Welcome back to “As I See It”.

Ahhh… Point Reyes.

If you’ve been there you know what I mean. If you haven’t been there, you must go there. It is sacredly beautiful. Profoundly spiritual.

I’ve spent many hours, many days hiking that land. I had a map of the trails, and every time that I hiked a trail, I’d put a yellow highlighter through that trail on the map. By the time that I lost touch with that map, it shone with many rays of sunlight.

I feel that I lived on those lands in a past life. Probably in past lives. I was born there. I had family there. I hunted there. I cooked there. I died there. Multiple times. Every rock or stone that I have taken back from my hikes, was a piece of land I had been on before. Laid upon as I gave birth. Laid upon as I conceived those children.

At over 70,000 acres, Point Reyes National Seashore is home to over 45 trails. Those trails range in length from one mile to almost 20 miles. The landscape ranges from meadows, forests, dairy ranches, and trails along the coast and along the Tomales bay. I’ve lost track of the amount of trails that I hiked. An off the top of my head guess, 30 trails.

There’s the Point Reyes lighthouse, Pierce Ranch, Abbot’s Lagoon, Alamare Falls and Arch Rock. The meadows of the Bear Valley trail, where I saw white deer. The steep ascent up Mt Wittenberg, at over 1400 feet, is the the tallest point in the park. I've packed into sites on the Coast trail, and Sky Camp trail.

My trips to Point Reyes always include a stop at the Palace Market in Point Reyes Station. Some sliced deli meat, sliced cheese, crackers and water go right into my backpack. Across the street at the Bovine Bakery, I get a fresh and delicious treat of some kind. Any kind. Everything there is fresh and delicious.

Often my first stop, after loading up on nosh, is the Tule Elk Reserve, on the northern tip of Point Reyes. That spot feels especially important to me. Sometimes it is the only place that I go. I park in that special spot that perfectly fits my car. I take a blanket, my camera and my backpack out into the field that overlooks the majestic expanse of the Pacific Ocean. For a short time in spring, the land is covered with wildflowers, and my favorite Mountain Iris. 

The San Andreas Fault runs vertically through the Tomales Bay. The Tomales Bay separates Point Reyes to the west of the Tomales Bay, from the Marin coastline, directly east of the Tomales Bay.

Many a time as I drove west on Sir Francis Drake Blvd, on the southern edge of Tomales Bay, I knew that one good shake was all that was needed to forever separate the Point Reyes National Seashore from the rest of the Continental United States. 

So is the delicacy of life…

Till next time,

Be Well