Calistoga to Pt. Reyes Station

Esmeralda climbing the 300+ steps

What an incredible ride! I had vistas, hills, valleys, rivers, oceans, etc. Once again I was looking for a one-way trip that would provide me with the above, and give my wife and daughter something cool to see when they picked me up - the ride from Calistoga to Pt. Reyes Station is perfect. Not only do you get all the above but you also get a great bakery at the Station as well as the chance to tour Pt. Reyes National Seashore and the 1870 lighthouse situated way out on the point.

The Lighthouse

The ride is a good 58 miles (93 km) long and has challenging climbs and high speed descents. You get to ride through the towns of Santa Rosa and Petaluma , which may not be the high point of your ride, depends on how you like the towns. Hitting all the stop lights in Santa Rosa was kind of a pain but I did like riding through the old town. I had never been to Petaluma before so I did enjoy the trip through town and the right turn onto D street to start the long ride to the South West and eventually the town of Pt. Reyes Station. As usual, you can get all the information, including route directions and elevations from MapMyRide and the download from my Garmin.

Once in Pt. Reyes Station I found a public restroom right next to a small playground that was perfect for changing out of my bike clothes and putting the bike on my wife's car. Then a short walk to a bakery you can't miss - just look for the line coming out the door. The bakery is called Bovine Bakery and I've included a link from a fellow blogger who did a great posting on this wonderful place.

A trip to Pt. Reyes wouldn't be complete without a side trip to the lighthouse constructed in 1870. This is a must see for all lighthouse buffs out there. Here's a link for information on this neat place.

Jade with the 300 steps

The ride took me 3 hours and 18 minutes. I ended up crashing the Marin Century ride as literally hundreds of roadies were on the same road as myself. There also seemed to be some kind of ride coming out of Pt. Reyes Station too. Another huge group of roadies with different kind of numbers on their backs and yet another group with green wrist bands on. I enjoyed all the company on the ride down and was not bothered by any of the traffic that was relatively light. Check out my ride below and enjoy:


Oh, if you have a better way to get there or other variations of this ride, please comment below. I really like to get a locals take on routes. See my trip to Bodega Bay; Mat, of Bodega Bay Cycles commented on a much better route to get me to Bodega Bay from Calistoga.

Photo by Jade