San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Limantour: One of the coast’s top roads
Take a spin — but take your time — for great views, beach hikes, wildlife
Limantour Road at Point Reyes National Seashore in West Marin is a slow, beautiful drive that crests at Inverness Ridge. It’s a transformational span of 7.5 miles. You can scan across acres of wilderness foothills — now popping with fresh growth and wildflowers — to the sea and the Farallon Islands.
The road contours down to Limantour Beach, where
to your right there’s a series of trailheads and jumpoff spots to paradise. You get panoramic views, a chance for wildlife sightings, and access to miles of wildlands and wilderness beaches, some of the prettiest on the Bay Area coast.
Yet on your left along Limantour Road is the boundary for the Woodward Fire, the lightningcaused blaze that burned 4,929 acres in August. Damage, from complete consumption to a light searing of undergrowth such as chaparral, extends for miles. This spring, many are hoping for wildflower blooms here.
Ahead are launch points for getouts: Bayview Trail, Muddy Hollow and Limantour Beach (in both directions). Note that Sky Trail, which ventures south to Inverness Ridge, and the Coast Trail, which starts near the Point Reyes Hostel, are in the Woodward fire zone and closed.
As spring takes hold, the area in the vicinity of the parking lot for Li
mantour Beach can produce an unbelievable expanse of blooming Douglas iris. It often peaks in late March. A period of rain, followed by warm sun with little wind, ignites the best blooms. On the other hand, blooms can be muted by direct sun with wind.
Limantour Road is one of the rare places that force motorists to slow down to take in the scenery and the views. There is also a short section of road under repair, but passing through usually requires only a short wait, if any.
Limantour is one of the best drives in the Bay Area for access to views, trailheads and adventures. Others in the same league include BolinasFairfax Road in Marin, Skyline on the South Peninsula, and Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Redwood Road in the East Bay hills.
Before you leave home, check out the latest image from the webcam that is posted at the Point Reyes Lighthouse. On the park’s website (click on “weather”), images are refreshed every 15 minutes. The lighthouse is one of the foggiest places on the coast, so if it’s clear there, the rest of the 71,000acre Point Reyes National Seashore is guaranteed to be stellar. In March and April, it’s common for the park to enjoy many crystalline days on the coast, with crisp mornings and wind out of the northwest.
If your trip is a go, the best bet for most is to drive first to the Bear Valley Visitor Center and get the free map and brochure. This is the best visitor center in the Bay Area, and you can get any question answered about conditions, rules and suggestions for your day.
This done, you’re ready to set off on your adventure.
Bayview Trail:
The Inverness Ridge Trailhead for the Bayview Trail is your launch point for a 4.9mile loop. Your reward is a series of lookout points across
Drakes Bay and the ocean, among the prettiest views anywhere. From the trailhead, hike 1.3 miles on Bayview Trail to Drakes View Trail. Turn left and descend 2 miles, the kind of trail where you can spread out your arms and feel as if the whole world is in your reach. You intersect with the lower Bayview Trail, where you turn left and hike back up 1.6 miles to the parking area.
Muddy Hollow:
This area provides some of the best habitat in Northern California to see wildlife. An elk herd is getting established in this area, and I’ve also seen deer, bobcat, fox and more. There are two trailheads; most prefer the lower one, where you can extend the hike with a visit to Limantour Beach. The Muddy Hollow Trail enters a valley and then climbs 1.5 miles (plus a 0.3mile link) to Muddy Hollow Road. Bring your binoculars, stay quiet and slow, and watch for wildlife, best early and late in the day. You can turn this into a counterclockwise loop, all good for wildlife (and listening to the calls of songbirds) by linking the Muddy Hollow Road (left) to Glenbrook (left) and Estero Trail (left), a 7mile loop.
Limantour Beach:
No matter what adventure you have in mind, most end up at Limantour Beach. For many, Limantour is their favorite beach on the Bay Area coast. You can take a seat anywhere, have a picnic and watch the sea lap at the shore, gazing out across Drakes Bay, for as long as you want. For a while at least, you can feel as if clocks, cellphones and “should” lists don’t exist.
Limantour (north):
A gorgeous walk extends north about a mile or so along Limantour Spit. Drakes Bay laps at the beach on your left, the calm waters of Estero de Limantour on your right. The ambitious can continue ahead another mile to land’s end near the mouth of Drakes Estero. Hit it right and this can feel like the prettiest beach walk on the Pacific Coast.
Limantour (south):
Limantour Beach extends 2 miles south to Sculptured Beach. Though the Coast Trail on the bluff is in the Woodward fire zone and is closed, you can still hike south on the beach. You arrive first at a series of angled rocks in the tidewaters. Nearby offshore are a series of stacks, tunnels and outcrops. Many have a seat, watch the water lapping at the rocks and have a trail lunch, then head back, 4 miles round trip.
Limantour Road, Point Reyes National Seashore:
Access, parking free. Map/brochure: Available at visitor center, PDF available at website. No dogs on trails. Leashed dogs permitted at Limantour Beach, from parking lot on south. Bear Valley Visitors Center, Point Reyes National Seashore, 4154645100, www.nps.gov/ pore.