This was a great introduction to backpacking for my 7-year old daughter... And also my wife! They'd both been camping before but not backpacking. This trip offered short hiking distances, mild elevation changes and terrain, and an interesting and beautiful location.The campsites are much like ones you get in drive-up campgrounds, with a picnic table, grill, and food storage box. Each cluster of campsites also has a set of vault toilets and a water faucet, and secure garbage cans. So it's a lot like car camping except that you have to hike to get to it, and as a result there are much fewer people, which very much appeals to me. Also it seems like you get friendlier, more well-behaved people as well. There's a different vibe among backpackers than car-campers, although that's painting with a broad brush and  there are always exceptions.Anyway, the main attraction once you're in camp is the easy access to the beach, and for a time we had the place to ourselves, which seems pretty miraculous. It's amazing to have a huge stretch of perfect northern California beach with few people around, on a day with perfect weather and at the start of a holiday weekend.Wildlife sightings included deer, several bunnies, lots of quail and turkey vultures. In camp we were visited by a hummingbird and a raccoon. At night slept to the sound of the ocean surf and a pair of owls.I didn't put up the rainfly overnight, maybe I should have, as the tent and everything else outside was wet from the fog that rolled in after sunset. We used my sleeping pad on the picnic bench at breakfast so our butts didn't get wet.We had a good time and now the gals are backpacking veterans. :)*Image locations are very rough approximates! I forgot that my batch-resizing tool wipes out the timestamp info.

Hiking/Backpacking

Backpack camping is by permit only. Cost is $15. The various regulations and details are all online, and I made our reservations on the phone several weeks ahead of time. This time of year, the sites get fully booked on weekends. We did the hikes as a clockwise loop. There was a bit of mild uphill for the first half of the hike to camp on the 2-mile Laguna Trail, then it was downhill to camp. The return hike on the Coast Trail is about 3 miles but it has virtually no elevation change.Our campsite (#2) was nice but beware the poison oak which surrounded us. We didn't get any on us but there were small shoots literally within inches of the grill and the food box.I spoke to a ranger about the water, and they recommended that we bring our water filter just in case anything went on with the faucet, although he also said they'd had no issues all year with it. But I got the impression that whatever the water issues were they must come occur suddenly.A Nalgene collapsible canteen gave us plenty of water to use in our campsite and we didn't need to make any extra trips to the faucet for water.

Point Reyes Station, California, United States

time : Sep 3, 2010 2:36 PM

duration : 1h 19m 5s

distance : 2.3 mi

total_ascent : 267 ft

highest_point : 112 ft

avg_speed : 1.7 mi/h

user_id : croyle

user_firstname : David

user_lastname : Croyle

This was a great introduction to backpacking for my 7-year old daughter... And also my wife! They'd both been camping before but not backpacking. This trip offered short hiking distances, mild elevation changes and terrain, and an interesting and beautiful location.The campsites are much like ones you get in drive-up campgrounds, with a picnic table, grill, and food storage box. Each cluster of campsites also has a set of vault toilets and a water faucet, and secure garbage cans. So it's a lot like car camping except that you have to hike to get to it, and as a result there are much fewer people, which very much appeals to me. Also it seems like you get friendlier, more well-behaved people as well. There's a different vibe among backpackers than car-campers, although that's painting with a broad brush and  there are always exceptions.Anyway, the main attraction once you're in camp is the easy access to the beach, and for a time we had the place to ourselves, which seems pretty miraculous. It's amazing to have a huge stretch of perfect northern California beach with few people around, on a day with perfect weather and at the start of a holiday weekend.Wildlife sightings included deer, several bunnies, lots of quail and turkey vultures. In camp we were visited by a hummingbird and a raccoon. At night slept to the sound of the ocean surf and a pair of owls.I didn't put up the rainfly overnight, maybe I should have, as the tent and everything else outside was wet from the fog that rolled in after sunset. We used my sleeping pad on the picnic bench at breakfast so our butts didn't get wet.We had a good time and now the gals are backpacking veterans. :)*Image locations are very rough approximates! I forgot that my batch-resizing tool wipes out the timestamp info.