Tomales
Bay State Park,
California State Parks,
Marin County
In brief:
Easy 2.8 mile loop through woods along Tomales Bay, on the Point Reyes peninsula.
Getting there:
From US 101 in Marin County, exit Sir Francis Drake/San Anselmo. Drive west on
Sir Francis Drake about 20 miles, to the junction with Highway 1, turn right,
drive 0.1 mile, and then turn left onto Bear Valley Road. After about 2 miles,
Bear Valley Road ends at Sir Francis Drake; turn left. Continue on Sir Francis
Drake about 5.5 miles, and turn right onto Pierce Point Road. Drive about 1.2
miles to the park entrance on the right side of the road. Drive down the park
road about 0.7 mile, to the ranger station, stop and pay the fee (if staffed),
then continue about 0.9 mile to the parking lot at the end of the road (not
the Heart's Desire lot).
Trailhead details:
$6 entrance fee (self register if ranger station is unstaffed). You can avoid
fees altogether by parking in a small lot on Pierce Point Road outside of the
park 0.2 mile before the park entrance, on the right. A short path departs from
the lot, connecting to Jepson Trail. Inside the park, lots of parking in two paved
lots. Restrooms and drinking water at edge of parking lot. Maps and pay phone
are available at the ranger station. There are handicapped parking spots, but
trails are not suitable to wheelchairs.
Gas, food, and lodging:
Stores and restaurants on Sir Francis Drake in Inverness, and in Point Reyes Station.
Gas in Point Reyes Station. For picnic fixings, I recommend the baked goods at
Bovine Bakery and the cheese at Cowgirl Creamery, both in Point Reyes Station.
There are overnight accomodations available on the eastern fringes of Point Reyes,
including a handful of motels in Inverness, and numerous bed and breakfasts just
off Sir Francis Drake. Point Reyes Hostel is an inexpensive lodging option. There
is no car camping on the Point Reyes peninsula. Point Reyes has several hike-in
campgrounds -- enquire at the Point Reyes Ranger Station in Bear Valley, or read
more about the options here.
Distance, category, and difficulty:
This 2.8 mile loop hike is easy, with a total elevation change of
about 500 feet. Park elevation ranges from sea level to around 500 feet.
Rules:
Park is open for day use from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Dogs are not permitted on beaches
or trails. No bikes on trails. Trails are open to hikers and equestrians (though
this isn't a popular equestrian destination).
The Official Story:
CSP's Tomales
Bay page
Park office 415-669-1140
Map/book choices:
• Use AAA's San Francisco Bay Region map to get there.
• Download the park
map pdf from CSP's website.
• Download Point
Reyes pdf map from NPS.
• 
This hike is
described and mapped in 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: San Francisco, by Jane
Huber (yup, that's me, the creator of this website). Order
this book from Amazon.com.
• Point Reyes by Jessica Lage (order
this book from Amazon.com) has a good map and descriptions of this hike.
• Trail Map of Point Reyes National Seashore, by Tom Harrison (order
from Amazon.com)
is the best all-purpose map to Point Reyes.
• Afoot and Afield: San Francisco Bay Area, by David Weintraub (order
this book from Amazon.com) has a great map and descriptions of a Tomales Bay
hike.
• Hiking Marin by Don and Kay Martin (order
this book from Amazon.com) has a useful map and two suggested hikes.
• North Bay Trails, by David Weintraub (order
this book from Amazon.com) has a good map and two suggested hikes.
• 101 Great Hikes of the San Francisco Bay Area, by Ann
Marie Brown (order
this book from Amazon.com) has a simple map and descriptions of a featured
hike.
Tomales Bay State
Park in a nutshell -- a printable, text-only guide to the featured
hike.
View
photos from this hike.
Little Tomales Bay State Park, 
with
only 2,000 acres, is dwarfed by the surrounding parklands of Point Reyes National
Seashore. A handful of trails traverse gently sloping wooded hillsides and access
four beaches on Tomales Bay. Shell, Pebble, Heart's Desire, and Indian Beach,
all downslope from and sheltered by Inverness Ridge, are calm and scenic, perfect
for family seashore excursions. Departing from a trailhead a stone's throw from
the shoreline, Jepson and Johnstone Trails create a loop through a gorgeous and
dense forest, lush with huckleberry, ferns, coast live oak, tanoak, Bishop pine,
and hazelnut. The loop is short, but truly awesome; one of the most beautiful
woodland hikes in the bay area. You can extend the circuit with a 5.2 mile out-and-back
excursion on Johnstone Trail, to Shell Beach, or stretch the hike another mile
with an out-and-back visit to Indian Beach.
