Parking
Start at the Five Brooks Trailhead gravel lot off Highway 1, 3.5 miles south of Olema. Follow the pond-side trail to join the loop.
Overview
About Five Brooks Loop
Why go
- Mostly shaded mixed oak, bay, and fir forest
- A mill pond with sawmill history
Heads up
- Long graded descent on Stewart
- Deep ruts and seasonal mud on Olema Valley
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Point Reyes map
Full mapElevation285–1,316 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 Five Brooks Loop, 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
Five Brooks Picnic Area0:00 / 0:25
“Five Brooks is coming up, a quiet picnic stop among woods and trails. Six free, first-come tables sit along Stewart Trail, some beside a mill pond built for a sawmill in nineteen fifty-six.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Point Reyes Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- A Pond Made by a Fault
- The Mill Behind Five Brooks Pond
- The Butter Brand Worth Copying
- A Fence Shows the 1906 Shift
- 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 Five Brooks Loop
A shady full loopFive Brooks Loop is a roughly 6.
Five Brooks Loop is a roughly 6.1-mile loop from Five Brooks Trailhead, using Olema Valley, Bolema, Ridge, and Stewart trails. It stays mostly shaded, climbing Inverness Ridge before a broad, multi-use return. The pond at the start was built for a sawmill in 1956. Plan three to four hours; choose it for woods and a steady climb, not a big coast view.
The climb and returnFrom the pond, Olema Valley narrows under oak, bay, and fir, crosses a bridge, then climbs…
From the pond, Olema Valley narrows under oak, bay, and fir, crosses a bridge, then climbs through damp, deeply rutted stretches. Turn uphill at the signed Bolema junction; ignore the faint shortcut just before it. Bolema climbs steadily, with occasional partial views across a canyon to a forested ridge. Ridge Trail descends through meadow and trees; a short connector reaches Stewart. The long, graded Stewart descent has a view toward Bolinas Ridge where the canopy opens. Retrace the short pond-side approach to finish.
Make it workOlema Valley is often flooded and very muddy in winter and spring.
Olema Valley is often flooded and very muddy in winter and spring. Poison oak and stinging nettle grow beside the path; pets are prohibited on area trails. Five Brooks has a gravel lot, vault toilet, kiosk, and picnic table, off Highway 1 3.5 miles south of Olema.
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.
