Point Reyes Hike
From past outings, I've found January to be a good month to visit Point Reyes. Between storms the weather is actually pretty nice and the crowds are about 1/10th of what they are during the other seasons.
I was looking for a long hike with a lot of "up" to get an idea just how out of shape I was after the holiday season. I ended up linking up seven different trails for a 10 mile hike and got my first summit of "Twenty-ten", 1,407 ft. Mount Wittenberg, the highest peak in PRNS.
From the Bear Valley Visitor's Center parking lot, I took off down the Bear Valley Trail for about 500 ft. and turned right onto the Mt. Wittenberg Trail. From Here it's two miles of continuous up to the Mt. Wittenberg summit.
Sam on the summit. A coastal range peak with no views from the top. A clearing, a USGS summit marker and fir trees. I got there about the time the fog burned off so it was still chilly and damp.
The meadow below Mt. Wittenberg. The two trails on the right are the Z Ranch Trail. I took the one straight out to the right which will link me up with the Sky Trail.
The view opened up fast and I got the first sighting of the day of Point Reyes. The Limantour Spit and a portion of the Estero de Limantour are at the lower right. Point Reyes, left center.
The Woodward Valley Trail descends a ridge down to the Coast Trail. Here the Farallones came into view. The Farallone Islands lie 20 miles south of Point Reyes and 27 miles outside the Golden Gate.
Lower down on the Woodward Valley Trail with the Coast Trail visible at the lower left. Coast Camp, a popular hike-in campsite at PRNS, is up a little draw just to the right of the shaded bluff at center right. Another good view of Limantour Beach and Point Reyes.
Point Resistance and Point Reyes.
A section of the Sky Trail as it nears the Old Pine Trail. I followed the Old Pine Trail down to the Bear Valley Trail and back to the trail head.
