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 pulled about five and a half metres apart, and the offset is preserved on the Earthquake Trail. The lighthouse of 1870 sits at the bottom of 308 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 from ten animals, and in December 2024 the fence that had kept them on Tomales Point was opened.

Highlights

• A peninsula on a different tectonic plate - moving past the mainland.
• The 1906 fence offset - about five and a half metres, on a trail.
• A lighthouse down 308 steps - built low to sit below the fog.
• A reintroduced tule elk herd - back since 1978.

When to go

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

Before you go

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.

Key facts