It's hard for me to believe that I've lived in the San Francisco area for almost 3-1/2 years and only just recently heard about this hike along the cliffs near Pt. Reyes to a series of cascading waterfalls that drop down right into the ocean. How many other secret treasures do I have yet to discover? Fortunately, a coworker clued me in on this one and I convinced a few friends to take a day trip with me for my birthday.
We started from the Palomarin trail head just outside of Bolinas. Even on a nice day, it's pretty blustery along parts of the trail. I could easily picture Catherine running along the path in search of Heathcliff. The wind picks up and it feels like you might just sail off the side of the ridge. It's all worth it, though. The views are unmatched and you'll quickly find your way from open hills to shady paths. About 4 miles in, the trail leads to Alamere Falls. You can barely call it a trail despite how well traveled it is. It's probably the first time in my life where I felt like a machete might actually come in handy. As opposed to one big waterfall, there's actually a series of them at varying heights leading down to the ocean. The climb down alongside them seems intimidating at first, but really isn't bad at all. In fact, sitting on the warm sand, protected by the rock walls was one of the few places to get away from the wind, where you could simply soak in the sun. It's the ideal spot for a picnic lunch.
We started from the Palomarin trail head just outside of Bolinas. Even on a nice day, it's pretty blustery along parts of the trail. I could easily picture Catherine running along the path in search of Heathcliff. The wind picks up and it feels like you might just sail off the side of the ridge. It's all worth it, though. The views are unmatched and you'll quickly find your way from open hills to shady paths. About 4 miles in, the trail leads to Alamere Falls. You can barely call it a trail despite how well traveled it is. It's probably the first time in my life where I felt like a machete might actually come in handy. As opposed to one big waterfall, there's actually a series of them at varying heights leading down to the ocean. The climb down alongside them seems intimidating at first, but really isn't bad at all. In fact, sitting on the warm sand, protected by the rock walls was one of the few places to get away from the wind, where you could simply soak in the sun. It's the ideal spot for a picnic lunch.On the way back we took a detour down to Bass lake, continued our picnic in a nice little meadow and then went to explore the infamous rope swing. Having only just heard about it from several groups of fellow hikers, we had, unfortunately, not come prepared. A nice couple gave us all permission to go "nudey", but warned against the dangers of the resulting crotch burn. As tempting as that sounded, we all chose to abstain and instead decided that next time, with the proper attire, it would be the perfect break 6 or so miles into the hike.
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