Finally seeing the Pt Reyes lighthouse

Usually when folks go to Pt Reyes they stick to the closer areas, i.e. around Tomales Bay or the eastern half of Drake’s Bay. (Poke around here.) In addition to being a shorter drive, they’re often less foggy than the western tip of the area where the Lighthouse sits. Until recently, “folks” included us as well. But thanks to a combination of a camping invitation, free time, and good weather, we got to see a corner of Pt Reyes that we’d never made it to before!

The whole thing starts with a (long) drive down the Great Beach of Pt Reyes (which I think might also be called “10 Mile Beach”, but I can’t seem to find a reference anywhere to back it up, so maybe not). It’s a lovely landscape of rolling hillsides, pastureland and beach views. At the far end you encounter an unexpected hill that you park at the top of. Here you walk across the hill, past the couple of houses used by folks who maintained the lighthouse, and then down a staircase of 300ish steps to the lighthouse itself.

On a clear day, you can see down south to the SF peninsula as well as out west to the Farallon Islands. We saw SF, but couldn’t quite make out the islands. Not quite Nugget Point, but pretty beautiful all the same.

(Fun fact: the Fresnel lens insight the lighthouse is a ‘1st order‘ lens, the largest size historically produced – only ~470 were ever built. Some more reading here.)