Back in May of this year I shared one or two images of our visit to this area of the Mendocino coast, but I still haven’t had a chance to seriously explore Jughandle State Reserve proper. On this cloudless November afternoon we parked alongside the highway about 5 miles south of Fort Bragg and hiked past the gate to the cliffs just north of Jughandle Beach. We had the spot entirely to ourselves. I wandered the trails while the Big Guy found a rocky ledge from which to cast his line into the water. It wasn’t until we were about ready to leave that I realized I could have been exploring part of the state reserve trail on the other side of Highway 1 — another item to add to my list for future trips!

The water in this small pond was very clear and cold