Nicasio Reservoir

There are two ways to get to Point Reyes National Seashore from my house in the East Bay, both of which start with nearly an hour on a freeway. If I route to the Bear Valley visitor center, Google Maps will navigate me through the town of San Rafael and then a few other towns. This isn’t particularly picturesque but does at least pass some gas stations should that be an issue. However, if my destination is further north in the park, Google will instead have me exit onto Lucas Valley Road and drive past Nicasio Reservoir. This is a very beautiful drive, although funny story, the first time I drove it, it was slightly terrifying. The first time I ever went to Point Reyes, I first went to the Bear Valley visitor center, so as navigated by Google, I drove through San Rafael and the other towns, and that was all fine and dandy. Within the park, I drove from the visitor center to the Tomales Bay trailhead, also known as the tule elk reservation. It was completely dark as I was driving home, and very foggy, and raining a little bit. Google navigated me home some “back way” that was totally unlike the way I had come in, and it was extremely difficult to see as there are no street lights out there and it was foggy. I had absolutely NO IDEA where I was or where Google was taking me. I ended up turning onto Lucas Valley Road as instructed by Google and then it was not only extremely dark and foggy and somewhat rainy, but ALSO the road was ridiculously curvy, so I had to drive like 15 mph. I was fairly new to California so I was still getting used to these crazy windy (and sometimes very steep) roads. I finally made it to Highway 101 and then onto home, where I looked at the map to see the route I had taken. I also researched Lucas Valley Road and learned that George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch is located there. Interestingly, the road was called Lucas Valley Road before George Lucas bought huge swaths of property there; the name has nothing to do with him. (And, I had been on a few Miwok trails in California, the Miwok being a local Native American tribe, and had always thought the name sounded like “ewok” – well, I also learned that Lucas named the ewoks after the Miwoks.)

I don’t usually go to the visitor center, so I nearly always take Lucas Valley Road to get to and from Point Reyes and it no longer freaks me out, even in the dark, because I know it. When I travel that way during the day, I pass Nicasio Reservoir and always think how beautiful it is and how one day I should go there to hike, although I don’t know when that will be, because once I get as far as Nicasio, I’m most of the way to Point Reyes, and I don’t know how I can stop myself from continuing on to Point Reyes. Anyway, I was kind of disappointed by the shortness of my day in Point Reyes the other weekend (though not at ALL disappointed by all the wildlife I saw!), so to try to make up for it, I stopped at part of Nicasio Reservoir on my way home and took some photos. The sun had already set, though, so these are pretty dark.