Back in March, my husband and I decided to go on a hike to Alamere Falls in Point Reyes. One of his co-workers recommended the hike and we figured it was worth checking out. This was our first long hike ever and we really didn’t know what to expect so we packed water, our cameras, and a few bags of chips (totally prepared, I know). We woke up super early that day and I made eggs and toast for breakfast. I figured we needed the sustenance for the upcoming hike. We also wanted to get there early because we read that parking sucks if you aren’t there early enough.
On our way there, we actually saw a Muir Woods lookout spot and decided to make a slight detour to check it out. It was totally worth the stop because we got to see this!
After our little detour, we finally made it to Point Reyes and were lucky enough to get a decent parking spot near the main parking lot entrance. There was a restroom on our way to the trail, so I suggest you use it if you need to (we didn’t use it though). Otherwise, continue on to Palomarin Trail towards Coastal View Trail. The views on these trails are breathtaking.
Finally, you will see the Alamere Falls Trail sign. It’s not hard to miss, however it doesn’t look very inviting and so we almost didn’t take it thinking we could get to the falls some other way. Thankfully, we saw other people coming out of it and decided to go in. The trail is unmaintained and is full of poison oak so be sure to wear long sleeves/pants. We saw tons of people in shorts and shirts, but we decided to be extra careful, which I’m glad we were.
The trail included a section where we had to jump over a mini stream in order to get to the other side of the trail. It was basically the only way to continue on. My suggestion is to just do it. Everyone else is. 🙂 Side note: Go early because on our way back, there was a crowd of people trying to jump across at that point and it was just crazy.
You do get to see a few smaller waterfalls on the way as well.
Once you make it across and climb a little further down, you will get to probably the most difficult part of the trail, the climb down to the beach. It’s not too bad, but it’s also not very fun. Take your time. Honestly, I hated the climb back up. I kept asking myself on the way down, how the heck am I supposed to get back up?!
Once you make it down though, you are rewarded with an upclose view of Alamere Falls! Totally worth it!
This was an overall fun hike. It was about 8 miles and I ended up walking 21,000+ steps that day. The weather was also perfect that day. We did lose one of our camera batteries during the hike back, but that was the only bummer part of our day. Totally recommend if you love to hike and enjoy awesome views along the way.
-Gretch
