Big Mesa, Bolinas, CA

Big Mesa is the broad, high flat on the west side of Bolinas in Marin County, ending at the Pacific in low cliffs and a long shale reef. It is the quiet end of an already quiet town, and for many houses the ocean is the nearest neighbor. A former dairy ranch was surveyed into a street grid in 1927 and sold off as thousands of tiny lots, and plenty of them never got a house. That is why the mesa has gaps: a cottage, a patch of coastal scrub, two or three homes close together, then open sky. Houses are modest, weathered by salt and wind, and surrounded by big gardens. Nothing here feels planned the way a subdivision does, and that is much of the appeal. Agate Beach County Park sits at the end of Elm Road, with a parking lot, restrooms, benches and an accessible path overlooking the beach and reef. At low tide the shale shelf of Duxbury Reef lies bare and the tide pools draw visitors. The reef is protected, so the rule is look and leave everything where it is. Dogs are welcome on a short leash. Point Reyes National Seashore starts close by, and the Palomarin trailhead, about five miles up Mesa Road, leads toward Bass Lake and Alamere Falls. No restaurant sits on the mesa. The village is a bit over half a mile east, an easy bike ride, where mornings go to Coast Cafe for pastries or BoVida for acai bowls. Smiley's Schooner Saloon, open since 1851, hosts live music and keeps rooms upstairs. Bolinas People's Store covers basic groceries, and Gospel Flat Farm sells vegetables and eggs from an honor-system stand. A real shopping trip means leaving the peninsula by Olema-Bolinas Road to Highway 1, since town has no full supermarket. Big Mesa is also the most exposed part of Bolinas. Wind comes straight off the water, fog is common in summer, and a walk on the reef begins with the tide table.