Point Reyes National Seashore
When we first moved to Sacramento, I knew that Santa Cruz and Tahoe were day-trip worthy destinations from our spot. I knew that because our roomies took us there to help convince us to make the move out West. Obviously, it worked. Little did I know that Sac would be such a good home base for jaw-dropping experiences, just 1-3 hours from our front door!! It’s been 2 years of living here before I finally went to Point Reyes National Seashore.
In our early Sacramento days, I had found a photographer on social media that did the most beautiful photoshoot and tagged their location at PRNS. That’s when the national seashore was added to my CA bucket list, which is ever expanding. So when one of Kyle’s swim meets (that I was already planning on attending to be Coach Ky’s #1 fan) was a 30 minute drive from the seashore, I had to go and knock it off of my list.
Located North of the San Francisco Bay, the San Andreas fault line runs through the park, and is marked by a linear valley that separates the peninsula from the rest of the coast. On the drive through the valley, I felt as if I were a character in The Sound of Music. Small farms were tucked into the crevices of the rolling green hills, that were speckled with roaming dairy cows and horses. Driving with the windows down to smell the salty air and watch the golden eagles soar above, I imagined that ‘The Land of Milk and Honey’ would be like this.
My first stop was the visitor’s center, to soak up the NPS employee’s expertise. Right after stepping out of my car, I saw a flock of quail in a nearby field! I had never seen so many quail in my life. I squatted down next to a wooden fence to photograph them, hopeful not to spook them away, just in time for a red-tailed hawk to swoop in and try to snatch one! The flock fled straight over my head, with no casualties thank goodness. This wild experience lead me to believe that I was in for a very promising visit!
Even the visitor’s center is worthy of awe. There are life-sized replicas and taxidermy displays of local wildlife (one of which was a thresher shark, aka my favorite shark species), and the building is backed by a pasture of horses that could be seen through their floor-to-ceiling windows.
The park employee I spoke to directed me to Drake’s Beach for elephant seal viewing. Little did I know, I had made it just in time for the end of their mating season! God’s timing really is perfect :*) Although I ‘only got to see a few’ (according to the volunteers at the beach) they were so cool to see up close. Moving like an inchworm and making farting sounds with their mouths, I was cracking up the whole time. I highly recommend the experience.
** So a note for your future travels to see hundreds of seals, prime time mating season goes from Jan-Feb!**
My next stop was the Point Reyes Lighthouse, where I learned about the most dangerous peninsula on the California coastline. Infamous for whale watching, I got to see a pair of peregrine falcons dive bomb the cliff side! They flew so fast that I didn't even get a video on my phone that is quality enough to actually see them. It was there at the lighthouse where I ran into a friend that I had made while watching a herd of tule elk graze earlier in the day (!!), and she was so sweet in letting me use her binoculars, since I had forgotten mine at home. After lovely conversation while hiking back to the car with my new friend, I decided to head to the swim meet to catch finals and to save exploring the rest of the park for my next visit, with Kyle. <3
Between the beautiful cliffside coastal views, the vast grasslands, the esteros full of wildlife, Douglas fir forests, and the historic ranching sites throughout the park.. I can see why this beautiful land has earned the nickname of ‘The Enchanted Shore’. This place is definitely CA bucket list worthy. These photos seriously don’t do the land justice.
