Stephanie and I haven’t really taken a Vespa roadtrip since our Panoramic Highway adventure last July, so last weekend she dreamed up a ride to the southern end of Point Reyes, followed by a hike when we got there—partly to scope out the terrain for an inaugural backpacking trip.

And thank goodness we took our scooters. The traffic on CA-1 was ridiculous as everyone headed for Stinson Beach to take advantage of the rare 80 degree weather. We scooted by car after car, and it still took us an hour and a half to get there.

Now I thought I’d been to Point Reyes before, it was like my goto adventure spot while I was living in Sonoma County, but I’d never been to the southern end, which has hiking trails with some serious mileage attached.

Our plan was to head towards Alamere Falls which we’d read about as a hiking destination. When we got a closer look at the distance entailed, we saw that Alamere was about 4 miles in. Since we actually had other plans that night, we figured we might have to turn back without making it all the way.

But given that we weren’t A) wearing snowshoes, B) hiking up a river, or C) hiking up a mountain in the desert, we were actually making pretty good time. And the weather was freaking awesome. It felt hotter than Death Valley to me, but the sort of hot people living in San Francisco long for. And there was all this cool stuff we passed on the way, like a spring-fed “mountain” lake complete with rope swing. Gotta check that out.

The last part of the trail to Alamere was a little insane (as the sign below will attest), part bushwhacking poison oak, park bouldering, but we made it. And we were not alone. But it was totally worth it. Imagine a crazy spring-fed waterfall emerging out of the hillside, with three medium-sized cascades, followed by a final descent over a shear cliff crashing onto the beach 30 feet below and then flowing in the Pacific Ocean. Yeah. Sick.

Satellite map of the Coastal Trail from the Palomarin Trailhead to Alamere Falls

The sign marking the last 0.4 miles to Alamere Falls

Looking down towards the falls (note: the land you see is not the coast line, but the edge of a 30 foot cliff off the beach)

Looking up at the first three stages of the falls

At the edge of the cliff, where the falls descends to the ocean

Looking up the Point Reyes coastline from the falls

Some pretty yellow flowers growing near the falls

California poppy with purple lupins

The southern Point Reyes coastline

• Hot Golden Gate Bridge Action!
• Hiking Point Reyes with Christy and Art
• Conquering Mt. St. Helena
• occoneechee
• Katie at Point Reyes

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