On the first day of summer I hiked through Tomales
Bay State Park wearing a fleece jacket. Point Reyes, one of my favorite destinations
during bay area hot spells, is a great place to hike 
on
summer mornings. When fog lingers near the ocean, the wind blows, trees moan and
whisper with the breeze, outside noise is drowned away, and gusts of cool air
keep the temperature pleasant on the trails. In this thick forest winter storms
toss quite a few trees onto the trails, and sections that are damp even in summer
get seriously muddy. Spring and autumn are pleasant, and less crowded than summer.
Begin at the parking lot at the end of the park
road. You might have noticed the start of Jepson Trail, on the right, as you
drove through the horseshoe-shaped parking lot. Either walk back along the
road, or if you're parked in the lower section, look for a shortcut trail about
mid-lot, leading to the upper lot (away from the beach paths). The signed
trail, open to hikers and equestrians only, steps into a stunning forest of huge
gnarled coast live oaks, California coffeeberry, hazelnut, ferns, and huckleberry.
As the path winds easily uphill, the lush vegetation creates a nearly
impenetrable thicket. You may hear deer crashing through the woods, but unless
they are on the trail, you probably won't see them. Bishop pine overtakes coast
live oak as the dominant tree, but you might also see a few madrone. In the understory,
the nearly omnipresent huckleberry and coffeeberry are accompanied by occasional
clusters of poison oak, ceanothus, toyon, thimbleberry, currant, gooseberry, and
sticky monkeyflower. There are masses of salal, a low glossy-leaved shrub often
used in flower arrangements. After ascending easily for 0.94 mile, you'll reach
a signed junction with a connector path heading right to Pierce Point Road. Continue
straight on Jepson Trail.
Here, the forest thins a bit, and the trail is lined
with tall, hedge-like shrubs of coffeeberry, toyon, and coyote brush. At 1.00
mile, the trail crosses a paved road which accesses private Shallow Beach. Continue
straight.
This segment was a bit overgrown on my visit, and I dodged
a few overzealous
branches of poison oak, along with runaway dangling honeysuckle vines, fragrant
with pink blossoms in early summer. At 1.10 miles, you'll reach a signed junction,
and the end of Jepson Trail. (You can extend this hike on the out-and-back part
of Johnstone, to the right -- it's 5.2 miles round trip to Shell Beach and back
to this junction.) Turn left onto Johnstone Trail.
The trail, closed to cyclists, enters a familiar
combination of Bishop pine, coffeeberry, huckleberry, coast live oak, and hazelnut,
but tanoak is also common. Look for blossoms on manzanita shrubs mid-winter, followed,
in March, by displays of hound's tongue and milkmaids, as well as sweet-smelling
flowers on huckleberry and madrone. At 1.29 miles, you'll cross the paved road
again, then begin an easy descent through a woodland slightly more open than the
thickets of Jepson Trail. There's a bench on the left, with views to Tomales Bay
somewhat screened by tree cover. Johnstone Trail reaches a damp area not far from
a creek, 
and
the grade sharpens a bit as the trail switchbacks downhill. You might notice some
huckleberry shrubs nearly 5 feet tall, along with chinquapin, gooseberry, currant,
and salal. Alders, which thrive near waterways, mix through the other plants.
Some sections of the trail are muddy, although a few short elevated walkways keep
visitors out of the wettest areas. In spring look for a few salmonberry shrubs
along the trail -- their pink blossoms are conspicuous. Labrador tea shrubs put
forth white azalea-like flowers in late spring and early summer. Johnstone Trail
levels out, travels through a damp, shaded, and grassy stretch, then returns to
a more firm footing, where madrone, coast live oak, and hazelnut line the path.
At 2.17 miles you'll reach a signed junction with a path to Pebble Beach. Turn
right.
The narrow path descends under tree cover, then
steps out onto the beach, at 2.20 miles. If you're visiting on a summer day and
seek some peace and quiet, this beach is generally less crowded than Heart's Desire,
and the rocky shoreline makes a good no-frills lunch stop. When you're ready,
retrace your steps back to the previous junction, then bear right, back onto
Johnstone Trail again.
