Parking
Use the small dirt lot on the west side of Home Ranch Road, one mile from Sir Francis Drake Boulevard; about 30 vehicles. The narrow road has few pull-offs, so RVs and vehicles with trailers are discouraged.
Overview
About Drakes Head via Estero Trail
Why go
- Home Bay footbridge and benches make a good bird-watching pause
- A bluff at Drakes Head looks over the estuary, Limantour Spit and Pacific
Heads up
- Most of the route is open pasture with little shade
- Cattle paths can make the last route junction hard to follow
Drakes Head via Estero Trail is an 8.8-mile out-and-back from Estero Trailhead to a bluff above the southern end of Drakes Estero. The route crosses coastal grassland, a short Monterey pine grove, low cattle-pasture ridges and a final spur along the headland. Plan on about five hours. This is a half-day walk for people who want to spend time in the landscape, not just reach a viewpoint; the payoff comes after miles of exposed walking. The Sunset Beach spur branches off the same trail network, but it is a different destination and is not part of this distance.
Parkwolf’s verdictIs this the long estuary walk for you?Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Point Reyes map
Full mapElevation10–230 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
4 active Point Reyes alerts
- ClosureOld Tocaloma/Platform Bridge closed to vehiclesDo not drive across the Old Tocaloma/Platform Bridge; it is closed to all vehicular traffic until further notice.Official details
- ClosurePalomarin Beach Trail closedPalomarin Beach Trail is closed to all visitors, employees, and residents until further notice; do not use the trail. - The trail is closed because unstable and failing sections have made it unsafe.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Point Reyes Tour Guide
Your drive to Drakes Head via Estero Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Point Reyes National Seashore. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
Estero Trailhead and Home Bay0:00 / 0:27
“Up ahead is Estero Trailhead. For a short estuary walk, follow the grassland path past an abandoned Christmas-tree farm to the Home Bay bridge, two point four miles round trip; allow about an hour.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Point Reyes Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Drakes Estero Kayak Launch
- The Samoa Rescue
- Why These Pines Grow in Crowds
- Cypress Tree Tunnel and KPH Station
- 61 audio storiesacross Point Reyes’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Northern Elephant Seal, Grey Whale, Humpback Whale, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 65 trails, 41 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Drakes Head via Estero Trail
Grassland, pines and Home BayThe first 0.
The first 0.6 mile moves through grassland, then skirts the northern edge of an abandoned Christmas-tree farm before entering the Monterey pines. About 1.2 miles from the start, the path crosses the breached earthen dam at Home Bay on a footbridge with benches. Ranchers once dammed the bay's head to make a stock pond; the bridge is a good place to pause and look for herons, egrets and other birds over the estuary. The pines offer the route's main short patch of shade. Past the bridge, small climbs and descents begin, with stock ponds in the pasture below.
Follow the markers to Drakes HeadThe route stays on Estero Trail as it rolls across cattle pasture.
The route stays on Estero Trail as it rolls across cattle pasture. There are gates; leave each as you found it. Near the Sunset Beach junction, stay on Estero Trail toward Drakes Head instead of following the separate spur to a marshy wetland. Farther on, the hiking line can look like one of several cattle paths. Follow the trail markers, then turn right onto Drakes Head Trail at a junction marked by fence lines, a small corral and an old round concrete trough. This final, roughly 1.3-mile stretch opens onto views across the estuary. The destination is a coastal bluff with Limantour Spit, the Pacific and the water below in view. Its southern edge is a steep cliff, so keep back from the rim. Frame water and shoreline together if you want a photo that shows the breadth of the estuary.
Get there ready for the returnThe same 8.8 miles bring you back over the exposed pasture.
The same 8.8 miles bring you back over the exposed pasture. Short grass and packed dirt dominate, with ruts and animal holes underfoot; winter rain can leave sections muddy. Summer fog and cool temperatures are common, and the open ground has little shade. The dirt lot is on the west side of Home Ranch Road, a mile from Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, and holds about 30 vehicles. Home Ranch Road is narrow with few good pull-offs, so RVs and vehicles with trailers are discouraged. The trailhead has a vault toilet, picnic table and kiosk, but no water or food service was found along the route. Pets are not allowed. If you want a shorter walk, Home Bay's bridge is a natural turnaround before the longer pasture crossing to Drakes Head.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Point Reyes
2,552 sightingsNorthern Elephant SealMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
127 sightingsGrey WhaleMost seen around noonSighting map
109 sightingsHumpback WhaleMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
29 sightingsSteller Sea LionMost seen around noonSighting map
203 sightingsCalifornia Sea LionMost seen around noonSighting map
352 sightingsHarbor SealMost seen around 7 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Point Reyes. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
