Point Reyes National Seashore

October 29-30, 2005

We left from campus at 8am for a leisurely drive through SF and across the bay to Bear Valley Visitor Center.  After getting all ten of us geared up and packed down with firewood and a stack of food, we began our jaunt into the Bay Area’s most gorgeous stretch of coastline.

We began our day with an “easy 200-foot ascent” up 1400-foot Mt. Wittenberg from the 140-foot visitor Center.  Taking the start of flat Bear Valley Trail, we then headed up the shaded switchbacks of Wittenberg trail around and over trees soaked by the previous night’s downpour.  , The ground, also quite moist, provided a comfortable environment for lonely banana slugs looking for love.

  

  

At the top of the Wittenberg Trail, the path widened out into a sunny clearing.  We continued along the grassy hillsides of Sky Trail and paused for lunch in the afternoon at a spot with sweeping views of Point Reyes and Chimney Rock.

    

After lunch, we booked it down to Arch Rock and caught our breath before hustling the remaining four miles to Wildcat Camp, arriving just before dark.

  

This being a cushy backpacking trip, the fun was just getting started.  We split into fire, tent, and food crews.  A raging beach bonfire provided light and warmth for the cooks, who whipped up a feast of turkey-mushroom pesto linguini, clam chowder (with real clams!  Oysters, too!), and hot dogs.  Mars (at its closest approach in a bazillion years, according to NASA) lit up the western sky And there were, of course, a lot of s’mores.

    

The next morning we packed up camp and spent a precious fifteen minutes on the sunny, breezy beach before hiking out.  Total mileage for the weekend: 11.4 miles in + 6.2 miles out = 17.6 miles.