March 27, 2005 - Pt Reyes - Alamere Falls

This hike was attended by 8 brave hiker/adventurers: Gigi, Andrew, John, Hao, Jean, Weilin, Mei, and Paul. It started out cloudy and a bit windy (5-15 mph), but not cold (high 50's, low 60's). The hike started at about 10:50 am and finished by 3:35 pm, covering about 8 miles and 500 ft elevation change. We took the coast trail through various terrains - including open space overlooking the pacific to eucalyptus forests to evergreen tunnels. We saw at least a dozen species of wildflowers including one or two that none of us had ever seen before. We passed several small ponds and then several large lakes.

Many other groups were also hiking to Alamere Falls today. Once we got there, the wind started picking up but 5 of us went down to the beach anyway to get a better look of the waterfall from the bottom. We even took off our shoes and socks to cross the downstream of the waterfall currents to see the fall from the other side. It was high tide and the surf was quite large and as we found out - unpredictable! As we tried to take photos with our feet bare, a wave slammed onto shore and took us all by surprise. All of us got wetter than we had expected, but it was so much fun! After the surprise wave, it started to rain quite hard and a pile of loose and flint-sharp rocks fell away from the top of the cliff, close to the trail to escalate the cliff. For safety reasons we climbed back up the cliff and started heading back. On the way back, the rain and wind continued unabated. But everyone enjoyed it very much even as all of us were quite wet and semi-hungry :) I look forward to organizing a next hike and thanks to everyone for participating and being on-time! -paul

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