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Tomales Point LbNA #12584 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Dec 3, 2004
Location:
City:Olema
County:Marin
State:California
Boxes:3
Planted by:Blackbird
Found by: Amanda from Seattle (3)
Last found:Jan 15, 2006
Status:FFF
Last edited:Dec 3, 2004
2 BOXES ARE MISSING WHEN I CHECKED LAST. THE OTHERS MAY OR MAY NOT BE THERE....6/1/05


This series is found at the Tule Elk Reserve, which also happens to be Tomales Point, which is at the north end of Point Reyes.
It is an out and back trek, easy to moderate (rolling hills), approximately 4.5 miles total. (the hike back after box #4 took me a little less than an hour.) No dogs allowed.
Keep an eye out for elk. Give them plenty of distance during the rutting season-fall, and when the babies are new-spring.
This is a great trip for cameras, binoculars and guidebooks. There are a gazillion wildflowers there in the spring.
This series could be tricky if the fog is in…

Take Sir Francis Drake Blvd. through Olema and through Inverness. Veer right onto Pierce Point Road. Follow it until it ends at the ranch and parking area. Park at "Historic Pierce Point Ranch". The old ranch and many buildings are still there and are worth checking out before or after your search.

Box #1- MISSING!!!
Take Tomales Point trail, it begins at the phone in the parking lot.
Keep an eye out for the beach below you on the left; at this point you should also be able to see cliffs out ahead of you. You’ll pass a big rock or two close by the trail on either side. Look up to the right for the first small outcropping of rocks. Go to it (about 25-30 paces). Look for a rock off to the left of the main group. It is larg-ish, with a smaller one alongside of it. Look under the smaller rock.

Box #2-Tule Elk REPLACED ON 26 MARCH 05.
Continue on the trail. You’ll pass another beach below you. Near the cliffs you saw earlier and at yet another beach view, the trail bends to the right and then resumes its NW path. This is prime elk spotting territory.
You’ll pass a beach view-keep going up the trail. Look for a hilltop of rocks to the right at what appears to be the top of the hill (it’s not really the top yet). Go up to it. If you have reached a fence, you are too far. From this rockpile you can see the corner of a fence to the NE and another fenced enclosure at a bearing of 320?. Look around you for a rock that appears to have been sliced into 4 or 5 pieces. 5 feet away from this one is a small rockpile obviously not made by Mother Nature or a clever elk. Look inside.

Box #3-Humpback Whale
Continue up the trail. There are many rocks all over the place now. Look for a weird straight line of rocks that bisects the trail, heading inland in one direction and out to sea in the other. Follow the line towards the sea. Stop before a giant iris patch. You should be about even with a very large rock off to your left. Face the sea and follow a reading of 250? to the rockpile about 40 paces away.
Look for the big rock with yellow and green lichen on its oceanside. Below it is a larger rock. Look at its base, under a few smaller rocks.
Enjoy this view, maybe you’ll see what you are stamping.

Box #4-Seagulls
Return to the trail, continue going up. It will level out some now, then continues rolling up and down. You’ll pass a view of a town to your right. There are bushes here that cause the trail to squeeze around them.
The trail starts descending. Ahead of you are cliffs and breakers. As the trail takes a right turn you’ll see a rise off to the left front. A pseudo trail leads out towards it. Take the mini trail that leads to the rise and its rocks. Right away you’ll come to an intersection of this small trail and another small trail (both lead to the rocky rise). At this intersection take a reading of 340?. Go 25 paces on this heading to a rockpile with lots of tall grass on it. From here take a reading of 240? and go 50 paces in that direction to the edge of an incline with more rocks just below it. Look under the rockpile at the bottom of this group of rocks.
If you continue on the trail downhill and see another town, you are too far.

That is the end of the boxes but there is still more trail to get to the end of the point. It is well worth the hike.