What to Find at Point Reyes, CA

"Never far from the ocean, their striking bluff-top groves seem designed by Japanese printmakers." – Elna Bakker, on describing the Bishop-Pine Forest









May 5


The strongest reported wind gust ever recorded at the Point Reyes Seashore is 130 miles per hour.  Lying underneath Tomales Bay is the most active faultline on the west coast.  Fog hangs so low and so thick at times that it is virtually impossible to conceive of 16th century schooners anchoring along these rock studded shorelines for safe anchor.  It might very well be the volatile nature of the peninsula, aided by the promise of much sunnier micro-climates and unparalleled views, that bring millions of visitors here annually.  As you walk along the Esteros, a quaint and rustic roll to the hills house several still running dairies, which used to grow, produce, and ship from these tumultuous shores to the hungry markets in San Francisco, like Murphy Ranch, the oldest running original operation at Point Reyes proper.

The Bishop-Pine Forest, not far-off, is a great testament to the adaptability of species to climate.  Dependent upon the very moisture and and shaped by the very wind that is feared, the Bishop Pines used to be a strong influence up and down the California coastline, but now reduced to mere pockets where not intruded on.  Much of the Point Reyes stand burned in the 1995 Vision Fire.  "The pines often take on a bonsai-like shape, contorted by strong winds and dwarfed by thin, nutrient-poor soils. Under ideal conditions – bishop pines grow into tall, regal trees, reaching heights between 40 and 70 feet."

One of the more famous batches of these majestic trees rises above a road out the old RCA signal facility, an geographical location that was found to be ideal for picking up radio signal, the very place where Amelia Earhart's last radio signal had landed.