Blast From the Past Week 3

Alamere Falls, Point Reyes. May 2005. This was the first of the two trips I've taken to the hidden secret known as Alamere Falls in the Point Reyes National Seashore near the small town of Bolinas. It's not everyday that you find such wonders in CA outside of Yosemite, let alone a waterfall that flows directly into the ocean. It's about a moderate 7.5-8.5 mile round trip hike from the parking lot. The only difficult part of the hike was the short scramble off the main trail to the falls, where you have to hike through a narrow path between bushes, shrubs, and perhaps even poison oak and then climb down between some rocks to the head of the falls. There are about 5-6 drops on the falls, with the last drop into the ocean being the highest. We enjoyed a nice lunch along the cliff, and even tried to sit along some rocks with our feet wading in a calm portion of the flow of water until we no longer could stand the ice cold stings to our feet. A few of us weren't satisfied with just getting to the cliff edge, so we scrambled down the steep trail to the beach, which was for the most part stable except for some areas of loose gravel. I highly recommend climbing down to the beach and catching the mist of the falls. Luckily for us it wasn't high tide. The key to climbing down safely amidst the loose gravel was to keep your center of gravity as close to the ground as possible. That meant getting dirt on all fours, if necessary. If you would like further information on how to get here, just do a search on Alamere Falls. The following site also has great information on how to get this waterfall wonder: http://www.bahiker.com/northbayhikes/palomarin.html Becks and I may be paying the falls a visit in the very near future to get our waterfall fix. So everything that TLC said to do about "Don't go chasing waterfalls"...completely ignore if you would like to experience this hidden secret right here in the Bay Area.