My New Favorite Place

What can I tell you about Point Reyes National Seashore...
The grass is the greenest, the wild flowers are a pretty golden yellow, the ocean is rumbling with many shades of blue, and the wildlife is plentiful!














It's the prettiest spot I've ever seen - and is officially, my new favorite place!


We owe our pleasant experience to Jim - the Park Ranger who reserved our campsites. He sure knows how to pick them!

It's not our first hike-in campground experience, but it is the first time we've ever had to reserve a remote campsite. It's also the first time we don't have to filter water while backpacking - there are water spigots at each campground. We are spoiled!









We spent 3 nights at various campsites - Wildcat, Glen, and Sky camp.

But our first night has to be the most memorable.
It was a 6.6 mile hike from Bear Valley Visitor Center to Wildcat. The approach was calm with some steep areas. When we arrived near the campground and looked down - my jaw dropped! What an incredible view! I was, once again, overwhelmed by nature.

We set up camp, enjoying the sunshine, minding our own business... when a man rides up on a horse and says "I think you are in my campsite." We were a little suspicious, and our guard quickly went up. Here we are, pretty much in the middle of nowhere.... a good distance from civilization (and police), and this random guy on a horse with no saddle, no food, no water... just a t-shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes, appears. Richie and I looked at each other and then said "Uhmm... We have a permit here..." The man quickly interrupted and said "Oh, I'm just kidding. I wanted to check out the view from here." and he hopped off his horse.

His name was Andy - a sun-soaked, middle-aged man with glasses. I'd say he is a cross between my dad and Charles, the usher from St. Joseph Cathedral in Baton Rouge. His horse, Katana, was very gentle and friendly. Andy said Katana would get upset if we didn't pet him, so we happily did.

Richie and I could both see that this guy needed some company... so we invited Andy to take a seat with us at the picnic table. He was a really nice man, but often misunderstood by people. He lives an unrestrained life and feels frustrated that people are so guarded and snobby.

He talked about his travels as a young lad - and grinned with pride when we called him "a lady's man." He listened to our recent travels and offered some great advice about the best trails throughout Point Reyes (they have over 100 miles of trails). Afterall, Andy and Katana ride the trails of Point Reyes 2-3 days a week. He also suggested some must-see spots as we head south on Highway 1.

The man had no food on him... so we shared trailmix, then he was off.

The world needs more Andys.


After the refreshing visit with Andy, Richie and I walked the beach directly below our campsite. The rock formations were peculiar and fascinating - full of lines in various directions.


Day 2 took us through meadows and cool forests - landing at Glen camp. Day 3 started with a steep 1.5 mile hike up Baldy Trail. It was up, up and up! We saw one guy all day - and it was on this trail during a brief lunch break.

The above photo is of a Hyde-A-Meal... this is where you store your food so the rodents won't eat it. Jim warned us about the large and hungry skunk and raccoon population. Funny... we didn't see any at all!

The journey to Sky Camp, on the appropriately named Sky Trail, was a windy walk, but the views were amazing. We decided to detour a bit and take a trail suggested by Andy to the summit of Mt. Wittenburg (1407 feet).













Richie woke up on Day 4 to find his Camelback bladder mouthpiece was nibbled on by a rodent. Bummer. And there were some small poop pellets in his shoe - talk about adding insult to injury!


This was a great backpacking trip.
You really learn what your tolerance level is...
We could have hiked for 10 more days... but by day 4, we were ready for a shower.


From the park entrance, we drove 20-miles on Sir Frances Drake Highway to Point Reyes Lighthouse, just north of where we went backpacking.









The open land is covered with cows and dozens of historic farms are sprinkled along the highway. I learned that during Mexican rule, three "Lords of Point Reyes" held the entire penninsula through land grants. After the United States conquered California, Point Reyes ended up in the hands of a San Francisco law firm. The land was broken into dozens of dairy ranches controlled by the law firm's senior partners, and beef and dairy cattle have roamed the grassy flatlands of Point Reyes every since.

Yes - These are cows crossing the street!

Point Reyes Lighthouse is known as the windiest spot on the Pacific Coast - and as we drove to the entrance - we watched as our bikes on the roof swayed from side-to-side.

The parking lot was packed with middle schoolers screaming and enjoying the wind. It was fun walking behind them to the lighthouse - watching and laughing as they discovered all the cool things the wind allows you to do... hiding behind a tree to get out of the wind, jacket flapping, spitting backwards and having it come back at you... (Richie almost encountered a moving spit wad from an 11-year old.)





Unfortunately, due to the high winds the stairs to the lighthouse were closed. The park ranger clocked 60 mph winds while we were there - WOW!
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Back in Civilization...

After four days in the slow-paced wilderness, it was a challenge to enter the hussle and bussle of the city. We were driving along Highway 1 - still a very, very curvy road - and people were zooming by! I was reminded of the 3rd day of our Mt. Rainier climb... coming off the mountain, smelling cigarette smoke from a park visitor, looking at Richie and saying "Can we go back up the mountain, please?"

I saw a license plate - LI 10 UP - as we were leaving Point Reyes Station.
I tried to remember it as we drove into Mill Valley - a small town - but still full of people concerned with their to-do list and getting from point A to point B as quickly as possible.