Pigeon Point Overnight 2025

• Day 1 GPS Track
• Day 2 GPS Track
• Mark Brody's Pictures
• Arturo's Pictures

We tried to visit Pigeon Point earlier this year, but a bout of rain with 20+mph winds came in and we moved the date back. The forecast for our new date was that it was going to rain as well, but with much milder weather and brisk but not howling winds we decided to go for it. Indeed, it rained overnight on Saturday, but by breakfast time it was sunny and mild!

Mark Brody had showed up the night before so he could borrow my Revelate saddlebag. He'd not managed to get a spot at Pigeon Point but had found room at Costanoa just 4 miles away. A last minute cancellation freed up room for Arturo, so he could join as well. I unpacked the REI Link Saddlebags for Bowen and Xiaoqin, and we loaded it all on their bikes. I broke out the Ortleib panniers, and Stephan and Otto had gotten a rack installed on their bike as well, and were also using Ortleib panniers which were a wedding gift that they'd been using all these years. Eva would join us for the ride up Page Mill Road.

The climb up Page Mill Road was straightforward though a little on the steep side. We'd given Bowen a 30 minute headstart but saw him right after the Los Trancos entrance at which point he gave himself a boost. I would find out later that he'd pre-bribed his brother to deliberately slow down so he could beat us to the summit. At the summit we saw views of the ocean, took a few photos, and proceeded to barrel down West Alpine road. Stephan and Otto, loaded down with an extra laptop were taking it easy so we decided not to wait for them.

The descent on West Alpine road in Spring is as pretty as anything you'll do anywhere in the world. The corners are broad and the hillsides are lush and green and filled with lupines, poppies, and other flowers. If you're not riding this on a bicycle you'll miss most of it.

At the junction with Pescadero road we made a left turn and proceeded to climb up Haskins Hill, which was very pleasant in the cool air. At the summit there was a team in training support vehicle that offered us a refill, but it was so cool I thought I'd make it till lunch at least on my single water bottle, which had been refilled at the water fountain before the Montebello parking lot. 

The descent to Pescadero was a delight, and screamingly fast on the tandem. There were gentle rollers but none of them demanding high effort. Mark Brody caught up to us once we were past much of the descent and we rode along. The Revelate bag was going very well, and he was in high spirits, given that he hadn't done a lot of riding so far this year.

At the Pescadero city limit sign we waited for everyone and then went to the goat farm to see the baby goats and buy some goat cheese. The kids were pretty hungry, so we headed over to Arcangeli's grocery for their famous garlic artichoke bread, buying 3 of those to go with the cheese and prosciutto we'd brought from home. Surprisingly, we polished off all the garlic artichoke bread and went in to buy dinner and breakfast. We ended up with. Sphagetti and sausages, as well as an entire peach pie, and then a loaf of banana bread for breakfast. Stephan and Otto showed up just as we were about to pay for the groceries, but we wanted to go reserve space at the hot tub so we left after letting them know that we'd put in a reservation for them.

Bean Hollow road was surprisingly pretty with more flowers to entertain us on the mild and gentle climb. Soon enough we were descending to the intersection with Highway 1, and then proceeding down the coast with views of the Pacific Ocean on the right. Arriving at Pigeon Point, we went through the checkin process, unpacked, locked up the bikes, made our beds, and then went for a walk.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse is a minor state park, and this year's flowers were nothing short of amazing. We walked around in awe, framing pictures of the flowers with a combination of the Pacific, the lighthouse, and ourselves. I'd never seen it this flowerful before, since Pigeon Point was usually for us an earlier visit.

We made dinner and ate it before our hot tub spot. As we walked towards the hot tub we felt a few sprinkles here and there, but it never turned into rain, not even getting our clothes more than slightly damp. Of course, in the hot tub we didn't even notice. Boen saw a seal bathing on the rock, but it was too overcast for us to care about missing the sunset time --- there wasn't going to be a sunset that evening.

After everyone was done with the hot tub we ate pie. Bowen amazed everyone by reciting 30 digits of Pi in order to win a second piece of pie. Kids amaze you when they do things like this and you never even noticed them practicing or saying that they wanted to do this.

We had an early bed time as the weather forecast had shifted. Rather than the weather improving as the day went, the forecast was that it was more likely to rain later in the day.

Waking up around 6:30am, I made coffee and sliced the Banana cake. Arturo had found ants in the pastry he had bought the day before, but he cleaned it off and ate it anyway. We got everyone cleaned up and ready to go by around 8:30am, and took off against the headwind, pacelining up Highway 1. Once we turned off onto Bean Hollow Road the headwind became much less of a problem.

Arturo discovered he'd left his sunglasses behind so he'd had to turn around to fetch it. But he would catch up on Stage Road. Mark Brody hadn't gotten up early, and so he was far behind. At the Stage Road/84 intersection the San Gregorio store was closed, so we couldn't get refreshments. The kids all voted to go up 84 instead of Tunitas Creek. To my surprise Arturo voted with the kids. "Kings Mountain Road is treacherous in the rain if it's wet!" he declaimed. The traffic on 84 didn't seem too bad, so I was OK with the decision.

Riding up 84 with a tailwind was easy in the light morning traffic. We regrouped at Applejack's in La Honda, where we took a snack break. Arturo warned us about poison oak going up. From there, it was a 3 mile uphill run with much more annoying traffic, including a group of sports cars hell bent on showing cyclists how much more power you get when you're willing to burn fossil fuels. At the Old La Honda road intersection we waited for everyone and put on a jacket, because the sky had turned much more cloudy.

We started climbing after Xiaoqin took off. Boen knew that this was the last big climb so he pulled out all stops, and we slowly reeled her in. As we approached the redwoods near the summit Boen put in another big effort and we put a gap into her. We would later discover that she had had a slow flat on her front. Riding through the redwoods in the fog was gorgeous, and we made it to the intersection with Skyline blvd. After Xiaoqin arrived, we replaced her inner tube, not having found whatever foreign matter had punctured her tube.

We finished the repair just when everyone else rolled up. We split into 2 groups: Stephan and I opting for the longer route going down 84, while everyone else rolled down Old La Honda road. The tandems can go really fast on 84, and with light traffic we were not concerned about impatient drivers. Skyline Blvd was wet, but 84 itself was nice and dry. By the time we got back to Old La Honda road the others were already waiting for us.

From there it was a short ride to downtown Los Altos, but Arturo had neglected to eat so we had to feed him before resuming the ride. Silicon Valley was completely dry, looking like it hadn't rained at all during the time. The ride was uneventful and we had a big lunch after which we went home via our separate ways. It was a great trip!