National Seashore- Point Reyes, The beautiful coast

Point Reyes National Seashore is one of the gems of San Francisco bay area. Point Reyes peninsula is surrounded by the peaceful Pacific ocean. The seashore is just not a beach where one can hangout, it is an array of habitats for marine wildlife. Beaches, bays, lagoons, estuaries, tide pools and so on ... The  National Seashore was established to protect the delicate wilderness and ancient tribal culture and now it is a natural sanctuary for hundreds of plants and wildlife and also to the human spirit. The seashore offers long stretches of sandy beaches, hiking trails many other recreational activities. One of my favorite places where I went looking for photo-opportunities, inspiration and solitude!

Known for clean beaches Point Reyes Seashore is a preserve for Tule Elks and Northern elephant seals. The elephant seal lookout is near Chimney Rock above Drakes Bay. It is wonderful experience to watch these marine creatures screaming to attract females! This call could be heard miles away. Pups sleep all the time even in that noise.  Point Reyes lighthouse is another beautiful attraction. After sunset one can see this illuminated lighthouse from the 300 steps high cliff.

Tule Elks

9 mile out-and-back hike to Tomales Point on alomost flat coastal trail is very refreshing and pleasant. Springtime this trail is lined with wildflowers and the birds sing melodies. Yellow and purple lupines paint the whole landscape and the orange California poppies highlight the beauty of this area. I found this milk thistle on the trail, standing upright with pride. Very photogenic in my opinion! Tomales Point area is one of the birder's paradise. One can see colorful little birds chirping around.

Milk Thistle

The clarity of the day is unpredictable as the ocean fog creeps in without notice. This is very common scene. On clear days one can enjoy ocean views, rocky cliffs, numerous species of birds and herds of tule elks. Tomales Point area is declared as Tule Elk Preserve. Elks graze freely all along the trail and also can be seen from the road to the preserve.

A 1.5 mile trail to Abbots Lagoon beach is birders slice of heaven. I was there just once and sighted and photographed quite a many birds! One could even see bunnies hopping around. Chipmunks could be seen everywhere. California mule deer also makes an appearance if you are lucky! Palomarin trail to wildcat beach is 5.5miles long giving access to the Alamere Falls which interestingly flows into the ocean. The falls best seen after rainstorms is one of the popular picnic spots.

There are many more beaches, lagoons, bay and rocky shores. hundreds of miles of hiking trails to beaches and along the coastline. There is one hostel too where I did spend a night. It was a good experience staying with six total-strangers in one single room. The hostel is located, it seems like, in the middle of nowhere, wilderness all around.

Though windy and foggy most of the time, Point Reyes is one interesting piece of Geology, one of the finest places for birdwatching, popular tourist and recreational destination, one of the best places to see Elephant seals and Tule elks and much more! When in San Francisco Bayarea it is a must visit place!
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National Parks of USA

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This post is linked to Our World Tuesday and Nature Notes and Wild Bird Wednesday.
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Scrapbook- A Travel Blog by Kusum Sanu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.