Explore the beauty of some of the Seashore’s most scenic sea caves, beaches, and tidepools thanks to a rare daytime negative low tide!
Sat, January 29, 2022
12:00 PM – 6:00 PM PST
About this event
Start the new year with a visit to some of the Seashore’s most scenic yet least visited places! A rare daytime negative low tide will allow access to sea caves, beaches, tidepools, and wave-sculpted cliffs normally blocked by breaking waves.
Plan to arrive at the main Limantour Beach parking lot by 11:45 AM so we can get you checked in and oriented in time for a 12:00PM sharp hike departure. Advanced registration is required. We’ll hike 3.2 miles south on Limantour Beach to reach Sculptured Beach where we’ll eat lunch while waiting for the tide to turn negative.
We’ll continue south to the less accessible portions of Sculptured Beach by climbing down a 6-foot outcropping. (Climb has easy handholds and footholds – leader will assist those participants with less experience or confidence). Continuing past caves and arches down the final section of beach to the “Thumb” we will either turn around at the end of the beach or, if the tide still allows, pass through a walking passage keyhole to “Super-Secret Beach” and its entrance to the bottom of a sheer-walled 100 foot deep collapsed sinkhole.
We’ll then hike back to Sculptured Beach as the sun sets, followed by a leisurely twightlight hike back along Limantour Beach to the parking lot. You will cover approximately 9-10 miles total on sandy beach with a number of short scrambles up and over coastal rock outcroppings. In a number of places we will traverse slippery wave-washed sharp rocks while avoiding damaging fragile intertidal organisms covering those rocks.
Frank Binney is a professional interpretive planner who has helped enhance visitor experiences at National and State parks across the US. He enjoys using his science background and interpretive guiding skills to help people make personal connections to the special places and unique stories of Point Reyes National Seashore.