Virtual Guidebook to Marin and the North Bay Counties
Limantour
Point Reyes National Seashore California

Creation of Point Reyes National Seashore in 1962, for which we have to thank Congressman Clem Miller, was a virtual miracle. How could so much prime real estate, so close to a major urban area, be spared so long and saved so completely? Limantour is where you can see just how close it came to disaster. I remember when there were vacation houses beginning to line the dunes at Limantour, and if you wander around the low hills inland from there you will find a maze of subdivision roads and power poles. For more than a decade after the park was created Congress dragged its feet about funding land acquisition, and developers started getting bold. It required another major political effort to complete the seashore without compromise.

Limantour is a long beach with surf usually a bit higher than Drakes Beach. It is a great walking beach, north to the mouth of the Estero, or south to the beginning of the cliffs. You can backpack south along the beach or take an inland trail to Coast Camp and spend the night (reservations required).