The trail passes through more beautiful coast live oak,
as well as California bay, madrone, huckleberry, hazelnut, and creambush. The
grade remains nearly level. At 2.51 miles, Johnstone Trail emerges in a clearing
near the restrooms, back at the trailhead. (If you want to cut short your hike
here, simply turn left and walk back to the parking lot.) Continue straight,
following the sign for Heart's Desire Beach.
After a short foray under tree cover, Johnstone
Trail bisects a grassy group picnic area. When it's empty, this is another good
place for a lunch break. I especially like the bench on the right, at the edge
of the picnic area, overlooking Heart's Desire Beach, Indian Beach, and the bay.
Johnstone Trail continues, weaving through some coast live oaks, then descending
on a short segment of long steps. At 2.68 miles, the trail reaches Heart's Desire
Beach. (From here, you can continue across the beach, then pick up Indian Nature
Trail to Indian Beach.) When ready, retrace your steps back to the clearing
near the restrooms, then turn right and return to the trailhead.
Total distance: 2.85 miles
Last hiked: Tuesday, March 9, 2004
Go to Bay Area Hiker Home page
with
only 2,000 acres, is dwarfed by the surrounding parklands of Point Reyes National
Seashore. A handful of trails traverse gently sloping wooded hillsides and access
four beaches on Tomales Bay. Shell, Pebble, Heart's Desire, and Indian Beach,
all downslope from and sheltered by Inverness Ridge, are calm and scenic, perfect
for family seashore excursions. Departing from a trailhead a stone's throw from
the shoreline, Jepson and Johnstone Trails create a loop through a gorgeous and
dense forest, lush with huckleberry, ferns, coast live oak, tanoak, Bishop pine,
and hazelnut. The loop is short, but truly awesome; one of the most beautiful
woodland hikes in the bay area. You can extend the circuit with a 5.2 mile out-and-back
excursion on Johnstone Trail, to Shell Beach, or stretch the hike another mile
with an out-and-back visit to Indian Beach.
on
summer mornings. When fog lingers near the ocean, the wind blows, trees moan and
whisper with the breeze, outside noise is drowned away, and gusts of cool air
keep the temperature pleasant on the trails. In this thick forest winter storms
toss quite a few trees onto the trails, and sections that are damp even in summer
get seriously muddy. Spring and autumn are pleasant, and less crowded than summer.
impenetrable thicket. You may hear deer crashing through the woods, but unless
they are on the trail, you probably won't see them. Bishop pine overtakes coast
live oak as the dominant tree, but you might also see a few madrone. In the understory,
the nearly omnipresent huckleberry and coffeeberry are accompanied by occasional
clusters of poison oak, ceanothus, toyon, thimbleberry, currant, gooseberry, and
sticky monkeyflower. There are masses of salal, a low glossy-leaved shrub often
used in flower arrangements. After ascending easily for 0.94 mile, you'll reach
a signed junction with a connector path heading right to Pierce Point Road. Continue
straight on Jepson Trail.
branches of poison oak, along with runaway dangling honeysuckle vines, fragrant
with pink blossoms in early summer. At 1.10 miles, you'll reach a signed junction,
and the end of Jepson Trail. (You can extend this hike on the out-and-back part
of Johnstone, to the right -- it's 5.2 miles round trip to Shell Beach and back
to this junction.) Turn left onto Johnstone Trail.
and
the grade sharpens a bit as the trail switchbacks downhill. You might notice some
huckleberry shrubs nearly 5 feet tall, along with chinquapin, gooseberry, currant,
and salal. Alders, which thrive near waterways, mix through the other plants.
Some sections of the trail are muddy, although a few short elevated walkways keep
visitors out of the wettest areas. In spring look for a few salmonberry shrubs
along the trail -- their pink blossoms are conspicuous. Labrador tea shrubs put
forth white azalea-like flowers in late spring and early summer. Johnstone Trail
levels out, travels through a damp, shaded, and grassy stretch, then returns to
a more firm footing, where madrone, coast live oak, and hazelnut line the path.
At 2.17 miles you'll reach a signed junction with a path to Pebble Beach. Turn
right.
and the rocky shoreline makes a good no-frills lunch stop. When you're ready,
retrace your steps back to the previous junction, then bear right, back onto
Johnstone Trail again.