Point Reyes National Seashore,
National Park Service, Marin County
This hike to Kehoe Beach is easy enough for almost everyone, but long enough to discourage visitors who prefer to tour Point Reyes exclusively by car.
Distance, category, and difficulty:
This 1.2 mile out and back hike is easy, with minimal elevation change.
Exposure:
Full sun.
Trail traffic:
Moderate-heavy.
Trail surfaces:
Sandy trails.
Hiking time:
Under 1 hour.
Season:
Wonderful in summer.
Getting there:
From US 101 in Marin County, exit San Anselmo (Sir Francis Drake Boulevard). Drive about 20 miles west on Sir Francis Drake. Turn right onto CA 1, then make the first left onto Bear Valley Road. Drive about 2 miles to the junction with Sir Francis Drake, and turn left. Drive about 5 miles and bear right onto Pierce Point Road. Continue 5.5 miles to side of road parking.
GPS coordinates* for trailhead:
Latitude
Longitude
(* based on Google Earth data, shown as degrees, minutes, seconds)
Gas, food, and lodging:
Gas, stores, and restaurants at Point Reyes Station. There are a few stores and restaurants in Inverness, and overnight accommodations are available on the eastern fringes of the park, including a handful of motels in Inverness, and numerous bed and breakfasts just off Sir Francis Drake. Point Reyes has several hike-in campgrounds -- inquire at the Point Reyes Ranger Station in Bear Valley, or read more about the options here. No car camping in the park.
Trailhead details:
No entrance or parking fees. Side of road parking, with no designated handicapped parking. Pit toilets on site. There's a map under glass at the information signboard, but none to take with you. There is no direct public transportation to this trailhead.
Rules:
Hikers only. Dogs are permitted on the trail to the beach, and must be on a leash at all times; the leash must be no longer than 6 feet. Due to threatened snowy plover habitat, dogs are not allowed on the beach south of the trail at Kehoe Beach.
The Official Story:
Point Reyes website.
Park headquarters 415-663-1092.
Map Choices:
• Use AAA's San Francisco Bay Region map to get there.
• Download the park map pdf from NPS
• Other Point Reyes maps from NPS
• Point Reyes by Jessica Lage (order this book from Amazon.com) has a good map and descriptions of this trail.
• Trail Map of Point Reyes National Seashore, by Tom Harrison (order from Amazon.com) is the best all-purpose map to Point Reyes.
• Don and Kay Martin's Point Reyes National Seashore: A Hiking and Nature Guide (order this book from Amazon.com) has a map and description of this hike. Much of the information is duplicated in their Hiking Marin book (order this book from Amazon.com), but the Point Reyes book has some nice extras.
Kehoe Beach in a nutshell -- a printable, text-only guide to the featured hike.
Kehoe Beach, an easy 0.6
mile walk from roadside 
parking
at Pierce Point Road, is a perfect excursion for families with small kids
or anyone looking to explore one of Point Reyes's
sandy beaches without a long hike. This hike is enjoyable year round,
but wildflower lovers hunting for blooms in April should definitely add
Kehoe Beach to their short list, for a great display of flowers on a bluff
above the beach.
Dogs owners will want to hike here too,
since the trail to Kehoe Beach is one of a handful of Point Reyes paths
where dogs are permitted (on leash only, and note that the
beach south of the trail is off limits to dogs).
Begin from the roadside parking area
on the unnamed trail. A short distance past the pit toilets, look
for salmonberries in a dense thicket on the left. Salmonberry vegetation
is similar to blackberry, but the flowers are a shocking pink, and the
large orange-red berries shine like jewels in the sun. The narrow
path heads west toward the ocean, following the course of a small stream,
to the south. Low grassy hills rise up on the right. One damp spot on
the trail can be extra muddy. In early spring, 
blooming
mustard plants crowd the trail in some sections, nearly obscuring
it. Yellow bush lupine becomes increasingly common, and the trail
shifts to loose sand, rising slightly as it approaches the beach. A few
feet past a bench on the left, look for a slight path on the
right (this is a spring-only suggestion). This little path ascends
easily onto a shelf above the beach, and here in April a combination of
goldenfields and tidytips flush the hillside to the north yellow. You
might also see California poppies and a variety of lupines in this mix.
The path affords great views of the ocean, as well as the
shoreline to the north and south. After enjoying the flowers, return
to the main trail, turn right, and descend to the beach.
This is a classic, sandy Point Reyes Beach,
lovely and perfect unless the wind is howling, or when summer fog blows
in. Explore at your leisure, and when ready, retrace your steps back
to the trailhead.
Total distance: 1.20 miles
Last hiked: Wednesday, April 13, 2005
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