A photo of Chimney Rock Overlook.

This view is looking west from near the Chimney Rock Overlook (near the Historic Point Reyes Lifeboat Station) toward the rugged cliffy headlands of Point Reyes. The Point Reyes Lighthouse is located beyond the distant point (hidden from view at this location). The cliffs consist of Salinian granitic rocks (Cretaceous age) and Point Reyes Conglomerate of Galloway (1977). In the vicinity of the Chimney Rock Overlook, the Laird Sandstone (Middle Eocene age) and lowest part of Monterey Formation is exposed in a small outcrop belt. These formations dip eastward into a north-south trending synclinal trough beneath Drakes Bay (see the geologic map of the park). In this part of the park, the Laird Sandstone is resting on an ancient eroded surface (now a nonconformity) above the Salinian granitic basement rocks.