A great walk, but a dreary camp!
Days/Nights - 2/1
Miles - 11
Elevation Gain - 1,581
Starting Elevation - 272
Ending Elevation - 272
Highest Elevation - 1,877 See AllTrails here
Overview:
Glen Camp is without a doubt the least glamorous camp in Point Reyes - the others being Sky Camp, Wildcat Camp and Coast Camp, with the 2 latter ones being beside the ocean, and Sky Camp having partial views of the ocean. Glen Camp has no views to speak of, nestled in a forested opening in the heart of the Point Reyes Mountains.
Glen Camp, like all of the Point Reyes camp sites has a vault toilet, a potable water faucet, and a garbage receptacle. Each of the 12 sites has a bench/table and a bear locker.
Due to the surrounding foliage, this camp tends to get dark early and stays damper than the other camps due to its sheltered nature.
Reservations are required and can be made here at recreation.gov and an overview of the site and other sites can be found here at nps.gov. However, in comparison to the other 3 sites, this tends to be the least popular, and therefore there is more availability.
The Hike
Starting at the 5 Brooks Trailhead (where there is a decent amount of parking) the trail passes a pond before joining a fire road that will go straight up for about 3 miles. It is forested, and with out views, and in no way spectacular, but it is tranquil and peaceful. Near the first summit, it opens up a little, but the rustic and wild trail is quite beautiful, and to this point I had only passed one other hiker, and one horse rider. You then have a small descent of about a mile through a gorgeous grove of trees, before descending towards Glen Camp. This descent obviously is an ascent when hiking out the next day, but it is welcome relief as you head towards camp. As mentioned above, there is nothing really to do at camp, so a book is a welcome distraction.
Would I do this camp again? Probably yes. It is very peaceful and quiet. But when compared to the other three where a stroll to the beach or a picturesque view is a nice distraction, it really doesn't compare. If looking for a training hike or a place to test new gear, then given the better odds of availability, this is worth taking a look at.
