Parking
Medium-sized gravel parking lot at Five Brooks Trailhead, off Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.
Overview
About Rift Zone Trail
Why go
- Shutter ridges and a sag pond make the fault story tangible.
- Meadows and woodland keep the long valley crossing varied.
Heads up
- The geology is subtle rather than a dramatic earthquake scar.
- Cattle paths can obscure the marked route in two pastures.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Point Reyes map
Full mapElevation55–295 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 Rift Zone 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
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 Rift Zone Trail
A quiet walk across the faultRift Zone Trail is an 8.
Rift Zone Trail is an 8.6-mile out-and-back from Five Brooks Trailhead to Bear Valley and back, crossing the wooded and open valley floor along the San Andreas Fault. Allow about four hours. The draw is subtle earthquake geology: a shutter ridge, a creek forced to bend, and a shallow sag pond, not a fresh crack or a summit view.
From horse country to creekFrom Five Brooks, the route moves through woods and meadows toward a shallow sag pond; young…
From Five Brooks, the route moves through woods and meadows toward a shallow sag pond; young redwoods grow just south of it. Farther north, two active cattle pastures interrupt the old ranch-road tread. Posts mark the designated path where cow tracks can be confusing, and every gate should be closed behind you. Near Bear Valley, the trail climbs over a partly wooded shutter ridge, crosses Bear Valley Creek, then opens into meadow by the trailhead. A low ridge bends the creek, a quiet clue to the valley's seismic history.
Know the accessPublic passage through the Vedanta Society section is allowed from 8 a.m.
Public passage through the Vedanta Society section is allowed from 8 a.m. until two hours before sunset. Time both passes through that section within the window, and close gates. Horses share the route, cattle may be in the pastures, and pets aren't allowed. Five Brooks has a medium-sized gravel parking lot off Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.
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.
