The hike on the Rift Zone Trail at Point Reyes National Seashore is a hiker’s minefield.
The trail was loaded with cow pies, steaming horse apples, two hives of bees that swarmed next to the trail, swarms of flies on fresh cow patties, a lavish supply of spider webs that crossed the trail in more places that could be counted but could not be seen as you walked through them. There was overgrowth that reached out to touch you. Most of it was blackberries that looked like poison oak, but then there was actual poison oak that had to be dodged. Then there was mud – both sticky mud and mud that caused your feet to slide out from under you when you stepped on it. And then there was the heavy humidity.
The trail starts out at the parking lot at the Bear Valley Visitor Center and heads south. It starts out nice and wide but exposed for .3 miles before it turns and heads for some canopy, crosses a bridge over Bear Valley Creek and then slims down to a narrow single-track trail. There was a lot of horse poop in places, and we had to step up off the trail and walk in the grasses to avoid it.
We hiked on mostly under exposure, came to a gate we had to open, and followed the trail to a road and had to cross it to another road and open another gate and enter a very large cow pasture.
At this point, the trail went through private property, but the public is allowed to use it but not get off of it. For a little more than a half mile we dodged cow pies on the trail until we came to another gate, turned a corner and then hiked on. From here for quite a distance the trail is on a service road over rolling hills where it seemed you mostly hiked upward, but it was nothing challenging.
To this point, we experienced cow patties, flies, and bees, and the trail went back to being a narrow single-track. This was mostly downhill from this point, and slick sticky mud presented itself. The spectacular overgrowth mostly consisted of blackberry bushes, but we still had to examine it to make sure it wasn’t poison oak. We passed it cautiously when we identified it, but it probably rubbed on our clothes more than we knew. While watching out for poison oak, we were also dodging horse apples. We really had to watch for this, as it became frequent.
We emerged at the Five Brooks Horse Camp. It was wide and open. There were no horses present at the time, and the place was empty. We found several picnic tables that looked like they were staged. We stopped there for a few minutes and decided to head back from there knowing what was in front of us on the way back. Originally, we planned on going on to the Five Brooks Trailhead at the Five Books Ranch, which was about half a mile further.
Point Reyes National Seashore has some fantastically outstanding trails. This is not one of them.
Directions: From Novato, head west on Grant Avenue toward Redwood Boulevard. Turn right onto Novato Boulevard and then left on Point Reyes-Petaluma Road. Continue straight onto Platform Bridge Road and follow it to Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and turn right. Take it to Highway 1 and turn right about a tenth of a mile onto Bear Valley Road and follow it for about half a mile. Turn left onto the Bear Valley Visitor Center Road and follow it to the parking lot. The parking lot coordinates are here: 38.040553, -122.799716
The Skinny
Trail: Rift Zone Trail
Trailhead Coordinates: 38.039483, -122.799750
Trailhead Elevation: 115 Feet
Distance: 8.7 Miles
Level of Difficulty: 🟢
Average Grade: .6%
Steepest Grade: 16% over 17 Feet
Ascension: 1523 Feet
Trail Condition: 🟢🟢🟢, ⚫ – See Trail Summary
Scenery: 🟢🟢
Nearest Town: Olema
Challenges: Humidity, Dodging Poo On Trail
Traffic: 🥾
Highlights: Fall leaves on ground, Scenery at Pasture
Best Time: Spring, Fall
Hazards: Exposure, Poison Oak, Slick and Sticky Mud
Wildlife Concerns: Mountain Lions
Cell Service: 📱 (Verizon)
Would I Do This Hike Again?: No
Parking: Free
Restrooms: At Trailhead