Stepping over Alamere Falls. Slowly.

Spring is here. I don’t care what the calendar says, or the fact that much of the country is still de-icing their cars each morning. When the setting for a hike is speckled with brilliant orange, yellow, red and purple flowers, and the sun forces me to discard my sweatshirt and even consider sunscreen, I’m calling it.

I was a bit torn Saturday over where to hike – my hiking group has mushroomed into a monstrous number of people, so much so that two hikes were planned on Saturday (and two more on Sunday…. hiking-palooza!). One was over in Mount Diablo State Park, a place I’ve been to once for a back-breaking, terrifically exerting hike up a few hills, and the other one involved Alamere Falls and a visit to the Wildcat Camp area, all at Point Reyes National Seashore.

Tough to choose, but since the Point Reyes hike was much closer, and I had such a great time on a coastal hike a week ago further up the peninsula, I decided to head for the beach.

Our group met at the Palomarin Trailhead, which is about 10 minutes away from Bolinas, a town so funky and quirky that town residents have removed all signs leading to the town to keep visitors away. I’m not sure what I think about that, although I’ve been to enough small towns wrecked by weekending yuppies (like me!) that it makes some sense.

Dozens of people were at the trailhead fairly early Saturday preparing to take off. In addition to our motley crew of hikers, there was a birthday-party hike (complete with pre-hike booze being imbibed to get the party going…), a trail-building crew and a few other groups. Popular place. There are a few hiking options that lead from that point and the view is amazing right away, so the interest is always strong.

I’ve hiked parts of this trail a few times before – twice during much colder weather, and then once for a moonlit evening hike. For this hike, we headed up away from the falls first, heading toward the higher-elevation ridge area and then over to an area known as Wildcat Beach, on the ocean. It’s a little less than 6 miles there, and it’s a good place for campsites, picnics and just hanging out by the water. Once on the sand, the cliffs provide some refuge from the wind.

After a lunch break, our group headed the 1.1-mile trek to the south along the sand to where Alamere Falls comes over the cliff and spills into the ocean. To get there, the beach walk is a bit tricky if the tide is coming in, which it was. When the tide is already in, the walk itself isn’t possible so we had to hustle to get to the falls before the sand was gone.
With all the rain in recent weeks, I expected the falls to be robust, and they were. Scaling up a cliff wall as part of the climb back brought us to another area, where there are three smaller falls that all combine into the main oceanside one. It’s a fun spot, ideal for hanging out, ducking in and around little waterfalls, and just sightseeing. But watch your step. It’s slippery. Uh huh.

The walk back is a mix of some elevation and ridgeline walks, combined with enough shaded pathways to make for some variety. While there were a lot of people out on the Palomarin trails, they were spread out enough that it never felt crowded. We passed by several small inland lakes, including one known as Bass Lake, where a large tree protrudes over the lake with a rope swing attached. One member of our group said that in the summer, people are frequently using the rope swing to jettison themselves into the water. It’s a local tradition, I was told. And many decide the lake is ideal for skinny-dipping, I was also informed.

While spring is here, the water didn’t look all that inviting or warm, so I’m guessing it’ll be awhile before we see any bathers on this hike.

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