Point Reyes—Glen Camp
Camp Review
Cassie and I camped at Glen Campground (site 3) with Daniel and Maggie.
The campsite was level and came with a picnic table that sat right underneath a tree, which meant it was shaded for the whole day. The rest of the site sat in the sun, but since we just hung out at the picnic table, it was just perfect.
This site is situated away from other sites, so it was relatively quiet. Still, sites 1 and 2 are the best-looking ones, with shade throughout the entire campsite.
The camp has a vault toilet that is the most foul-smelling vault toilet I have ever used. Somehow, it smelled as bad as smelly pit toilets.
There was also a bear locker at each campsite, which was really convenient for storing food.
The site was clean with the bear locker and the picnic table in tiptop condition. However, like the other campsites in Point Reyes, the ground had a layer of fine sand on top, which was easily kicked up and coated our tents. The ground otherwise was good for camping. The tent stakes were driven into the ground with a little bit of effort (a rock we found on top of the bear locker was perfect for driving the stakes into the ground).
Hike Review
We hiked from the Bear Valley Visitor Center on the Bear Valley Trail until we took a left on the Glen Camp Loop and walked into the campground after a little bit of hiking. The entire hike was less than 5 miles.
The elevation gain was mild at worst. For the most part, the trail was rather flat.
There was a ton of shade on the trail, and it felt like we had shade for half the time.
The trail was busy near the visitor center, but once we hiked for a half mile or so, the trail got less busy, and we felt like the only ones hiking in the beautiful forest that we were in. We only ran into other people occasionally.
The Bear Valley Trail was either a double-track hard-packed dirt or fine-gravel trail. It was an incredibly well-maintained trail with not a piece of trash to be seen. Instead of trash, the sides of the trail were overrun with blackberry bushes that nourished us with sour blackberries. Glen Camp Loop was a single-track trail hard-packed dirt that had been recently mowed. Because of that, the trail was wide and easy to walk. Before the mowing, I bet the tall grass overflowed onto the trail, which would have been itchy on the legs (not to mention the possibility of ticks!).
What I Learned
Glen Camp is one I had not been to before, and I learned how green this campground was. Surrounded by trees and blackberry bushes, it was a joy just resting and listening to the birds.
We made peanut butter noodles by mixing the jalapeno ramen packet with peanut butter and it ended up tasting great!
Friends
Daniel and Maggie joined us on this camping trip. Jerry and his girlfriend were supposed to join, but an unfortunately timed illness prevented them from joining us. Conversations with Daniel and Maggie were super fun, as they had stories from L.A., China, the Bay Area, and more! We also just got along super well.
What Happened?
4.9 miles, 1 hr 59 mins, 1010 ft of ascent
4.8 miles, 1 hr 55 mins, 626 ft of ascent
As a part of an effort to see all the different Point Reyes campsites, I booked Glen Campground a few months ago. I saw that it was a great beginner backpacking site, and while we’re no beginners, it ended up being perfect as it was the perfect distance for Cassie’s recovering leg. It was also perfect for another reason—we had friends who were interested in either learning how to backpack or hadn’t backpacked in a while and wanted something easy-peasy.
When with each site having a maximum of six people, we quickly found 4 friends who wanted to join us. Unfortunately, Jerry and his girlfriend couldn’t join us, but we still met up with Daniel and Maggie at the Bear Valley Visitor Center after picking up yummy baked goods from Brickmaiden Bakery (it’s our favorite bakery in the Bay Area and is located in the small town of Point Reyes Station). After double-checking with rangers that the water at Glen Camp was potable, we sat down at a picnic table to have breakfast (bakery stuff and some spreads that we picked up at an amazing market next to the bakery).
We then put on our packs and headed off to the campground. Even though we had to hike more than two hours, time went fast as I was engrossed in a fun conversation with Daniel (Cassie and Maggie had a great time catching up too). Honestly, the only thing I noticed outside the conversation was the beautiful views and the tart blackberries that I love so much (much of the trail was lined with blackberry bushes and I made sure to pick the immature berries that I knew would be sour).
When we arrived at the campsite, we pitched our tents and cooked lunch. Even though it was Daniel and Maggie’s first time backpacking, they had really nice gear as they had borrowed their gear from their awesome friends. And as if they were seasoned experts, they pitched their Durston X2 tent without a hitch—I found this impressive as many online reviews state how unintuitive the setup process could be. Lunch was peanut noodles for us and cup ramen for our friends. We talked through lunch and then some. So much so that Cassie and I had a large snack after a bit, which was so filling that we skipped dinner later. This charcuterie board was our best and fanciest yet. We had boutique Dijon mustard, hot honey summer sausage, aged cheddar cheese, cornichon from India, and a brick oven-baked sourdough baguette.
Afterwards, Daniel and Maggie took a walk to the beach while Cassie painted and I read my book club assignment for the week. We got sleepy, however, so after an hour or so, we played a half dozen games of Monopoly Deal where Cassie systematically destroyed me game by game.
About three hours went by before I started getting worried about Daniel and Maggie, so I got ready to look for them, but just as I got up, there they were, walking back to camp. It turned out that they took longer than expected because they stopped to pick a bunch of ripe blackberries, and also took it slow to enjoy the beautiful landscapes.
They had dinner and we chatted as it got darker and darker. We traded stories of our lives and really enjoyed getting to know each other better. At around 10 p.m., we got ready for bed, crawled into our tents, and fell asleep pretty quickly.
Cassie and I woke up a few times in the night, but we both fell back asleep quickly and overall had a great night of sleep. In the morning, I woke up feeling damp as the coastal fog had increased the humidity during the night. Our tent’s interior was wet from condensation, as were the picnic table and the outside of the bear vault. Because we had put our shoes in the vestibule of the tent, our shoes were not wet (thank goodness).
We didn’t stay too long, as we cleaned up soon after getting up, and started hiking out. The hike out was much easier than the way in as it was mostly downhill and it was earlier in the day before it got too hot. Like in the hike in, I was so busy talking to Daniel about video games and other fun topics that I barely noticed the 5 miles go by. I did notice that there were much fewer people, but that was probably since we were earlier and the fact that there are probably less people on Sundays versus Saturdays.
Once we made it back to the cars, we drove into the town of Point Reyes Station, where we ate a yummy meal of oysters and sandwiches and explored the town a bit. Our dessert was gourmet ice cream and fermented drinks that we found at a store called The Farmer’s Wife. Others enjoyed the ice cream, but my favorite was their “Endless Summer” drink that was divine.
Afterwards, we shared hugs and went our separate ways. Daniel and Maggie headed home while Cassie and I directed ourselves to Samuel P. Taylor State Park so that we could cycle amongst the coastal redwoods.
