Visitors flocked to West Marin over the three-day holiday weekend, packing parks and jamming roadways, especially on Sunday. At Muir Woods, more visitors came this year than last year’s Labor Day weekend. Though numbers at the Bear Valley Visitor Center were slightly down, no one seemed to notice.
“A little tiny bit, yes, but is that even noticeable?” said John Dell’Osso, the spokesperson for the Point Reyes National Seashore, who noted that about 5,600 people had passed through the visitor center this year, down from last year’s 6,000. “That’s still a huge volume of people.”
On Sunday, he said, every single parking lot filled to capacity and cars overflowed onto adjacent roads. Around 2,000 people turned out that day for the annual sand sculpture contest at Drake’s Beach.
The seashore also closed the Palomarin Trailhead at the southern end of the park that day, due to a massive amount of cars. Mesa Road, near the trailhead, had to be closed for a few hours to redirect traffic.
As evening descended that Sunday, a huge line of cars stretched out along Sir Francis Drake from Levee Road all the way back to Inverness Park. Dan Thompson, who owns Inverness Park Market, said that he’d never seen such traffic in 35 years of owning his store. Likewise, it took Saltwater Oyster Depot’s owner Luc Chamberland an hour to drive the five or so miles from his restaurant in Inverness to Olema.
Adding fuel to the fire, on Sunday afternoon the credit card system for Green Bridge Gas and Auto went down, frustrating customers who could only pay cash. At 9 p.m., a sheriff’s deputy helped quell the crowd and close the station.
Traffic concerns in West Marin have been a discussed at two recent meetings held by business leaders, who have suggested that improved signage might help. Despite the traffic woes, many businesses—particularly restaurants—in Point Reyes Station profited greatly from the crowds.
Mr. Chamberland said that the holiday crowds—500 customers a day—brought the busiest three-day period in his restaurant’s three-year history. Business at the Palace Grocery prompted the store’s director, Gary Fine, to keep the barbecue tent running throughout September rather than end the service after Labor Day, his original plan. The tent sold around 100 chickens in all through Monday.
But not all businesses benefitted. Black Mountain Weavers had mediocre sales on Sunday.
“People would come in and just generally look, or not look at all,” said Midge Fox, who works at the store. “We do better business not on holidays.”
For now, it seems, the tide of tourism flowing into West Marin has no end in sight. And perhaps for good reason, some would say.
“It’s a little off the beaten path,” said a San Franciscan named John, who—with his girlfriend, Ivy—spent the day picnicking at Tomales Bay Oyster Company. “The only thing we were worried about was running out of gas.”