Point Reyes is a distinct land with an intriguing landscape and feel. The Bear Valley Trail is beautiful — an easy, wide trail with Bear Valley Creek flowing alongside, surrounded by an airy vault of green. It is a particularly good hike for friends, families and groups because the wide trail allows for easy conversation and comradery.
Our destination of Divide Meadow is a delightful 1.6 miles away. The meadow stretches out now in a cover of fading green before reaching the bordering trees and is a great place to relax or enjoy fruit, a baguette and cheese, or a picnic. Bring a blanket or ground cover to sit on.
For those more ambitious, you can continue past Divide Meadow an additional 2.5 miles to an overlook of the Pacific Ocean, or take off from our trail on one of the diverging trails and loop back at several different places. But I leave those choices to you, for we are going to enjoy our outing to the meadow.
• Summary of the hike: From the Bear Valley Trailhead outbound to Divide Meadow is 1.6 miles with excellent footing and some gentle upward inclines. As mentioned above, there are several connecting hikes for those more ambitious, but our hike is an easy up-and-back roundtrip of 3.2 miles. There are full restrooms at the parking lot and non-flush toilets at Divide Meadow. Dogs are not allowed on the trail.
The nearby Visitor Center also has full restrooms, and contains good animal and other displays that may be of particular interest to children.
• Getting there: Take Sir Francis Drake Boulevard to Olema where it intersects with the Shoreline Highway. Turn right and, in about 100 yards, turn left on Bear Valley Road. In a short distance, turn left again at the signs pointing to the Visitor Center of Point Reyes National Seashore. Continue just beyond the Visitor Center and park in the large parking lot on your left. The trailhead is at the gate at the end of the road.
• The hike: Bear Valley is named after the numerous bears that once inhabited and were trapped and killed in it up into the late 1800s. The valley was initially settled as a ranch, and in 1890, became a country club for sportsmen with a large lodge, stables and kennels located in the meadow. After the club’s demise during the Depression, it became a dairy ranch. Fortunately, the 1962 creation of the Point Reyes National Seashore gave the public access to Bear Valley and its enjoyments.
We begin our hike along a broad meadow before entering the trees and a sea of green with sunlight piercing the trees and the sky visible above. Along the trail, there are bay (laurel), tan oak and alder trees with Douglas firs standing dominant above the understory.
The creek flows beside us, surrounded by foliage that is unusually lush for Marin County. The greenery is nourished by the winter rains, the creek waters, the summer fog and rich soil. Additionally, it is almost never exposed to high temperatures. Many years ago, my wife and I took a refreshingly cool evening hike on the Bear Valley Trail to escape a lengthy spell of oppressive heat inland.
Along the trail, the forget-me-nots show their small blue flowers frequently. You may also notice thimbleberry’s big white flowers with generally drab yellowish centers and leaves somewhat like maple leaves. The red elderberry shrub with opposite narrow leaves is displaying green berries now that will redden in summer, but unfortunately are poisonous.
Early on in our hike, Bear Valley Creek was flowing on our left. But now that we have walked for a while, it appears on our right side. It will continue occasionally to switch sides throughout our hike.
We reach the midway point of our outbound hike at a sign for the Meadow Trail pointing across the bridge to our right. You will notice on the far side of the creek a bright yellow cluster of seep monkeyflower thriving in the moisture.
Soon we hike through a green tunnel of trees, shrubs, ferns and other foliage that is denser and lusher than any we have seen on our previous hikes. It was beautiful, but I could not take a photo that displayed its full glorious impact with any justice.
We continue walking and, shortly before the meadow, our trail begins to rise moderately. But have no fear — we will soon arrive at the meadow. We finish the slight climb and look out on Divide Meadow, still green, but already beginning its arc to summer’s golden brown. The meadow’s grasses have grown high, but with our blanket, we find a nice place to rest, drink or eat.
When ready, we start our gentle downhill return, examining along the way more of the foliage and wildflowers, including small heart-shaped pinkish-red bleeding hearts. At the end, we emerge from the trees into the open light of the grassy meadow.
Look into the distance and regard wrinkled Elephant Mountain, as the locals often call it, but officially named Black Mountain. It is a fitting landmark for distinctive Point Reyes and signals the end of our hike.
See you in two weeks.
A longtime avid hiker and Marin resident, Jim Holden is the author of two nonfiction books: “It Happened in Marin” and “Adventurous Lives, Daring Acts.” He can be reached at MarinhikingJim@gmail.com.
