Point Reyes National Seashore

Taken on the way to the Lighthouse

After leaving San Francisco, I wanted to check out Muir Woods. The problem was that I left on a weekend and everyone in the greater SF area decided they wanted to check out Muir Woods as well. The overflow parking area had overflow, overflow, overflow parking. Instead of fighting the crowds, I decided to keep moving.

I took CA 1 to continue my trek north. On the way, I saw signs for Point Reyes National Seashore. I didn't really have any plans for the night, so I decided to head to the visitors center and see what was available. One of the draws to the area is the back-country camping. Up until this point, all my camping sites allowed me to park right next to my campsite. Forget to take something out of the car? It is a grueling 30 second walk to the car! The horror!

I decided that it would be fun to load up my pack and hike to a campsite. The closest available site was a 5 mile hike away. Most of the hiking that I had done on the trip had been longer than that, and not too strenuous. So, I loaded up my pack with my tent, sleeping bag, clothes, food, and probably 10 lbs. of stuff I didn't really need.

I started on the journey, loaded down and optimistic. It was really beautiful walking down the paths.

About 2 miles in, the weight of my pack started to get to me. It didn't help that I had done a spotty job tying my sleeping bag, tent, and sleeping pad to my pack; they were starting to wiggle loose. I didn't want to stop because the ground was still soaked from the rain the night before. This meant for the next 3 miles I would have to deal with it wiggling. No problem, you got this Jon!

The path, until the last mile or so, was more or less flat. Enter my arch nemesis: steep hills!

"Hillsssssssssssssss!"

At some point up this hill, my tent came loose. I had to carry it for the last half mile. I finally arrived at the campsite!

Victory!

Upon arriving, I take my pack off and as I do I hear a "rip, pop, pop, pop". Well, that doesn't sound good. I wonder what caused that? Turns out, my pack wasn't used to the weight either.

Holding on by a little piece of plastic.

Well, future Jon is going to have one hell of a time trying to get back to the car tomorrow.

My campsite came equipped with some friends as well.

Not sure what he is eating, and not sure I want to know.

This guy was about as big as a nickle and his web was on the path to my site. Sweet dreams!

I was tired after a long day. This was still the same day that I got my window fixed and went out for breakfast in SF, so I called it an early night.

I woke up to hear the park ranger come around in a truck to check the site. I scrambled out of my tent and chased him down. Awesome, the park ranger is bound to have some duct tape to fix my pack! Nope, just painters tape. I didn't even bother.

It had rained that night, so everything was soaked. My breakfast was an experiment: A can of black beans, a can of chicken, a can of tomatoes, and some hot sauce. I didn't bring a heat source, so I ate it cold. It was pretty good, but it made WAY too much for the morning. I nibbled on it for about an hour as I waited for everything to dry out and to while I figured out how I would get my pack back to my car.

My solution was to take my towel and some of the rope I had to make a backup shoulder strap. If that little piece of plastic gave out, I would have to use that backup to get me back. Not a fun thought. Luckily, that little strip of plastic was hardier than expected and lasted the entire trip back. I have since used the tape I had in my car to fix it up, until next time. Minor victory of the day achieved! I hopped in my car and headed north.

I saw a sign for the lighthouse. Since it was sunny for the first time in a few days, I decided to go check it out. The road out there was long and winding. It passed by historic farms and I even saw a few cows on the side of the road, greeting people.

The road ended up at the top of a peak. From here there were amazing views all the way down the coastline and some great pictures of the cliffs.

In order to get to the lighthouse, you needed to descend 30 stories of stairs. Going down was a pain, going up was torturous.

Stairs! Almost as bad as hills!

I thought it was worth it,

I made my way back to CA 1 to continue my journey north. I made two quick stops along the way to check out the sights.

I eventually stopped for the night in Garbersville, just past where CA 1 ends. I decided to stay in a motel because I was tired of waking up wet.

Point Reyes Pictures