This California waterfall drops 40 feet onto a beach, and the shortcut everyone uses to reach it isn’t a real trail

There’s a waterfall in Point Reyes that free-falls about 40 feet straight onto the sand, and almost everyone who’s hiked to it took a route that, officially, does not exist. The National Park Service has an entire webpage dedicated to telling you so.

Alamere Falls sits at the south end of Wildcat Beach, tucked inside the Phillip Burton Wilderness in Point Reyes National Seashore. It’s what’s called a tidefall — a waterfall that empties straight onto a beach instead of into a river or a pool — and California doesn’t have many of them. Watching one splash down onto open sand, with the Pacific right there to swallow it, isn’t something you get used to.

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There’s no such thing as the “Alamere Falls Trail”

Search around online and you’ll find plenty of blog posts and old guidebooks describing an “Alamere Falls Trail,” usually framed as a shortcut that shaves miles off the hike. The National Park Service wants that myth dead: there is no maintained trail by that name, and the unofficial route down to the falls crosses eroding cliffs, thick poison oak, and ticks, with zero cell service if something goes wrong.

Rangers respond to search-and-rescue calls out here on close to a weekly basis, mostly hikers who slid down the crumbling cliff face trying to save themselves a few miles. The park’s official advice is blunt: use the recommended route below, and leave the “shortcut” alone.

The real way in is a beach walk, timed to the tide

The recommended path to Alamere Falls doesn’t go anywhere near that cliff. You hike to Wildcat Campground first, reachable from three different trailheads, Palomarin, Bear Valley, or Five Brooks, then walk about 1.1 miles south along Wildcat Beach at low tide to reach the falls.

That last part matters: at higher tides, sections of Wildcat Beach disappear completely underwater, and the Park Service is explicit that you shouldn’t attempt the walk if waves are already reaching the base of the bluffs. Check NOAA’s tide predictions before you go, not after you’re standing on the sand wondering.

Plan for a full day, and fall is your easier window

From the Palomarin Trailhead, the shortest option, the round trip comes out to roughly 13.8 miles with about 1,800 feet of climbing, rated a hard hike by the AllTrails regulars who keep going back. From Bear Valley or Five Brooks, tack on a couple more miles each way.

There’s no potable water at Palomarin, no food anywhere past the trailhead, and dogs aren’t allowed on any of the trails that lead there. Bring more water than you think you need.

Here’s the timing tip nobody mentions enough: the Park Service notes there’s usually more sand sitting on Wildcat Beach in summer and fall than in winter and spring, which means an easier, drier passage across a wider range of tide levels. Right now, heading into fall, is genuinely one of the better windows to attempt this hike, not because the waterfall changes, but because the ocean makes that last mile easier. If you want to round out the trip, the rest of Point Reyes’ best hikes are worth building into the same weekend.

Want to turn it into an overnight instead of a 13-mile day? Wildcat Campground takes backcountry reservations through Recreation.gov, and you’ll need a permit before you pitch a tent.

Trip tips: grab a rental car to get out here, lock in your hotel before the good rooms are gone, or skip both and book a camper van instead.

Rules and fees change — always confirm current requirements before you go.

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