This week we head up the road for a close-up of the California Coastal Trail, which one day will run the entire length of the coastline, the 1200 miles between Oregon and Mexico.
If you don’t want to walk the entire coast on your own, Coastwalk California offers organized trips of all kinds—this spring, everything from the Lost Coast Adventure and the Sonoma Classic Coastwalk to the unique Bodega Marine Lab Hike and Kayak. Or, come summer, the San Mateo Classic via Half Moon Bay and Point Montara, the Santa Barbara Classic, and the Best of Mendocino. For fall, consider the Best of Marin and San Francisco, and the northernmost trip, the Del Norte Classic. Redwoods and Roosevelt elk, anyone?
If you’d prefer to plan a trip of your own, for an overview download the trail brochure available through the California Coastal Conservancy.
Those of us living in far Northern California already know that some of the most stunning stretches of the California coastline are right here, and these sections of the coastal trail are the most complete. Which makes this the most satisfying region to explore, in many ways, but not always the easiest, in terms of terrain.
From Oregon, heading south on the California Coastal Trail, where will your feet take you?
Early steps in Del Norte Country led you on improved sections of the trail through Tolowa Dunes State Park near the Oregon border—ancient dunes, wooded ridges, small lakes, and wetlands. Then it’s on to Point St. George, past rock outcroppings at Pebble Beach (no, not that Pebble Beach), and the new promenade that frames Crescent City Harbor. Tides permitting, take the spur trail out to the restored Battery Point Lighthouse, a historic icon that survived the tsunami following the 1964 Alaska Earthquake.
After Crescent City you’ve also arrived at Redwood National and State Parks, multiple parks woven together into the most amazing tree-hugging temple anywhere, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Not that most people actually hug these trees, but you could. And you could also stay a good long time right here, just hiking all the wonderful trails,
Before leaving Crescent City, be sure to jog inland to Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park and the sparkling Smith River, the last undammed river in the state.
Heading south from Crescent City leads along beaches to Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, famous for its old-growth redwoods and excellent tidepools. Then it’s on through the heart of Redwood National Park—including Fern Canyon and Gold Bluffs Beach—and on to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.
Then you’ll stroll past Freshwater, Stone, and Big Lagoons—part of Humboldt Lagoons State Park, the largest lagoon system in the U.S.—Patrick’s Point State Park, and Trinidad. New trail sections in and around McKinleyville, Arcata, Eureka, and Ferndale make it even more tempting to stay near Humboldt Bay before heading south into the King Range National Conservation Area and Sinkyone Wilderness State Park, together known as the Lost Coast—one of the most spectacular, and spectacularly inaccessible, stretches of coast anywhere. Just the place to get lost. In a good way.
