![]() When humans, dogs, or horses approach, the snowie parents may temporarily fly away in response, leaving their eggs and chicks exposed and vulnerable. The males then tend to the hatched chicks for another twenty-eight days after they are born. ![]() After laying their eggs in the sand, males and females take turns nesting atop the eggs for about twenty-eight days. The “snowies” are shorebirds with white bellies, short black beaks, and gray backs and heads. As you can see on the sign, the left-hand trail is closed to dogs between March 1 and September 30 to protect western snowy plovers during their breeding season. The right-hand fork leads directly to the beach. The left-hand fork leads down to a marsh and connects to the beach. It is why you see (and smell) so many cows along the roads and trails at Point Reyes National Seashore. Today, over a dozen ranches raise beef and dairy cows at Point Reyes National Seashore. They made a deal with ranchers that the government would provide 25-30 year leases to the ranchers so they could continue ranching on the land. Kennedy officially created the Point Reyes National Seashore, eventually acquiring 71,000 acres of land. Then the names turned south along the seashore’s eastern border, ending in W at Mount Wittenberg. The letters and parcels climbed north along the peninsula’s western seashore up to J where Kehoe Beach is now. After California became a state in 1850, a San Francisco law firm acquired 50,000 acres of land on the peninsula and broke it up into alphabet-lettered parcels, starting with the letter A at the Point Reyes Headlands. Kehoe Beach is named for the Kehoe family, who have been ranching on Point Reyes Peninsula since the 1920s and still operate a dairy known as “J Ranch.” The ranch is the northernmost of the alphabet letter-named Point Reyes Ranches. White-crowned sparrows (black and white striped head, brown and white feathers on its back) sing and flit among coyote brush. ![]() The nearly flat dirt path parallels Kehoe Marsh for 0.6 miles along sprinkles of California poppy and non-native mustard. Start your hike from the Kehoe Beach Trailhead, heading west toward the ocean. This 2.5-mile route goes a bit further north along the beach to see the incredible rock formations and then south to visit the marsh before heading back. You can do this hike as a 1.2-mile out-and-back. Kehoe Beach itself is on the northwestern side of Point Reyes National Seashore, a 50-mile drive northwest of San Francisco. It is one of the few dog-friendly trails and beaches in Point Reyes National Seashore. The Kehoe Beach Trail is a 0.6-mile hike to a crashing Pacific Ocean, sandy beach, and millions-year-old rock formations.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |