Bear Valley Trail

Bear Valley Trail
8.6 miles
5 hours
Start: Bear Valley Visitor Center
End: Bear Valley Visitor Center
Includes: Bear Valley Trail, Arch Rock

Hike 36
August 27, 2013

Bear Valley Trail is on of the most popular trails in the park. Piro and I walked it from the Bear Valley Visitor Center all the way to Arch Rock at the ocean.

We were greeted by a baby snake. As I got close to take a picture it made little striking movements with its head. I think it's a gopher snake, but could it be a baby rattler? It certainly had the 'tude of one.

It was sunny and beautiful on this wide-open trail.

We stopped at the meadow for a little rest and a sip of water.

Piro is a tree-hugger, as am I. She enjoyed a moment with this grand old daddy of the forest.

The trail ends on a little promontory overlooking the ocean.

The view to the left is undulating coastline: a strand of dry sand, wet sand, white surf and sparkling sea framed by black boulders jutting in golden ratio from the blue waters.

To the right, it looks out on the crescent sweep of coastline forming Drakes Bay and Point Reyes.

Piro took the scramble down the side of the cliff to the beach and returned with a bouquet of watercress.

I'm rather afraid of heights and sat enjoying the view of the beach until she returned.

On the way back, we stopped once again in the meadow. Piro took a stretch in the shade of an unusually wide-stretching fir tree, while I rested my aching feet at the bench in the sun.

Returning, we felt victorious and tired. Next time we might bike to near Baldy Trail, leave our bikes at the rack and hike the rest of the way to Arch Rock.