Mendocino III

This day started with a nice long ride in the Big River area. I was super impressed with how much of the forest here was open to the public with a great network of trails and roads. The avid cyclist could spend days and days exploring here.

Early in the ride I found myself in this Pygmy forest. The soil here is very poor owing to iron and sand concreting into a hard pan. The trees and bushes are all stunted - and beautiful.

Most of the ride though was through gorgeous second and third growth forest.

After the ride we went for a stroll at the Spring Ranch Preserve, site of one the oldest ranches on California's north coast.

Barn shots.

 

A mellow stroll through wide open grasslands took us to the coast.

Next we took a pit stop in Fort Bragg before heading up the coast to Point Cabrillo.

These bright flowers were just about the only ones in bloom. They are not native, but quite showy!

At Point Cabrillo we stopped by Frolic Cove. It's named for a famous shipwreck. In 1850 the Frolic struck a reef near the point on the right. The ship's owner attempted to salvage the wreck, in vain, but discovered the redwood forests. He set about building a mill which contributed greatly to the building of San Francisco and the eventual eminence of the lumber industry here.

For some reason abalone pieces were in great abundance here.

For the most part access to the coast is easy. There are not long stretches of private land although a few spots like this exist where luxury mansions dot the bluffs.

The headlands here were not quite as dramatic as most other locales, but there was a fascinating moonscape like shelf below the shallow cliffs.

Freshwater seeps and springs emerge from the bluffs and flow across the shelf providing sustenance to this bright green algae.

The stately Point Cabrillo lighthouse, completed in 1909 is fully restored and functional.

To top off the day we stopped by Russian Gulch State Park. This is Devils Punchbowl, an incredible feature that was once a blowhole, then widened into a huge bowl.

More fine coastline. The folks in the kayaks were fishing.

 Good times.

Mendocino II

 Next day I started off with a short mountain bike ride through Fern Canyon at the Van Damme State Park. Despite the drought the canyon was green and lush. Peaceful too.

Mary and I planned out the rest of the day with a post ride cup of coffee on the deck.

We elected to explore the headlands right outside of the town of Mendocino.

The bluffs start right on the edge of town.

Logging ships moored to this rocky point while being loaded since there were no deep water ports nearby.

More amazing coastline.

We circled back into town, had a tasty lunch then walked north to catch more headland hiking which was even more spectacular.

The islands were thickly populated with Pelicans with a smattering of Gulls and Cormorants too.

Ice plant is an evil invasive, but stunning nonetheless.

The number of arches, bridges, and sea caves here is amazing.

 Loved it!

Mendocino I

It has been over two years since we've last been to the coast. We were due! We chose the north coast area near Mendocino. Mary had never been there and I only breezed through a couple of times decades ago.

We arrived mid day and went straight to Jughandle Beach.

The weather was great, scenery sublime and it felt oh so good to breath the ocean air.

Beach sculpture.

After the beach stroll we climbed up onto the headlands.

Then finished the day relaxing at our rental - which was nothing short of amazing.

Next day we ventured up to Ten Mile Beach which is actually only four miles long, but sits below the mouth of Ten Mile River.

We poked around amongst the dunes. Most of the vegetation was parched except in the most low lying areas where the plants could reach down to groundwater.

This is Inglenook Fen, the southernmost of a series of fens running from Alaska southward. Fens are peatlands whose primary water source is groundwater. source. Much like oasis in the desert.

More dunes and vegetation.

After lunch we checked out Glass Beach.

The beach is named for the sea glass formed when residents of nearby Fort Bragg threw their trash into the cove.

A calm tidal pool elevated above the churning sea.

Evening at the Bauhaus (our rental) was sublime.

 Our first full day on the Mendocino coast ended on a high note for sure.

Fall Colors

Catching up after a busy couple of weeks. The fall colors kicked in for the high country as the summer heat faded. We took a couple of fantastic hikes to check them out and enjoy some quality time in the mountains.

First Mary, Reed, Bristle and I journey up to Green Lake and Brown Lake in the South Fork Bishop Creek drainage. We started near Parchers Resort where the colors were especially vivid.

Higher up the colors disappeared but the mountain scenery was grand.

Bristle cruises the shoreline at Brown Lake.

Inlet and meadows at Green Lake.

Reed soaks it in on the way back down to Brown Lake

and paused for a cameo above South Lake.

Once we had a taste we needed more! This time we scooped up our friend Jim and headed up to another Green Lake - the one south of Bridgeport.

The trail soon provided more great fall scenery.

We took a pleasant break at Green Lake.

Continued up to East Lake

Smoke from the Sequoia fires had plagued us much of late summer and this day it chased us out.

We managed to stay just ahead of it as we hiked out so we still enjoyed the latter part of our day.

Big daddy Juniper captured my attention.

Beavers!

 Super nice outings!