Point Reyes Lighthouse, California
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| Point Reyes Lighthouse |
Having just one whole day in Tomales Bay made us want to see everything we could in and around that area, so we drove about 30 minutes to Point Reyes National Seashore on a beautiful clear sunny November morning and made our way to the lighthouse situated at the tip of the peninsula.
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| Scenic Walk |
The park, covering 71,028 acres in Marin County, California, is about a one and a half hour drive from San Francisco and is characterised by rolling hillocks mostly lightly covered by green or brown grass and every now and then you'll come across an opening between the hillocks where you catch a glimpse of the clear topaz blue waters of the Pacific Ocean.
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| Deep Waters |
The walk from the car parking area to the lighthouse steps was picturesque with gnarled trees along the side of the road. We also got a beautiful view of the expansive stretch of beach which would have been ideal for a long lazy picnic on such a beautiful day. The tree branches were low and beckoned to me like low hanging fruit, so I thought I'd try and sit on one.
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| Huffing and Puffing up the Equivalent of 30 Stories |
Well, lets just say I’m not as agile as I may have thought I was, living a city life for the last gazillion years, so that ended up being quite an effort and the sight of me with well fitting jeans trying to get a leg up provided a fair bit of amusement for my husband and friends. Managed to hoist myself up though, and even got a picture on the branch with my friend - who somehow didn't seem to have as much trouble getting on herself!
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| The Beach |
Getting to the lighthouse from the station is a challenge for the lazy and the trek up and down the 308 steps is guaranteed to give your glutes a solid workout. Visitors are cautioned that negotiating the stairs is equivalent to climbing a 30 storey building so not that appropriate for the fragile. However, there is a welcome respite every hundred steps or so in the form of rest stops with benches which we happily availed of on our way up.
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| And Who Are You Looking at? |
Looking inside the lighthouse and the standing on the wraparound porch you realise how vast the ocean is and how quiet and peaceful it is around there. One of the rangers we met there said that t's quite an isolated life and sometimes they go days without seeing anyone. If you're lucky, you can spot dolphins and whales in the water but we had no such luck that day. Also, given our limited time available, we needed to get going to our next destination, Muir Woods.
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| Between the Rocks |
We just visited the lighthouse at Point Reyes, but the park has many other activities available such as hiking trails lasting less than one hour to six hours, the beach and culinary pursuits around.
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