A Drive Through Time: A Ranching History of Point Reyes National Seashore

(23 reviews)

Point Reyes, California audio tour: A Drive Through Time: A Ranching History of Point Reyes National Seashore

This is a 21.1mi driving tour

It takes an average of 60 mins to complete.

Point Reyes, California

The United States

Archived

This tour isn’t available for download. We’ve preserved the script and audio as a record of its moment in time, but we don’t recommend doing the tour. It was published in May 2017.

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About the Tour

This is the story of a magnificent park and its odd relationship with the dairy ranches that are part of it.

“Cows in a park?” you might ask? Well, yes. They were here long before the Point Reyes National Seashore Park was formed. And they are a vital part of present-day Point Reyes. The farmers who can recall traditional rural life in West Marin are a treasure to this community.

We’ve gathered their memories to help explain how agriculture evolved here and the role it plays today in protecting the cultural and natural resources of this area.

Tour Producer

Claire Schoen

2 tours

Award-winning producer Claire Schoen creates stories in sound for radio, podcast and audio-tour. She has taught audio production at Stanford, U.C. Berkeley and Duke University.

Preview Location

Location 4

Establishing the Ranches

GPS Marker #4 “Establishing the Pt. Reyes Ranches”
(Sitting in Inverness)

Host: We’re coming up on the little hamlet of Inverness. Pull over in town here, to listen to the next part of our story.

Coyote: In the 1850s, shallow-draft schooners sailed into the Bay, stoppin... Read More

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Major Landmarks

Bear Valley Visitor Center
Inverness
Point Reyes Lighthouse

Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
1 Bear Valley Visitor Center Access Road, Point Reyes Station, CA 94956, USA
Total distance

34km
Final location
Sir Francis Drake Blvd, Inverness, CA 94937, USA
Distance back to start location

19km

Directions to Starting Point

Start at the parking lot in front of the Bear Valley Visitor Center in the Point Reyes National Seashore.

The visitor center is located at 1 Bear Valley Road, a half-mile west of Highway 1 (Shoreline Highway) and the town of Olema. From Point Reyes Station, drive south on Highway 1 for 2.2 miles, turn right on Bear Valley Road and go 0.5 mile until you reach the Bear Valley Visitor Center entrance on the left.

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Tips

Places to stop along the way

The Bear Valley visitor center
The town of Inverness
Drakes Estero pullout
Marconi View pullout

The Point Reyes Lighthouse and visitor center

Best time of day

This tour takes you to the Pt. Reyes lighthouse. If you want to visit the lighthouse itself at the end of the drive, please note that it is closed on certain days of the week. Also, due to its popularity in the winter months, traffic to the lighthouse is sometimes diverted to Drake’s Beach on the weekends where you can hop a shuttle over to the lighthouse. In either case, this tour will take you to the end of your drive. You can check with the rangers or online about the lighthouse schedule.

Precautions

Driving the speed limit is a good idea – especially through the two little towns!

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“This app has become my go-to app for audio tours. I pretty much use it for every trip and it works wonderfully. I highly recommend VoiceMap for travelers to truly experience cities.”

App Store Review

“Great app. walk around at your own pace, stop where you want, move on or speed up when you want. Read the script before you go or during the commentary, speed it up or replay it. Repeat the tour whenever you like.”

Google Play Store

Questions and Reviews

4.5 / 5

23 Ratings

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