BRT Insights - WW Kayaking & Hiking: Alamere Falls, Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, California USA

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Alamere Falls, Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, California USA

Driving to Palomarin Trailhead at Point Reyes National Seashore.

Point Reyes National Seashore is a great place to hike for coastal scenery and brisk coastal fresh air. (Map, driving directions, driving time.) (Hiking map.) Bolinas, CA is hiding in plain sight in a vortex of the time-space continuum. Its a hard place to find unless you know exactly where to look. The nice lady's voice in the dashboard gps directed us unerringly through Bolinas, CA and on to the trailhead. Driving along Mesa Road we passed the trailhead for the Ridge Trail and the Point Reyes Bird Observatory on our way to the Palomarin Trailhead. Considering it was a Friday, I was quite surprised to see about a dozen cars parked at the trailhead when we got there.

Hiking & Driving Map - Point Reyes National Seashore.

• Click and drag to reposition this interactive map. Map user instructions.
• The tool on the left zooms in and out. Point on the red markers to see their names.
• Map=roads. Satellite=satellite map. Terrain=3D shaded topo map. Topo=topographic map.
• Full-Screen Road and Hiking Map: Palomarin Trailhead, Point Reyes National Seashore.

Geographic coordinates - landmark name.
N 37.93416 W 122.74727 - Palomarin Trailhead (A)
N 37.95259 W 122.76441 - Bass Lake (B)
N 37.95435 W 122.78372 - Alamere Falls (C)

N 37.92942 W 122.73330 - Ridge Trailhead
N 37.92998 W 122.73548 - Point Reyes Bird Observatory

Hiking the Coast Trail from the Palomarin Trailhead to see wildflowers and waterfalls.

Palomarin Trailhead is the starting point for hiking an excellent section of the Coast Trail at Point Reyes National Seashore. The trail starts along the coast, cuts inland and passes through the Lake Ranch area and beautiful Bass Lake. This trail goes through a delightful variety of terrain. There are sunny sections and long distant views of the scenery interspersed with many sections in deep dark forests of eucalyptus, conifers, etc. Along the trail we passed various people including some horseback riders and a nudist, possibly hiking out to skinny dip at Bass Lake. The trail is wide enough for 2 or 3 people to walk side-by-side most of the way. Beware of poison oak which is common all along the trail.

• Southerly view to Bolinas Point.

• More BRT photos from Point Reyes National Seashore, Coast Trail & Alamere Falls.

• Point Reyes Coast Trail to Alamere Falls - map, photos & trip report by ElRemaro.

Click on Statistics Mode to see our hiking speed, elevation and distance traveled.

We had ideal hiking weather that was brisk and breezy with temperatures in the 50s. See below for the current weather and forecast:

Alamere Falls is a beauty spot !!

Then we turned off the Coast Trail and followed the official sign pointing us to an "unmaintained trail" down to the coast at Alamere Falls. The final rocky scramble to get down to the beach has a couple of tricky spots. Good shoes and careful climbing technique will be sufficient to enable most people to reach the beach to get the best views of the waterfall. At high tide there will be little or no beach for walking below the falls. If possible plan your hike to arrive at Alamere Falls at or near a period of low tide. (Tides at Bolinas Lagoon.)