Rodeo Beach and Point Bonita Lighthouse field trip

The weather service is predicting high heat this weekend so we are changing our Bay Area Nature Journal Club field trip location to Rodeo Beach. We will spend the morning sketching coastal landforms and the sweep of Rodeo Beach while keeping an eye out for the notorious pelican eating otters of Rodeo Lagoon. We will enjoy our famous potluck lunch on Rodeo Beach while looking for precious carnelian stones in the sand. Bring a swim suit if you would like to jump in the ocean during lunch. You can change in the nearby bathrooms. After lunch we will shuttle cars to the lighthouse parking lot and then hike to the Point Bonita Lighthouse by way of the Bird Island overlook. A spotting scope might be a handy tool. The Point Bonita Lighthouse will be open for us to sketch and explore.

We will meet in the parking lot at the end of Mitchell Road, just past the Headlands Institute shown on the map (now called Nature Bridge). The tunnel on Bunker Road from Alexander Avenue in Sausalito towards the Marin Headlands is closed for construction. Please follow the detour signs to Conzelman Road (just above the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge) to go up over the hill. From southbound US 101 in Marin County, exit Sausalito (the last exit before the bridge). Drive uphill on Conzelman Road, then turn right onto McCullough Road. Descend on McCullough to a junction with Bunker Road, and turn left. Drive west on Bunker and stay left along the lagoon on Mitchell Road to the trailhead at the end of the road. From northbound US 101 in San Francisco County, cross the Golden Gate Bridge and exit at Alexander (the first exit past the view point turnoff). Make an immediate left under 101 and make a right on Conzelman and follow the directions above. 37°49’56.31″N, 122°32’19.83″W