Wednesday 8/23/17
During the revised
planning of this trip, I came across quite a few interesting hikes within the
Point Reyes National Seashore. Two were
fairly long. I tackled one the previous day. Today it was to be all about Alamere Falls.
The hiking trail
website I naively believed had easy directions. You park at
the Palomarin Beach lot and follow the Coastal Trail seven miles until you run into the falls. Pretty easy.
So, I packed for
the day and left the Air BnB bright and early.
Even without proper street signs, I did eventually find my way. There were only a handful of vehicle in the
lot when I arrived. Finding the
trailhead was easy. There’s even a big
sign proclaiming fourteen miles round trip to the falls. Oddly, that was the very last sign I saw for the
falls. Well, the last park service sign at least.
The waterfront
was mired in morning fog with a thick white mass covering everything. A mist was coming down lighter than any mist
you’ve ever felt, It was barely fine
enough to feel. The two together had me
shoving my camera into my pack and not taking it out again for quite a while. I doubted I would see anything on the hike out that I wouldn't see on the way back.
Two miles in and
I took this with my phone. These are
always sobering. The fact Nikhil had been
reported missing only three days prior made it even more so. I had the trail mostly to myself and as I
read the poster, I heard some coyotes begin to howl off to my left. Two more answered off to my right. And they stopped as I moved on. Very strange.
There were
markers for the ocassional side trail, so it was easy to keep track of how far
I had gone. The distances sometimes
contradicted themselves, but at least I had an idea. Three miles in I passed a stone cairn
pointing to a break in the hedgerow. On
the cairn was simply written “The Falls.”
Coming so quickly after the missing hiker poster, it just seemed creepy. More on that later.
At five miles I
came to a campground by the beach. I kept
following the signs for the Coast Trail.
From the campground it was a slow, steady, almost mile long climb up a
twisting road. Every turn revealed more
climbing. Ugh.
At the top of the
hill there was a another trail sign. Coast Trail
this way. Six miles back to the trailhead.
Hooray, one more to go. A half
mile later there was another fork in the road.
I followed the one labeled Coast Trail Spur, Meadow Trail .3 miles.
There were no Coast Trail signs at the other end, just the one pointing back
the way I came.
Feeling
frustrated, I backtracked through the meadow and took the other fork through
the woods. When I eventually came to
another trail junction, the math put me at 7.5 miles. I didn’t see any waterfall, nor had I even heard running
water. Resigned to my fate, I turned
around and headed back towards the trailhead.
I hadn’t gone a
quarter mile when I ran onto a lone backpacker.
She asked how I was doing, So, I
told her. She knew all about the
waterfall. I had missed the turn two and
a half miles back at the campground. She
had stayed there the previous night and walked to the waterfall during low tide. She also told me there had been whales off
the coast late the previous afternoon.
We parted ways and I simply worked my way back up to the top of the hill.
This is an
overlook above the beach. The twisted line to the left is the road back
down. The line across the top of the
shot is the surf line.
I eventually
made it back to the campground and walked out on the beach. Way off to my left was the Alamere
Waterfall. She was right, I could see it
from the campground. However, it was
still a two mile walk up the beach.
That couple up
ahead got the that large rock outcropping in front of the waterfall. The surf was coming up past the front of the
rock. They paused there obviously
pondering. In the end they scrambled up
and over it. Eventully, I saw them climb
atop the falls and take the unofficial trail back out. It's that unofficial trail I had passed earlier. I ran into a member of the Park Service later n the day and asked about it. He called it a "Social Trail" and not one authorized. He also said it's steep, often slick and the cause of numerous sprains and broken bones. They're trying to discourage its use. Good thing I went the long way.
When I got up to
the rock I decided I just wasn’t that daring.
I love you guys, but it seemed a dumb thing to do just for a photo. I turned back.
I had the beach
to myself at this point. I’ll admit I
was enjoying it. The waves were crashing
to my left as I walked back. They were
just big enough to make that distinctive cracking sound when they crashed. Add to the mix a seal just beyond the surf
line. But, two miles in the sand does
take a lot out of you.
From the beach it
was a short climb back to the trail. I gave it another look over and saw absolutely no sign indicating the falls. While I knew I was in the right place and heading in the right
direction, I also knew it was five miles to the parking lot.
With two miles to
go I encountered the biggest group yet. It was about sixty students plus
teachers from the local high school. I stopped to let them by and one of the teachers asked if it felt "like swimming upstream."
With a quarter
mile left to go I stopped off at an overlook.
My feet hurt. My back was sore and
I was beyond tired. But, when I saw
whales diving in the distance, somehow I felt okay again. It put as much of a spring in my step as I
could possibly muster.
So, considering
the hike to the falls and the missed trails, I did twenty miles and felt it.
It was around 6P
when I finally drove away. Once again I
just didn’t want to face a big meal. So,
I stopped off at the local grocery store and got a turkey sandwich from their
deli. Passing the beer cooler, I picked
up an amber ale I had a few days earlier.
I think I definitely earned it.
One last thing to
do before calling it a day. The first
rental agent had warned me about my Golden Gate Bridge crossing. Cash is no
longer accepted. In my position, the
best way to handle it would be to register my rental’s tag number and prepay. My car’s tag would be scanned as I drove
through. I got some weird error message
when I tried to enrole my rental. I went with Plan B instead. I took note of the time I eventually crossed the bridge and called the 800 number. After far too many menu options I finally got a human who took care of it. I'd hate to think what Hertz would have charged me if they had been billed.
Coming Up,
I meet a guy genuinely excited about otter poop.
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