Duration: 0:17 Distance: 1.9m El. Gain: ~?ft El. Loss: none	Retrace your path up part of the Stewart trail until you reach the Ridge trail. Turn right. I think the trail signs are incorrect and the distance is much shorter - probably 0.5 miles.
Ridge Trail	Duration: 0:20 Distance: 0.6m El. Gain: ~?ft El. Loss: none	Take the ridge trail. After 0.1 miles you'll see the Alamea trail and a small muddy pond off to your right. Skip it and continue going straight. This section of trail is very pretty, and you'll hear the sounds of Alamere creek down in the canyon to your right as you hike. We found a bunch of wild iris and banana slugs on this trail. The trail will end when it reaches a dirt road, which is also the ridge trail. If you go left, you'll meet up with Stewart trail again. We recommend you turn right. At the time we took it, this was also ridge trail, but it was unmarked.
Ridge Trail, part 2	Duration: 0:20 Distance: 0.7m El. Gain: ~?ft El. Loss: none	Take the ridge trail along the dirt road through the forest. You'll reach a 4-way junction with the Bolema trail and the Lake Ranch trail. Turn left onto the Bolema Trail.
Bolema Trail	Duration: 0:36 Distance: 1.1m El. Gain: none El. Loss: ?ft	Take the Bolema trail downhill to the Olema Valley trail and turn left. In the spring, you'll pass a fair amount of wild iris and some banana slugs.
Olema Valley Trail	Duration: 0:30 Distance: 1.2m El. Gain: ~?ft El. Loss: none	The Olema Valley trail isn't anything special - it's a dirt road trail that parallels the highway, so you'll hear some road noise. It does hike through some pretty forest with some nice views inland. You'll pass trail junctions to your right that head to the horse stables. Continue straight, and you'll see the lake from the start of your hike on your right hand side. When you reach the Stewart trail junction, turn right.
Stewart Trail	Duration: 0:05 Distance: 0.4m El. Gain: ~?ft El. Loss: none	You're almost there! Walk the short 5 minutes back to the trailhead and your car. You may want to stop in Olema or Point Reyes on your way home for a nice dinner!
Drive Home	Duration: 1:00	It takes ~1 hour to return by car to Santa Rosa.
Total	Duration: ~7:00 (+2 hr) Distance: ~15.4m (probably ~13) El. Gain: ~?ft El. Loss: ~?ft	We did this hike 5/2006 from a cabin in Point Reyes. We started on the trailhead at 10:34am, reached the ocean a little after 1pm, had a 20 minute break for lunch, then hiked back and reached our car close to 5:30pm. This includes a 20 minute wrong turn. Count on ~9 to 9.5 hours for Santa Rosa<=>hike<=>Santa Rosa with several breaks for lunch and to enjoy the views.

Experiences:

2006, May 02

[pics]

TBD

Bear Valley Trailhead Hikes:

Hike Name	Milage	Elevation Change	Time To Hike
xxxx	xxx	xxx feet	xx hours

Directions to trailhead:

Follow the directions at the top of this page.

xxxx Hike

Many suggested hikes are located on the main Point Reyes web page.

Multiple-Car Hikes:

Hike Name	Starting Trailhead	Ending Trailhead	Milage	Elevation Change	Time To Hike
xxxx	xxxx	xxxx	?	?	?

These hikes assume that you have at least 2 cars. Drop one persons car off at the end point and drive them to the starting point. Use the directions to the trailheads written elsewhere in this document.

These hikes are nice because you will always be hiking on uncovered ground. You will be able to see larger areas of the park.

xxxx (free)

Many suggested hikes are located on the main Point Reyes web page.