Celebrating National Public Lands Day in Point Reyes National Seashore
Beginning your descent as you fly into SFO, you’ll see a knife edge gash of water cutting into California’s coastline, effectively separating Tomales Point from the rest of Marin County. You are looking at Tomales Bay, a body of water that is the actual San Andreas Fault. It’s part of fog-covered Point Reyes National Seashore and it’s also entirely encompassed by the infamous Red Triangle, home of the largest Great White Sharks in the world. This peninsula would absolutely be the part of California that slices off during an earthquake and also the destination we planned to celebrate 2021’s National Public Lands Day.
We had a few friends hop on board as soon as they heard “sharks and earthquakes”, but locally, Point Reyes is known as a haven for dairy cows and oyster farms with time-frozen towns oozing with charm. The National Seashore features miles of hiking trails and primitive campgrounds (reservations required), which means it's an incredible place to load up on Oysters and Cheese before heading out on an overnight. We booked boat-in only campsites on the west side of the bay, and procured inflatable SUPs from our friends at Red Paddle Co.
We met up at Cowgirl Creamery in Point Reyes Station to pick up to-go sandwiches and a couple rounds of their famous Red Hawk and Mt. Tam cheeses. On the way up to the boat launch we stopped by Hog Island Oyster Co. to grab 5 dozen oysters to shuck for happy hour - a nice incentive for after we load up our Red dry bags, inflate our SUPs, and paddle 4 miles to our campsite. We started out scattered across the mile-wide channel due to heavy crosswinds, and eventually re-grouped along the opposite shoreline with a tailwind as soon as we safely crossed. About half the members of our crew were 1st time SUPpers, so we were slightly relieved once the crux of the paddle was behind us. Fortunately, the resident Fog wasn’t home and we were able to pull over for a swim at a deserted beach, avoiding the jellyfish as we drank a few cold beers before building camp.
We chose a campsite where the treeline meets the beach alongside a large flat where we could play Polish Horseshoes. Then we set up all the rest of the luxuries, highlighted by Biolite’s ridiculously lightweight and powerful Firepit+ and their solar powered string lights. As soon as it turned 5pm, we busted out the Firelight 750s, fired up the grill, covered it in oysters, and sent the evening in motion. Since partnering up with Suerte Tequila earlier this year, we’ve been experimenting heavily with non-lime & triple sec tequila recipes and we had a couple in the pipeline that seemed perfect for this occasion.
After happy hour, we rounded our food pyramids with kabobs and settled into campfire talk for the sunset.
Check out our cocktails from this trip The San Andreas and El Triangulo Rojo
In honor of National Public Lands Day we are teaming up with Biolite, Red Paddle Co and Suerte Tequila to put together a giveaway to celebrate!
Enter Giveaway HERE
We will also be donating 3% of all sales between September 22nd-29th to the National Park Foundation & The Trust for Public Land.
Also in Campfire Drinks and Storytelling
San Andreas
El Triangulo Rojo
