On Sunday, Mary and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary. We observe our anniversary on October 11, which was the day we went on our first date to Point Reyes National Seashore so many years ago. Nearly every year since then, we return to Point Reyes in October to celebrate. This year we wanted to go backpacking there, but all the campsites were full. We had to settle for a day hike instead.

We had hoped to backpack to the Wildcat Camp from the Palomarin Trailhead (on left) at the south end of the park. Since the camp was full, we decided to do it as a day hike. As a bonus, the trail would pass near Alamere Falls, which we had never been to before.

To get to the trailhead, we took the Olema-Bolinas Road off of US 1, just south of the park. Just before Bolinas, there’s a right turn on Mesa Road which becomes a dirt road and eventually dead-ends at the trailhead parking lot. A short set of stairs climbs up from the parking area to the main trail, the Coast Trail. The sky was overcast and a fine mist hung in the air, but we set out on our anniversary adventure.

The trail passes through a grove of eucalyptus trees, some of which look like hydras (on right). They have wide, rough bases topped with many smooth, slender trunks. I had never seen eucalyptus look like this. It was almost as if the ground had dropped 15 feet and exposed a common root structure for the trees.  After passing a spur trail to Palomarin Beach, the Coast Trail lives up to its name by hugging the coastline. The views (left) were quite beautiful despite the dismal weather.

After a mile of walking along the coast, the trail turns inland for a bit. We passed the Lake Ranch Trail followed by a number of ponds and lakes. Bass Lake and Pelican Lake (pictures on right) are the largest lakes along this section of trail. It’s pretty cool to see lakes so close to the ocean. We had expected to see a lot of raptors along the trail, but I guess the mist kept them grounded. We did eventually see a red-shouldered hawk fly across one of the lakes as we passed by.

The Alamere Falls trail is officially closed since the access to the falls and beach is eroded and a bit treacherous. There’s no mention of closure on the trail sign, only that the trail is no longer maintained. A few people still use the trail, but the first part is overgrown with a variety of vegetation, including poison oak. Fortunately we were both wearing long sleeves and pants.

In less than a half mile you reach the top of a bluff and have to scramble down drainage trenches. After the first 40 feet of scrambling, you are awarded with two nice falls covered in green (one pictured on left with Mary). Form here there’s an even steeper scramble to the beach and a view of Alamere Falls (right). There’s not a lot of water this time of year, but at least there’s some. It’s pretty neat seeing all the greenery around the creek and falls. Quite a contrast to all the golden-brown grasses on the hills and along the trails.

We had some lunch at the falls, then headed back up to the main trail. A bit further along the trail we took a left fork for the Ocean Lake Loop. This trail passes a few more lakes, then joins back with the Coast Trail just before Wildcat. The camp was quite full. There seemed to be a large youth group occupying most of the sites. We spent a little time at the Wildcat Beach (left) then started back.

On the way back we stayed on the Coast Trail, passing Wildcat Lake, Ocean Lake, and others. At the edge of one clearing, we saw a mule deer stag resting in the grass (right). Near the overlook for Palomarin Beach, we stopped for another snack, then returned to the car. Even though the weather never did improve, we both enjoyed the hike. We ended up hiking about 12 miles in all. We were glad that neither of us seemed to have had contact with the poison oak and we both appeared to be tick-free. What more can you ask for on your anniversary?

There are more pictures in the Point Reyes Gallery.