Clan Mercotan is renting a cosy home in Inverness, CA this coming May. We plan to consume much seafood and do other fine dining as we nose around the beaches and trails in that area, and want to spend time visiting Muir Woods (any other recommendations for seeing redwoods?) along with popping into San Francisco a time or three to see the sights like cable cars, Chinatown and Fisherman’s wharf, the Hungry i (is that still a thing there? It blew my mind back in the 70’s!) etc.
We’re an eclectic bunch; Some of us will be scaling mountains as is convenient, others will want to check out the theater and ride horses. We’re not really into wine or toking up, and we do tend to prefer enjoying nature over being in crowds or shopping. We’ll have decent transportation and aren’t averse to doing a bit of driving, but don’t really plan to schlep huge distances, so we don’t anticipate going to Lake Tahoe or Yosemite; not while we have a perfectly nice house in the woods to stay in.
Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve Visitor Center about an hour 20 minutes North of you. Quiet hike, lots of giant Redwoods, dress warm (it’s always cool and damp - the way the Redwoods like it). Cool history of the park’s establishment. It will be much less crowded than Muir. Armstrong Redwoods SNR
Hike the Marin headlands.
Napa for food and wine (pretty good I hear). The fires were mostly north of there.
We enjoyed the Coast trail from the Palomarin trailhead to Alamere Falls, but there are lots of good trails to walk around there. The hiking is pretty straightforward, and the water is cold.
You’re very close to Muir Woods and we also enjoyed the hike from there to Mt Tam, that’s a bigger day. An interesting challenge is the Dipsea Trail, which goes from Muir Woods to Stinson Beach is a 10 mile round trip through some interesting terrain and a staircase with nearly 700 steps.
Years ago we did a short hike to Tennessee Valley Beach in the Marin Headlands, that goes past some WW II era defensive emplacements. We saw some interesting wildlife along the way, including a bobcat.
If you plan to hang out in the area, Muir Woods is certainly a must; don’t rush, just enjoy the ambiance. Also check out Sausalito.
One of the best trips I ever took while living in the Bay area was to drive up Feather River Canyon to Lassen Volcanic Park in the spring. I then headed straight west to the ocean, making that part of the trip in less than one day, then I camped out on the shore. The spectacular thing was the drastic climatic change from volcanic, snow-covered Sierras, to the hot inland valley, then into the coastal redwoods cloaked with fog, all in one day. Mountains to valley to mountains.
The drive up Feather River Canyon was fun, too – much steeper hillsides than Wisconsin, waterfalls and rushing mountain streams everywhere.
Drive over to the hills east of Berkeley just as the sun goes down and watch the fog bank roll over the city and up the hill until you are enveloped in it.
I don’t remember the highway numbers, but they shouldn’t be hard to find from my description. Whatever you do, I’m sure you will enjoy and remember it.
Armstrong Redwoods park is free, the charges shown are only if you want to drive into the park. Just take the hikes from the visitor center parking lot.
I love Point Reyes…so many neat places, so many great memories from trips there over the years. If you’re looking for a good sandwich, you cannot beat the Inverness Park Market Deli. If you need groceries, the Palace Market in Pt Reyes Station will probably have anything you need.
You can’t go wrong hitting any of the major visitor areas like Bear Valley, Pierce Point Ranch/McClure Beach, Limantour Beach or taking Sir Francis Drake all the way out to the Lighthouse (check to make sure it’s open) and Chimney Rock.
My absolute favorite spot in Pt Reyes this section of the Sky Trail, about 2.5 miles from the trailhead on Limantour Rd. Just a magical place.
You can experience magical moments there even on cold, cloudy, windy days, like the time I witnessed a fantastic light and shadow show at Drakes Beach.
Bodega Bay is just an hour or so up the coast, worth the trip to stop in Bodega to see the schoolhouse from The Birds, have some top-notch clam chowder at Spud Point Crab Co. and take in the view from Bodega Head.
On the other side of narrow Tomales Bay is the Hog Island Oyster Co., a famous oyster farming and selling place. They have an outdoor picnic setup and will sell you all the oysters you can eat. They provide you with some soggy, fishy gloves and an oyster knife, and you get to be the oyster-shucker. Bring some lemons and a couple of loaves of crusty bread. And a lot of napkins.
For one historical curiosity, drive a ways up the coast to Fort Ross. It’s the site of an attempted (abandoned) Russian colony. Needless to say, if the Ruskies had held on, the history of the US might have been quite different.
Highlighting this one if you like large ungulates framed against a background of ocean cliffs. The local tule elk are a subspecies found only in CA and are usually easy to see at Pierce Point/Tomales Point. Plus a little former dairy to poke around in.
Also although they’re better seen at Año Nuevo down the coast( and during the winter breeding season ) elephant seals can reliably be observed at a distance at Pt. Reyes( bring binoculars ).
Might be worth noting that Muir Woods is a victim of its own beauty. Crowds can be annoying and parking( recently limited by the Park Service )horrendous. Go as early as you can on a weekday.
Samuel P. Taylor State Park has very nearby redwoods. If not quite as nice as Muir Woods, they’re also not as thronged with people.
I don’t know that there is anything I can add to the already great advice except that if you are going to take a trip up to Fort Ross and Salt Point SP, you should also stop by Gerstle Cove. There is a very nice view and some easy trails right along the coast, and if you are interested in snorkeling or freediving there is a nice State Marine Preserve there. It probably isn’t worth the drive unless you really want the ocean views, but if you go another hour or so up to Jenner there is an excellent restaurant and deli called Stewart’s Point Store.
Point Reyes National Seashore is one of my favorite places in the United States short of the Olympic Peninsula, and the area particularly around Estero de Limantour and the southwest side reminds me of Okinawa-honto and Ishigaki-jima.
I would definitely check out the “earthquake fence” https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/earthquake-fence-skb
It’s just a short hike to see it, and it is mind blowing to think of the ground/earth shifting that much in one shot.
Agree with this & add that if you’re going that way there’s great food in Guerneville & amazing food out at the coast in Jenner. Tiny town, but the restaurant sits on the cliffs above where the Russian River meets the ocean - one of the great views, especially at sunset. Food and service live up to the views - where else can you try local elk?
Kayaking on Tomales Bay is on the list of things to do the next time I’m there. I also liked the beaches on the North end, Abbott’s lagoon and McCures beach. The latter is were I found a dead deer that appeared to commit deer suicide by jumping off the cliff onto the beach. Rudolph don’t surf.
