Palomarin to Alamere Falls

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Difficulty: Easy
Length: 8.4 miles / 13.5 km
Duration: Half day

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Overview: The Hike to Alamere Falls is a great hike in Marin County, California. The trail starts at the Palomarin Trailhead. The whole hike is pretty flat so it is an easy hike. The first part of the Hike is high along cliffs that drop down to the ocean. After about a mile the Trail will cut inland passing two small lakes (Bass Lake and Pelican Lake).

Bass Lake has a trail leading down to so taking a swim here is a option, while Pelican Lake does not have a trail leading to it. This is one of the nicest parts of the trip as it is wooded and rich with vegetation. After 3.6 miles you will reach the Alamere Falls Trail.

This trail is very poorly maintained so it will probably be a little overgrown. Watch out for Poison Oak as there is some along the trail. After a short time on that trail you will reach a series of small but awesome waterfalls. If you go towards the right while facing the ocean along the cliff you will see a very steep area with lots of lose rocks you can climb down to the beach and see the lower fall which is my favorite part of the trip. Be very careful when climbing down.

Tips: Forks in the road:
1) Shortly after two miles into the trip is the first fork in the road make sure to stay left.
2) Around 3.6 miles will be the second major fork in the trail splitting three ways. Take the trail straight towards Alamere Falls.

Points of Interest

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Parking and Trailhead

Park at the Palomarin parking lot and start walking northwest on the trail that leads along the coast.

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Bass Lake

Small Lake on the way. Some people enjoy swimming in this lake as a break from the hike. If you want to take a dip, follow the trail leading down to the lake.

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Pelican Lake

Small Lake along the way.

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Upper Part of Alamere Falls

Small water fall on the upper part of Alamere Falls.

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Lower Part of Alamere Falls

When you make it to Alamere Falls you will see a series of small waterfalls then one big waterfall that runs onto the beach and then runs into the Ocean.

Pictures in this guide taken by: rriedy

How does this work?

The falls are worth the short hike and then some. The final scramble to the beach at the foot of the falls is probably rough for anybody who is afraid of heights. Trail was pretty overgrown in sections but very easy to figure out. Recent rains had made it very muddy on the exposed sections of the trail.
Visited on Dec 28, 2010

by robzilla on Jan 22, 2011