Hiking Along Tomales Point in Point Reyes

Tags

California, Cowgirl Creamery, Drake's Bay Oysters, Marin, North America, Point Reyes, Point Reyes National Seashore, San Francisco, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Station House Cafe, Tomales Bay Foods, Tomales Point, Tomales Point Trail, Tule Elk, United States

Mr. Selfish and I are enjoying how close SF is to so many easy and fun day trips. One of our first day trips was to the Point Reyes National Seashore, which is located north in the westernmost tip of Marin. I browsed the various trails and decided on the Tomales Point Trailhead, which is about 10 miles round trip. Tomales Point boasts of coastal trails and an abundance of tule elk.

Since it is in the most western part of Point Reyes, the drive from SF took about an hour and 20 minutes. On our way, we stopped at Tomales Bay Foods to visit the original creamery and store for Cowgirl Creamery. We picked up some provisions for a picnic during our hike.

Upon arrival at Tomales Point, we parked in the parking lot near Pierce Point Ranch and started our hike.

Almost immediately, we came upon the coast and some lovely views. It was quite chilly and windy that day but it didn’t deter us or the other hikers on the trail.

After about half an hour, we came upon some rocks that were begging us to sit on them and have our lunch. We obliged their request and feasted on our goodies from Cowgirl Creamery. I loved my kale Caesar salad, and Mr. Selfish enjoyed his pastrami sandwich. Of course, we also snacked on some delicious cubed cheese.

After enjoying the view for a bit, we continued our trek and came upon a herd of tule elk. It is believed that when the European settlers arrived, there were over half a million tule elk in California. Today, there are only about 4,000 tule elk in the wild, and that is after major conservation efforts. Mr. Selfish and I didn’t realize how rare they were but we probably saw at least 100 tule elk that day.

Past the tule elk sighting, the trail is not as well maintained. Most of the time, you are sinking in sand as you walk, but the view all the way at the end is worth it. We saw some people turn back before they reached the end and felt sorry for them since they missed the best part.

Then, we had to walk the five miles back to our car. Luckily, the sun was starting to set and the lighting was lovely.

On our way back to SF, we stopped at the Station House Cafe in Point Reyes for some seafood. I enjoyed some barbequed Drake’s Bay oysters with homemade barbeque sauce, and Mr. Selfish had fish and chips.