Point Reyes National Seashore

Things to Do:

Point Reyes National Seashore offers a variety of recreational and educational opportunities, depending upon your interests and the planned length of your stay in the park. Visitors can easily spend a day, a weekend, or even longer exploring what Point Reyes has to offer. The park maintains more than 140 miles of trails, four backcountry campgrounds, several historical structures, three visitor centers, numerous beaches accessible by car and/or foot, and much, much more. The best place to begin your visit is at the Bear Valley Visitor Center, a one-minute drive from CA 1 in Olema. Turning onto the entrance, you cross the San Andreas Fault Line. The visitor center offers exhibits, artifacts, as well as information on programs, weather, and activities throughout the park. In addition to the Bear Valley Visitor Center (415-464-5100), Point Reyes includes two other visitor centers: 1) Ken Patrick Visitor Center (415-669-1250), located at Drakes Beach; and 2) Lighthouse Visitor Center (415-669-1534), located on the Point Reyes Headlands.

Getting Around the Park
Point Reyes National Seashore comprises over 100 square miles, including 32,000 acres of coastal wilderness area. Estuaries, windswept beaches, coastal scrub grasslands, salt and freshwater marshes, and coniferous forests create a haven of 80 miles of unspoiled and undeveloped coastline. To visit attractions beyond Bear Valley, such as the Lighthouse, the beaches or Tomales Point, most visitors tour Point Reyes by private automobile. Due to limited parking at the Lighthouse and Chimney Rock areas, on good-weather weekends during the whale-watching season (usually the last weekend of December through early April), Sir Francis Drake Blvd. is closed to private automobiles beyond South Beach from 9 am to 5:15 pm. To visit these locations, visitors must park at the Drake’s Beach parking lot and ride the buses provided. Bus tickets may be purchased inside the Ken Patrick Visitor Center at Drake’s Beach between 9 am and 3 pm. Buses leave every 15 â€"20 minutes between 9 am and 3:30 pm.

Point Reyes Lighthouse
No trip to the Point Reyes National Seashore is complete without a trip to the Lighthouse. Located on the rocky promontory of the Point Reyes Headlands, the historic light (first operated in 1870) contains the original first-order lens and still operational clockworks. The 300 steps that lead down to the Lighthouse are a short 0.4 miles from the parking area. The lighthouse observation platform is the best place to see gray whales on their southward and northward migrations (January-April).

Hiking
The National Seashore includes 147 miles of hiking trails for visitors to explore. Trail maps for the north district trails and south district trails are available at the Bear Valley Visitor Center. There are many ways to customize your hike to accommodate your physical and time limitations. Stop by the Bear Valley Visitor Center for current trail information and suggested hikes.

Wildlife Viewing
Point Reyes is home to nearly forty species of land mammals, and at least a dozen species of marine mammals. Nearly half the bird species of North America have been spotted here and birdwatching is exceptional, especially during fall and spring migrations. The park is home to one of the largest populations of tule elk and a thriving breeding ground for the once nearly extinct elephant seals. Jutting 10 miles into the Pacific Ocean, Point Reyes offers one of the best spots for viewing the migrations of the California gray whale from January through April.

The Beaches of Point Reyes
The extensive coastline of Point Reyes includes a number of beaches that range from Heart's Desire Beach, a sheltered cove on Tomales Bay that is excellent for families with small children to The Great Beach, a 10-mile expanse of heavy surf. Some of the beaches such as Limantour Beach and Abbotts Lagoon Beach attract a number of shorebirds and wintering ducks.

Guided activities
Visitors can explore geology, Coast Miwok culture, lighthouse history, and other topics with a Park Ranger. Programs are offered on weekends and are free to the public. Point Reyes Field Seminars, offered by the Point Reyes National Seashore Association, provides educational experiences and the Miwok Archeological Preserve of Marin (MAPOM) provides adult classes in California Indian skills. Visitors can learn flintknapping, arrowmaking, basketry, hide tanning, and other native skills with experienced instructors.

Other activities
The Park provides a variety of off-road biking opportunities traversing diverse habitats and terrains. You can explore trails through evergreen forests, coastal scrub, or along estuaries and beach bluffs. Visitor Centers offer a free map of the park's trails, indicating which trails are designated for bike travel. Kayaking is also a popular activity at Point Reyes. The most popular area for this activity is on Tomales Bay, a 15-mile long, 6780-acre tidal water body that is the largest unspoiled coastal embayment on the coast of California. See www.tomalesbay.net for more information on kayaking on Tomales Bay.

Point Reyes National Seashore
General Information	Lodging in the Park
Getting to the Park	Photographs and Maps
Camping	Nearby National Parks, Forests & Scenic Roads
Educational Opportunities	Things to Do
History	Travel & Tourism Offices
Jobs and Volunteering	Weather

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