Alas ... no one signed up for my Point Reyes backpack trip so I found a friend, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend's daughter to come with me on the trip.
I left for the trip at noon on Friday from Mountain View and got to the Point Reyes headquarters at 2:15 to pick up the backcountry camping permit. It was then a 30 minute drive to the Palomarin trail head. I hit the trail at 3:00 p.m. My friends would not be starting the hike till 5ish. We agreed they would arrive in camp at dusk where I would be waiting for them. The hike to Wildcat Camp was beautiful but a little more up and down than I expected. The trail ranged from rugged exposed trail with great views of the ocean to shaded pine needle covered interior trails going past pretty inland lakes. The trail ends on a downhill with a nice view of the meadow where the Wildcat sites are located. It was 5 p.m. when I arrived.
Our campsite, campsite #6, was great. It was one of the sites nearest the ocean. There was a very short trail from the site up to a cliff top with a marvelous view of Wildcat beach. There was a picnic table and a food storage locker at the site. A short walk away was the restroom -- not flush toilets but they were fairly clean and well kept up. It seemed odd to have a real restroom to go to on a backpack trip. The only downer at the site was the water source. There was a faucet right near the restroom building but the water coming out of it had to be filtered and even after filtering it smelled of sulfur and tasted pretty awful. Later we discovered a stream near the site and filtered the stream water for drinking water. If anyone goes to the Wildcat sites, go down the trail to the beach and you'll see the stream to your left right before you head out to the beach. Or bring something to cut the taste and smell of the nasty water from the tap. Regardless, you'll need a water filter.
After I set up my tent, cooked and ate my dinner, and bundled up against the foggy cool weather, I headed up the very short trail to just hang out on the cliff top admiring the views and keeping an eye out for my friends. After an hour there I felt chilled and headed back to camp to bundle up some more. I was a little worried that my friends hadn't arrived yet and it was 7:30 p.m. I worried and fretted for another hour before they finally arrived in the dark. I saw their flashlights bobbing on the hill side above the campsites and was able to jog on down to the trail intersection to meet them and show them where camp was. They were so late because they got a late start and because they underestimated how difficult this hike would be for a seven year old. The seven year old was quite exhausted but happy to have arrived. After dinner and rest she perked up and started to enjoy herself. We got to see the moon rise over the hills before bed. The fog went away enough for us to see the moon and stars. We also saw a fox and lots of deer. We all hit the sack at around 11 p.m.
Saturday we slept in as late as we wanted which turned out to be 7:30 a.m. Go figure! I guess we were all morning people. After a leisurely breakfast, we headed off for a walk on Wildcat beach. I started to pick up trash as we meandered along and soon we all got into picking up the trash and we did our own little coast cleanup. We returned to camp at around 10:30 a.m. and started to slowly pack up and eat some snacks before we headed back to the cars. We started our trek back at 12:30 p.m. The hike back was even tougher on the seven year old. It took us four and one half hours to get back to the cars. We stopped often for rests and kept a slow pace. Finally at 5:15 p.m. we made it back to the cars.
All in all it was a beautiful moderately challenging beginner level trip for adults but a bit too long of a trip for a seven year old.
Cathy