Johnstone Trail

Trail length: 2.5 miles each way, out and back
Terrain: oak, fir, bay forests, beach
Restroom? Yes
Parking: small lot
Kid friendly? Yes
Dates visited: 8/14/16, 8/27/16, 8/26/18, 12/23/20
Mushroom list by the Marin chapter of the California Native Plant Society
Favorite plants on this trail: Huckleberry, Salal.
Favorite spots: Any part of the trail that peeks out over Tomales Bay.

There are two Johnstone trails in Tomales Bay State Park — the Jepson-Johnstone Loop and the Johnstone Trail to Shell Beach. The two trails overlap for a short distance. At the intersection where the trails meet, one way takes you to Shell Beach and the other to the Jepson-Johnstone Loop. There are two trailheads to access the Johnstone Trail, the Jepson Trailhead or the Shell Beach Trailhead. To get to the Shell Beach Trailhead, drive on Sir Francis Drake, take a right onto Camino Del Mar into the Sea Haven neighborhood, and drive to the end. To get to the Jepson Trailhead, take Sir Francis Drake and turn right on Pierce Point Road until you reach the small parking lot on the right.

The Johnstone trail is covered with fir needles and bay and oak leaves. This soft carpet of leaves makes for very easy hiking. At the beginning, the trail parallels Pierce Point Road and you can hear some car sounds in the distance. There are several scenic spots that offer views of Tomales Bay through the foliage. The trail is shaded in most parts by gnarled moss-covered oaks and massive sprawling bays as well as madrone, bishop pine, tanoak and more. Huckleberry is abundant making this a good trail for grazing. Flowering shrubs include Marin Manzanita (Arctostaphylos virgate), Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), Pacific Wax Myrtle (Morella californica), Coffeeberry (Frangula californica), Western Labrador Tea (Rhododendron columbianum), Salal (Gaultheria shallon) and more.

The trail descends to the beach and is steep in parts with switchbacks. Shell beach is a small, quiet stretch of sand looking out on Tomales Bay. There’s a compostable toilet in a a wooden structure near the trail.

Shell Beach

How to find the Johnstone Trail to Shell Beach (from Jepson Trailhead)

Thanks to the Tuesday Irregulars hiking group, the Johnstone trailhead that leads to Shell Beach now has a marker!

Park in the small lot at the Jepson trailhead off Pierce Point Road. If you come to the entrance road to Tomales Bay State Park and Hearts Desire Beach you’ve driven too far.

Rather than hiking on the Jepson trail to the Johnstone trail, it’s faster (and less confusing) to follow the paved gated private road. Walk down the road about 50 feet to the trail on the right. You’ll see a trail marker on the left for the Jepson trail to Hearts Desire (see photo of paved road with trail marker below.) Look to the right side of the road. You’ll see barely visible wooden steps in the ground leading downhill to the trail (see photo of steps below.) Congratulations, you are now on the Johnstone trail!

There are two forks in the trail. At the first fork, very close to the beginning of the trail, go right. At the second fork about a mile in, go left. The trail to the right leads to the street, Via de la Vista, and neighborhood of Sea Haven.

Mushrooms

Along with other moisture-loving plants, mushrooms are abundant in this area. If you are interested in learning more about mushrooms, the Point Reyes National Seashore Association (PRNSA) offers excellent classes at the Field Institute during the peak of mushroom season, November to January. David Campbell is a Field Institute instructor who leads a popular mushroom camp in late November as well as one-day classes. I highly recommend taking a class with him!

The mushrooms below are Deathcap (Amanita phalloides). These were photographed in August along the trail.

Volunteer Opportunity: PRNSA Field Institute

The Point Reyes National Seashore Association needs assistants for their Field Institute classes. You will spend a day training with PRNSA staff, then a couple of times a year you'll select the classes you'd like to help with. Shortly afterwards, you'll receive a confirmation of which ones you've been assigned. As a facilitator, you get to take the class for free. Normally, two facilitators help with every class. Duties include signing in class participants, making coffee (for indoor classes), talking briefly about PRNSA, and generally helping out as needed. I've been volunteering for about a year. It's a great experience to work with other facilitators and get to know the amazing field institute instructors.