Point Reyes National Seashore

The San Andreas Fault runs through Tomales Bay, and everything west of it - the whole peninsula - is on the Pacific plate, moving north-west relative to the mainland at a few centimetres a year. In the 1906 earthquake a fence near the visitor centre was displaced about five metres in seconds, and the offset is preserved on the Earthquake Trail. The lighthouse of 1870 sits at the bottom of three hundred and thirteen steps down the cliff, placed low because fog sits above it - this is among the foggiest and windiest points on the Pacific coast. A tule elk herd was reintroduced in 1978 and its management, fenced within a reserve alongside working cattle ranches, is a long-running conflict.

What you actually see

• A peninsula on a different tectonic plate - moving past the mainland.
• The 1906 fence offset - about five metres, preserved on a trail.
• A lighthouse down 313 steps - built low to sit below the fog.
• A reintroduced tule elk herd - and the conflict over managing it.

When to go

Year round; grey whales December to March, elk rut in autumn. A full day.

Honest expectations

Fog obscures the point for much of the summer. The lighthouse stairs close in high wind, which is frequent. Distances within the park are long. Winter weekends need a shuttle reservation for the lighthouse road.

Nearby

Tomales Bay is east; San Francisco is south.