New hours for Point Lobos

I have just learned that as of May 1 Pt. Lobos south of Carmel in California

will stay open until 1/2 hour after sunset year round. This is a major change

from the past and is really great for photographers. Closing hours will be

posted, presumably at the entrance.

That is very good news for those of us who shoot at Point Lobos. It has been annoying to me that they used to close at 5pm during winter (under standard time) and 7pm during the summer (daylight saving time). That means I had to leave before sunset so that it was hard to shoot sunset along that part of the beautiful California coast.

Thanks for the information. I have asked the gate person, about parking outside the reserve on highway 1, staying till sunset, then hiking out. They seemed to say it would be ok to stay till sunset and begin hiking out but not linger through dusk. Their main concern of course is locking the gate to cars. Since it is such a small park, I almost always park outside and then walk in. I won't be surprised if the new policy runs into problems by those that choose to park inside and then stay for dusk photos because often the best dusk skies occur about 20 minutes after sunset that then would hardly allow someone to hike back to their car and drive out. For that reason photographers would best park outside, get some exercise, and then hike out with a headlamp on the easy to follow pave road. ...David