Point Reyes

Point Reyes National Seashore is one of the most ecologically diverse national parks in the US, a 71,000-acre peninsula that combines coastal bluffs, forested ridges, meadow uplands, and esteros tidal lagoons that are among the most productive marine environments on the Pacific Coast. The park sits on the Pacific Plate, separated from the North American Plate by the San Andreas Fault, which runs directly through it. The 1906 earthquake moved Point Reyes 16 feet in 90 seconds; a fence post straddling the fault is visible along the Earthquake Trail at the Bear Valley Visitor Center. Drake's Bay, on the sheltered south side of the point, is the location where Sir Francis Drake likely careened his Golden Hinde for repair in 1579 the oldest English presence in North America. Tule elk were nearly hunted to extinction by 1870; the Point Reyes herd, reintroduced in 1978, has grown to over 500 animals and can be seen from Tomales Point at the park's north end. Drakes Bay Oyster Company (operating under a changing permit system) and the small oyster farms of Tomales Bay to the east produce oysters in pristine cold water conditions that make Point Reyes one of the best places in California to eat fresh shellfish.