Knowing we had a long drive we gave up on an extra kayak and decided to do one more hike in the park before heading north. We got up early and headed to McClure's Beach since the ultra low tide in the morning made the beach passable from McClure's to Keyhole Beach. We didn't do the whole walk but did follow the beach south a bit from McClure's before heading back. We got a later start than expected because of the elk we kept seeing on the roadway on the way there.
Not having
enough hiking yet we stopped at the Tomales Point trailhead and began working
our way to the end of the point. The fog was coming in over the ocean and
the elk were everywhere along the trail, it was a magical walk in the early
morning. We didn't get all the way to the point but did get to where
we could see the mouth of Tomales Bay at the site of an old ranch.
Back at Pt. Reyes Station we got something to eat at the Bovine Bakery, checked out Tomales Bay Foods for a latte and found out about the big cheese boom in the area, getting some excellent Pt. Reyes Blue and seeing the Cowgirl Creamery in action. On the road again we took Hwy 1 out of Pt. Reyes Station, through Marshall and up the coast towards Mendocino, our next stop. We stopped at Goat Rock for a lunch break and watched a paraglider over the cliffs. We laughed on Hwy 1 at the "Cattle Grazing" warnings until we turned a corner and found this in our way:
We finally arrived in Mendocino and checked in at a small cottage for a few nights of real bed and showers.