Where the spirit leads the feet will follow.
Down distant paths for unmapped miles.
Heads forget but hearts remember:
The art of living knows no bounds.

"The best journeys answer questions that in the beginning you didn't even think to ask." - Jeff Johnson, 180 Degrees South

"The best way out is always through" - Robert Frost

Sleep doesn't help if it's your soul that's tired.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Point Reyes National Seashore

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.

A section of the Mount Wittenberg Trail.

From the meadow below Mt. Wittenberg, where several trails merge, it's a short climb to the 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.

A typical section of the Sky Trail as it nears the Woodward Valley Trail cut-off.

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.

Along the Coast Trail near Secret Beach.

Point Resistance and Point Reyes.

Some Fungi encountered back on the Sky Trail.

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.