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Point Reyes

prominent cape on the Pacific coast of northern California, USA

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 11, 2026
Entity authorityQ3142013 ↗
Source-derived summary

Point Reyes ( RAYZ, Spanish: [ˈreʝes]; Spanish: Punta de los Reyes, lit. 'Cape of the Kings') is a prominent landform and popular tourist attraction on the Pacific coast of Marin County in Northern California. It is about 30 miles (50 km) west-northwest of San Francisco. The term is often applied to the Point Reyes Peninsula, the region bounded by Tomales Bay on the northeast and Bolinas Lagoon on the southeast. The majority of the peninsula as well as the headlands are protected as part of Point Reyes National Seashore.

Overview

The cape protects Drakes Bay on its southern side. The headland is largely drained by Drakes Estero. Drakes Bay and Drake's Estero are named after English seafarer Sir Francis Drake who possibly hauled his ship, the Golden Hinde, up onto the beach for repairs in June 1579. Inverness Ridge runs along the peninsula's northwest-southeast spine, with forested peaks around 430 metres (1,410 ft). West of the ridge, the land flattens out and the vegetation turns to scrub. The Mount Vision fire in 1995 burned part of Inverness Ridge, as well as the Woodward fire in 2020.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Point Reyes” as prominent cape on the Pacific coast of northern California, USA. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Point, Reyes and prominent.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1579, 1995, 2020—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Point, Reyes and prominent providing the first useful test.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Point Reyes”, the useful work is to connect “prominent cape on the Pacific coast of northern California, USA” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3142013. Authority coordinates are 37.997, -123.020. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1579, 1995 and 2020.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Point Reyes” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.