2025 10 29 - National Seashore, Point Reyes, Point Reyes Station CA

Sandy shore

NOTE: THIS IS BEING WRITTEN UP FOUR MONTHS LATER.

The picture above, inland was all dairy farm. Many family farms for 100+ years. When we were there, those farms were down to their last few months of cleanup before having to be gone from their farms. The government wanted their land for the park and had been fighting with them for years. They are expecting the main wildlife here will be Elk.

The walk from the parking lot to the overlook was just over a half mile. Paved but steep. There are parking spaces closer for handicapped but someone would have to move the road block.

The top of the hill behind us is almost 1,500 feet above sea level. The view area is paved and fenced and you can see about 300 degrees. I did take a picture but they don't show on paper nearly as good is it looks taking the picture.

From the viewing area there is a sign that says it is 313 steps down to the light house (... AND 313 steps back up.)

The stairs were closed the day we were there. Website says the lighthouse is only open F-M and we were there on a Wednesday. Also the stairs are closed if the winds are over 40 mph.

... and we were taking this trip during one of the government shutdowns so that may or may not have effected it also. It did stop us from going to other national parks along our route.

The best whale watching here is from Jan to May. We were here in October and some of the locals were pointing out whales for the rest of us. There are places online that track the whales, not sure if just by sightings or by individual whale.

In the picture below, looking down the stairs to the lighthouse. 313 steps below.

))) Now in Feb when I am writing this, some area's of the shore are closed because of elephant seal pups are nesting.(((

... from here we headed to Half Moon Bay. All parks in that area are pay to park so we just walked the parking lot after dark instead. We could have walked to the park from the hotel but it was about a half mile of sidewalk. So unless we wanted to do a three mile walk today, now, it would have been mostly sidewalk walking.