Point Reyes Lighthouse, Maritime lighthouse at Point Reyes National Seashore, California, United States.
Point Reyes Lighthouse is an eleven-meter-tall building of cast iron on a cliff along the coast of Marin County, California, United States. The structure stands on a narrow rock ledge and houses an optical system with lenses behind glazed walls.
The building was erected starting in 1870, when ships regularly encountered trouble in the waters off San Francisco. The work took several months because all materials arrived by sea and then had to be carried down the steep slope.
The name comes from the Spanish word for the headland, where sailors once searched for navigation markers along the coast. Today walkers visit during whale season, when gray whales migrate past the shore.
Access is by more than three hundred steps, which close during high winds or thick fog. Visitors should allow time for the climb down and back up, pausing on the return.
This headland ranks among the windiest spots on the Pacific Coast, with gusts sometimes reaching up to 160 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour). The location at the very edge of the land makes it an extreme viewpoint over the open sea.
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