Point Reyes Revisited

Toshi, Sean and I went for a run up at Point Reyes.  If any reader of this blog remembers, Toshi and I had an epic fastpacking trip out here in the fall: Stinson Beach to Tomales Point Fastpack Yo-Yo.  We had some destination/time goals for that trip that prevented us from exploring as much as we would have liked.  This time we had a ton of fun crawling around the interesting formations that this park has to offer.

Ready to Go!

Heading up the hill while there is still frost on the ground.

I can see the ocean...

Gotta love the Point Reyes Views!

The day was just beautiful.  Clear, chilly, awesome light, it was perfect for a running adventure.

Looking down at Wildcat Backpacker camp.

More incredible coastlines.

 The first time Toshi and I visited we had a tough time figuring out how to climb down to Alamere Falls.  We had ran south on the Coast Trail, past the falls, and decided that there was no established trail to get down to or below the cliffs.  It turns out that if we had gone another 100 ft we would have found a unmaintained trail, that was signed for Alamere Falls.  Now we know...

The beginning of Alamere Falls.

This is where the falls cascade off of the cliff, straight onto the beach.

Pretty sweet, huh?

There was a spot in the middle of the falls that I got this picture- this is looking straight down into the beach.

These are the flows before the cliff.

There is a little bit of rock scrambling require to get down to the beach, but it was fun!  Sean is showing us the butt slide technique.

Looking up at the cliff from the beach.

Groovy picture of the Alamere flow as it heads toward the ocean.

Here is some video clips of the Falls:

It is interesting how the sand just seems to suck up the water.

Paradise, right?

 After we were done with the falls, we ran along the beach back to Wildcat backpacking camp.  We had fun playing with beach stuff: the various sticks, and plants, and shells and stuff that wash up on the beach.  Back at Wildcat we ran into some other ultra-runners.  Do you know how we knew they were ultra-runners?  One guy was wearing a Lake Sonoma 50, and the other Dick Collins Firetrails 50 t-shirt.  Both are races that I plan on running this year.  This place is infested with crazy people.

Other ultra runners.

Random yellow flower.  It looked like someone had spray-painted this particular spot.

Top of Arch Rock.

The color is awesome in this shot.

Climbing down to the "arch" of Arch Rock.

"The Arch"

Sean absorbs the impact of his landing off of the rock, but does he keep from falling in the water?

Arch Rock: The Real Thing:

Smaller arch.

Can you guess what this is?

The Ocean washed into these caves.  It would have been interesting to see if they are accessible during low tide.

Can you spot Sean and Toshi?

Bobcat spotting.

 The picture above doesn't do this cat justice.  This was a big one.

Another water fall.

Flows into the ocean.

Toshi's best Leor impression.

We had to wade through that arch to get to the "secret" beaches

Can you guess what that black stuff is? 

Now can you guess?

What we thought was the "Amphitheater"  but it wasn't.  It was still very impressive.

Looking out from the "Amphitheater"

Checking out Sculpture Beach

It's pretty cool how the water flows cut through the sand.

Sea Urchins

Underwater.

More slimy creatures in a cave.

I don't know if the starfish is being worshiped by the clams, or the clams have trapped a starfish, whatever...

Cave with slimy things in it:

Dead forest on the way back to the car.

Mt. Whittenberg, not quite the summit, but this is where you want to take your pictures from.

Descending through a pinewood forest.

Done!

All in all it was an awesome day with friends in a beautiful place.  Can't ask for more.  I think our route took us about 22+ miles, with a lot of scrambling and goofing around.  About six hours.

Compilation of various video clips: