July 2, 2011

Point Reyes Lighthouse

The Point Reyes Lighthouse, built in 1870, sits on the western most point of the Point Reyes Headlands. It's about a 45 minute drive from the Bear Valley visitor center at Point Reyes. The lighthouse has its own small visitor center that is open Thursday through Monday 10am to 4:30pm. While spending the weekend near Point Reyes we made the drive to check out the lighthouse. There is a small parking lot at the end of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. The parking lot was busy but we lucked out and got a spot. We made the half mile walk to the lighthouse visitor center. After a quick look inside we then proceeded down the 300 steps to reach the lighthouse itself. As it often is the fog was thick and the winds were gusting.  Point Reyes is supposed to be the windiest and second foggiest place on the North American Continent. We spent a little time walking around and then took a look inside the actual lighthouse. A few pictures and we headed back to those 300 steps. Going back up we noticed that the steps are numbered at 10 step intervals. We quickly proceeded up leaving us a bit out of breath when we reached the top. We took a quick break on a bench and made our way back to our car. The lighthouse is interesting, you just have to make sure you leave enough time for the visit since it's a pretty long drive from everything else at Point Reyes.






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