Stanford Stories XVI - Thanksgiving, Point Reyes and Alamere Falls

My 16th week at Stanford featured the long Thanksgiving weekend. Thanksgiving is celebrated on a Thursday but the Friday after it is an unofficial holiday. Most people here use the four days to visit family across the country. Since the families of many international PhD students and PostDocs are far away, we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving a little differently. That being said, we started traditionally on Thursday with a Thanksgiving pot luck lunch featuring a turkey and many other side dishes at a friend’s place in Menlo Park.

But instead of using the remaining three days to simply digest our Thanksgiving meal, four friends and I left for a camping and hiking weekend to the Point Reyes National Seashore north of San Francisco. We set up camp at a very nice and comfortable camp ground in Olema including free hot showers and (believe it or not) wifi. Camp grounds in the 21st century seem to have a changed a lot.

On our first afternoon / evening we went to see the sunset at the iconic Point Reyes lighthouse. After arriving at the lighthouse with clear blue skies, we could already see that the famous fog started to roll in. And indeed after less than 30min everything was covered in clouds. Fortunately, the path to the lighthouse starts at a rock well above sea level, such that after climbing this rock via a long stairway, we could witness a spectacular sunset at the ocean above the clouds. Definitely, one of the best sunsets I have seen here so far.

After a tasty dinner (rice with Dal), a few cosy hours at a camp fire and a somewhat chilly night, we used the next day to hike to Alamere Falls. Alamere Falls is a rare “tidefall” - a waterfall that directly flows into the ocean. A somewhat unique thing that I have never seen before. After our hike back to the car including a bit of easy scrambling, we saw another magical sunset at the beach of Bolinas bay. Back at the camp ground we enjoyed self-made quesadillas and marshmallows roasted on a camp fire for dinner. Without a doubt the perfect closure for a hiking and camping day.