Alamere Falls
(Saturday, May 24, 2003 in Point Reyes, CA)

We hiked through a pretty young eucalyptus grove. I guess I hadn't seen young eucalyptus trees before - they're nearly as tall as mature trees, but very skinny, making the forest look almost like bamboo from a distance. There were lovely views up into a foggy ravine, and down onto the rocky beach below as we hiked along the clifftops. We turned inland, gently descending into a pretty canyon. I saw a touch of purple poking out from under a large leaf, and pulled it up to reveal a nearly perfect Douglas' Iris growing just a few inches off of the ground. Climbing morning glory abounded everywhere, with occasional patches of paintbrush and sticky monkeyflower. The trail became very rocky as we climbed, passing the Lake Ranch Trail, to a series of lakelets to our left.

According to our map, there were six unnamed ponds, but we only saw 4 of them. The fog hung heavily over them, reminding me of Scotland (at least pictures I've seen of it, having not been there yet). Water lilies crowded the shores of two of the lakelets, and one of them had huge magenta flowers. I trapsed around, trying to get close to them, but could not without getting wet. We passed pretty Bass Lake, which had several backpackers eating lunch on its shores, the junction with the Crystal Lakes Trail, and Pelican Lake, soon arriving at the sign for the unoffical Alamere Falls trail. I was a little surprised to see a sign here, as I'd read several stories about folks having trouble finding the falls, but it saved the bother of speculating about what/where the trail was!

The use trail to the top of the falls was very narrow, and as the sign had warned, definitely unmaintained, overgrown with large foliage. We climbed down a steep rocky face to arrive at the upper cascades of Alamere Creek, which were just lovely. There were a handful of folks around, but not too many. I looked over the edge of the cliff to watch Alamere Creek plummet into the beach 40 feet below before winding its way across the beach into the ocean. Sarah recalled there was a way to get down to the beach, and after a little looking around, she found the route, a steep, loose, rocky scramble. We walked down the beach to the base of the falls, and spent a little while looking up at it. It was a beautiful sight, and the sounds of the water crashing down the cliffside mingled pleasingly with the crashing of the ocean nearby. After we'd had our fill of the view, we headed back up the scramble to the top of the falls. Apparently a lot of folks had also been wondering how to get down to the beach, as soon after we got down, a lot of other people arrived. We had to wait a few minutes before the "trail" was clear (its muuuuch too narrow/slippery for two way traffic). Upon arriving back at the top of the falls, we were amazed to find dozens and dozens of hikers there! I guess everybody arrived at the trailhead just after us.

We hiked back the way we came, seeing a great many people along the trail, along with some pretty salmonberry, white bell-shaped flowers, and a beetle. This steady stream of hikers and backpackers continued all the way back to the car, which surprised me a little bit, as it was nearing 4:00 - a little late to be starting a 8.4mi round-trip! We arrived back at the car and found the parking lot overflowing, with absolutely no room whatsoever left in it. As we drove out, the road was lined with cars parked in every available space. We were very glad to have started our hike before the hordes got there!

This was a really lovely hike, one of the best I've done save for the large volumes of people. The falls were beautiful, and would be even moreso on a sunny day after a storm. I'll definitely be doing this hike again (probably as part of backpacking the Coast Trail)!

Hike Stats:

Distance:	8.4mi
Total Time:	4h 12m (including about 45min enjoying the views)
Elevation gain:	~500 feet
Difficulty:	5
Scenery:	8
Trail condition/markings/etc:	10 (except the unofficial, but signed, trail to the falls itself, which is very overgrown, but easy enough to follow. Its also very steep and crumbly getting down to the top of the falls, and then getting down to the beach below)
Wildflowers:	7
Overall rating:	8