A walk in the woods - Point Reyes

This past weekend, we headed up to Point Reyes for a quick backpacking trip. We had reservations at Site 10 at Sky camp, off Limantour Road. Despite the lack of rain for several months, the hills of Point Reyes seemed as wet and foggy as ever!

We followed the Sky Trail uphill for a little over a mile to the Sky Camp. It was a really straightforward hike and a great way to get out into the wilds with little effort. Quite a few trails are accessible from the campground so it's a good base to explore the area.

I took a quick cell phone photo of the guidebook map for quick reference.

We set up camp at our site which was about 100 yards off the main trail. We took a short out and back hike southward on the Sky Trail while we still had some daylight.

We ran into a few folks on the trail but in general it was quite peaceful.

We soon entered a more densely forested area and the trail got incredibly muddy! It was easy to see why. The trees were doing their job harvesting the water right out of the air - it was practically raining down on the forest floor.

The fog poured through the tree canopy and the light was muted but still amazing. I kept falling behind to take pictures as the landscape became more eery and unusually green.

There were signs of life though and we walked through a clearing where some beautiful orange flowers emerged.

As the sun set we saw all shades of white, grey, and black as the trees were silhouetted against the sky. Not your typical oranges and reds to signal the end of the day.

We turned around to head back to camp and took one final glimpse of the fog machine in action, now rolling through the tall trees.

The next day, we headed down to the end of Limantour Road to the beach. I had never visited this beach before and really enjoyed it! It's always a unique experience to look over the water and see land where you are not expecting it! Hello Point Reyes!

View looking west along Limantour Beach, across Drakes Bay, with Point Reyes in the distance

We picked up a beach clean-up bag courtesy of All One Ocean and NPS and did our best to find plastic debris scattered on the beach. These boxes seem like such a great idea and I hope to see more of them!

All One Ocean beach clean-up station provide re-purposed coffee bags to collect trash from the beach

We wandered along the beach and made our way back to the car, crossing over the channels and marsh of the upper reaches of the Limantour Estero.

We made our way back over the hill to Point Reyes Station and then headed up the eastern shore of Tomales Bay to the Marshall Store, a seafood shack perched over the waters of the bay. We ordered some oysters and watched the last bit of sunshine disappear behind the fog bank. Time to head home!

When in Rome... Tomales Bay oysters at the Marshall Store.