Bay Nature

Park: 38.05243289 -122.87606295 park Point Reyes National Seashore

Good for:

• Beaches/Shore
• Birding

Habitat:

• Bay and Estuary
• Chaparral
• Grasslands

Attributes:

• Birding
• Car (Drive up)
• Gravel
• Hiking
• Out and Back
• Restrooms
• Scenic Overlook
• Trail Hiking
• Walking

Overview

 

An easy to moderate walk on a gravel road, 2.8 miles round-trip. The approach to Marshall Beach is rather steep and may be slippery in the rainy season.

The trailhead to the Marshall Beach begins after driving a couple of miles along the L Ranch Rd.,  out through the northern edge of the bishop pine forest, across some open pastureland.

Birding along the road on the way in is quite good. After dawdling along the road for an hour or more, I arrive at the trailhead for a short hike (1.4 mile) down the old ranch road to Marshall Beach. The trail cuts through grazed pasture before forking and heading downhill through recovering northern coastal scrub.

After descending the east-facing slope the trail comes to the mouth of the drainage and a forest of Monterey pine and Monterey cypress. The bird activity is concentrated here, with dozens of Violet-green Swallows pirouetting overhead, Purple Finches and Chestnut-backed Chickadees foraging through the pines. But most of the activity is in the dense understory—elderberry, thimbleberry, coyote bush, blackberry, poison oak, bracken— where shrub birds are busy chattering amongst themselves.

The trail daylights along the eastern shore of Tomales Bay, on a lonely beach in a calm cove. The empty cabin on the far end of the beach reminds me of the sculptor, envelope artist, fisherman, and raconteur and who once lived out here, Clayton Lewis (1915-1995). He was a peaceful soul in a peaceful place. May it always be so.

This is part of Jules Evens’s 2012 Point Reyes Walkabout, where he’s walking every trail at Point Reyes. Read a longer version fully illustrated, and support his Walkabout, which benefits the park!