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Top Attractions in Point Reyes National Seashore

Drakes Bay

Drakes Bay is a small bay in the Point Reyes National Seashore on the coast of northern California in the United States, approximately 30 miles northwest of San Francisco at approximately 38 degrees north latitude. The bay is approximately 8 miles wide. It is formed on the lee side of the coastal current by Point Reyes. The portions of the bay related to Francis Drakes 1579 visit, Sebastião Rodrigues Soromenhos 1595 visit and their interactions with the Coast Miwok were designated as the Drakes Bay Historic and Archaeological District, a National Historic Landmark, on October 17, 2012. The bay is fed by Drakes Estero, an expansive estuary on the Point Reyes peninsula. The estuary is protected by Estero de Limantour State Marine Reserve & Drakes Estero State Marine Conservation Area. Point Reyes State Marine Reserve & Point Reyes State Marine Conservation Area lie within Drakes Bay. Like underwater parks, these marine protected areas help conserve ocean wildlife and marine ecosystems. The bay is named after Sir Francis Drake and has long been considered Drakes most likely landing spot on the west coast of North America during his circumnavigation of the world by sea in 1579. An alternative name for this bay is Puerto De Los Reyes.

Point Reyes Lighthouse

The Point Reyes Lighthouse, also known as Point Reyes Light or the Point Reyes Light Station, is a lighthouse in the Gulf of the Farallones on Point Reyes in Point Reyes National Seashore, located in Marin County, California, U.S.A. The parks adjacent Lighthouse Visitor Center features exhibits about the lighthouse and the parks marine life and natural history. Visitors can climb down about 300 steps down to the lighthouse itself, weather permitting. The main chamber of the lighthouse, known as the Lens Room, features the Fresnel lens and clockwork mechanism, and is open to the public on a limited basis. A lighthouse was assigned to Point Reyes in 1855, but construction was delayed for fifteen years because of a dispute between the United States Lighthouse Board and the landowners over a fair price for the land. The lighthouse is a sixteen sided, 37-foot tower, and a twin of Cape Mendocino Light. The first-order Fresnel lens was first lit on December 1, 1870. Electricity came to the lighthouse in 1938, and concrete steps were built into the cliff in 1939. The station was automated in 1975. The following historical information from March 1962 is maintained on the USCG web site: Point Reyes Light Station was established in 1870 at Point Reyes, Calif., 19 miles from the nearest town of Inverness. It is a family station with a complement of four men who maintain a first order light, fog signal and radio beacon. The light tower itself is a sixteen-sided structure of forged iron plate bolted to solid rock. The top of the lantern is 37 feet above the ground and focal plane of the light is 294 feet above sea level. To reach the light, men assigned must descend 308 steps on the headland from the plateau above the station where the family quarters are situated. The quarters are new, two-story, four-family units built in 1960. The four-plex contains two 2-bedroom and two 3-bedroom units. Buildings maintained on the property, in addition to the family quarters, are the fog signal building, engine room, pump house, paint locker, double garage and a four-car carport with adjoining office and workshop. Point Reyes is, by official records, the windiest and foggiest on the Pacific Coast. The station is frequently blanketed by week-long periods of fog and few years pass that do not see violent gales of 75 to 100 miles per hour strike the area. Point Reyes Light Station is one of the District’s outstanding tourist attractions. On fair summer weekends we often have several hundred visitors logged aboard. Escorting visitors has become a major portion of the duties of men assigned. Dependent children on the station travel three miles by station vehicle to school. Commissary and post exchange privileges are available at Hamilton Air Force Base (the nearest armed forces installation), or in the San Francisco area. The lighthouse was used as a location for the 1980 John Carpenter film The Fog. It is also the subject of a poem by Weldon Kees, "The Exposed Reef." Kees, together with filmmaker and photographer William Heick, later made a documentary film about the lighthouse and its environs in 1954-55. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

Bear Valley Visitors' Center

This is the jumping point from which to view all things in the Point Reyes National Seashore. But dont just grab a map and go as there is plenty to do around the visitors center. Hike the earthquake trail, for example, and see how one farmers fence split in two and jumped 16 feet during the 1906 earthquake. Another trail takes you into a real Miwok native village. See for yourself what the inside of a sweat lodge looks like. The visitors center is a jumping point for plenty of longer trails for those who love to walk. If hiking isnt your thing, check out the cultural and nature exhibits inside showing you the diverse ecology of the area. Theres even a seismograph and an auditorium. Stop in at the book store and grab a guide or a little something to remember your trip by. Back country camping and beach fire permits can be obtained at the visitors center as well. The center is open year-round.

Olema Lime Kilns

The Olema Lime Kilns at Point Reyes National Seashore in California were built in 1850 on land leased from Mexican grantee Rafael Garcia by James A. Shorb and William F. Mercer, two San Francisco entrepreneurs. The kilns were reportedly fired only a few times, and have lain abandoned for some 140 years. They were apparently abandoned no later than 1855 after only a few firings, probably due to the poor quality, small limestone deposits and the financial depression of that year. They represent a Gold Rush era effort to establish a lime-producing industry in Marin County, only two years after cession of Alta California to the United States by Mexico. They consist of three long-abandoned, barrel-shaped stone vaults lying in ruins against a hillside on the east side of Olema Creek about five miles south of Olema and about 100 yards west of California State Highway 1.

Phillip Burton Wilderness

The Phillip Burton Wilderness is part of the 111 sq. mile Point Reyes National Seashore located about 20 miles northeast of San Francisco, California. Total wilderness land is 33,373 acres which includes a roadless "potential wilderness" area of over 8,000 acres and is the only designated wilderness along the California coast. The National Park Service manages the wilderness. The wilderness is named for Californias Congressman Phillip Burton who served in the US House of Representatives from 1964 til his death on April 10, 1983. The US Congress passed legislation in 1976 that created the Point Reyes Wilderness, and in 1985, Congress, in recognition of Burtons dedication to wilderness preservation, especially his work on the California Wilderness Act of 1984, renamed the wilderness after him . "...his leadership in establishing units of the National Park System and preserving their integrity against threats to those resources... his tireless efforts that led to the enactment of the California Wilderness Act...shall henceforth be known as the "Phillip Burton Wilderness."
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