Laguna Trailhead Hike (June 3) Preview

For the third week in a row, we'll be head out to West Marin. This time we'll hike in the the Limantour area of the Point Reyes National Seashore. Here's Wendy's description of the outing: "Today we explore four habitats: coastal scrub, beach, marsh, and a riparian (streamside) habitat with alders and willows. Lunch at the beach. We may see some of the tule elk that have been transferred from Tomales Point."

Here are the directions to the trailhead (carpool leaves St. Rita at 8:50):

Take Sir Francis Drake Blvd. west to Olema. Turn right on Rt.1, then make an immediate left onto Bear Valley Rd. Continue past Park Headquarters (turn in if you need a restroom) and go left on Limantour Rd. Turn left at the sign for the youth hos-tel. Follow that road until you see a right turn across a bridge to the Laguna Trailhead by the Clem Miller Education Center. Park in the parking lot. No restrooms at trailhead. Restrooms en route before lunch.

Although the Martin's book, Hiking Marin, shows three hikes in this general area of the seashore, none appear to follow the route we're likely to take. The "Laguna-Coast Trail Loop" hike in Exploring Point Reyes Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area (Salcedo-Chourre, A Falcon Guidebook by The Globe Pequot Press, 2003) shows our probable path:

(Click here to view and print out the hike details and map from the Salcedo-Chourre book. If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer you can print the document. Once you see the document on the "Scribd" Web site, click on the "Download" icon and then on the "PDF" icon to open the document on your computer).