This was my first camping trip in four years.  After getting through the 2020 campaign and enduring the COVID-19 pandemic, I was ready to get out and about!  A major objective was to beat what is expected to be a very busy summer for travel and tourism.  I received my second shot of the Pfizer vaccine on April 26, 2021, tended to matters in DC for a week, and in mid-May headed up to northern California to visit my brother and uncle (>); plans for the camping trip were still unclear.   Searching the recreation.gov website early on the morning of the May 18, I saw that my go-to choice Yosemite was full.  However, I did find a camping space available for two nights, May 18 and 19, at Glen campground at Point Reyes National Seashore.  Point Reyes is a drive of about an hour and 15 minutes from downtown San Francisco.  According to the National Park Service, the park has a gross area of 71,055.41 acres, over 90-percent of which is federal land, 80 miles of shoreline, and over 150 miles of trails.  In 2020 the park attracted about 2.3 million recreation visitors.  The Glen campground, a 4.6-mile hike out the Bear Valley trail from the Bear Valley Visitor Center, is not directly on the coast but sits at the top of a forested valley.  It has about 12 spaces, half of which were occupied.  The weather was clear, but the wind was blowing the trees, and at night it does get a bit chilly.  My primary aim was to get to the beach; on the second day I hiked two miles to Wildcat Beach and walked along the beach to Alamere Falls and then back to the other end of the beach.  On the third day, I started early to return to the visitor center, but got quite lost due to confusing signage, and put in a lot of miles before finally finding my way back via the Rift Zone  trail.

Point Reyes National Seashore Point Reyes National Seashore Association NOAA - Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary CDFW - North Central California Marine Protected Areas Point Reyes Light Marin Independent Journal - Point Reyes National Seashore West Marin Chamber of Commerce

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