On Greenwood Creek

Greenwood Creek State Beach is another beautiful spot along the Northern California coast that I never knew existed until very recently. I’m sure there’s much more to see than the small portion I was able to take in during our short exploration; the Visitor Center is located in the town of Elk and just across the road from where we […]

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What lies beneath

Earlier this month I posted about the Dragon’s Nose at the Stornetta Public Lands near Point Arena and mentioned some “mysterious” holes we found there. It’s taken me awhile to get around to my followup post, partly because of a technical problem (more on that later). I’ve also been trying to find any documentation of these particular holes but so […]

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The beach at Moat Creek

I first discovered Moat Creek back in November 2020 when we stopped there very briefly on our way to the Fort Ross area. At the time it seemed like a popular surfing spot, but I had no idea there were also easily accessible tide pools to explore. During my second visit in late September I had a little more time […]

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Dragon’s Nose

I’ve spent a fair amount of time along the Sonoma coast in Northern California ever since the mid 1980s, and it has always seemed to me the epitome of a rugged and rocky shoreline. But after recently spending a week a little farther north in Mendocino, I’m beginning to realize I ain’t seen nothing yet! I stumbled upon this particular […]

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Life along Highway 1

Although it runs the length of California’s coast, once north of San Francisco State Route 1 becomes a scenic two-lane roadway that dips and climbs as it snakes its way across rivers (like the Russian, the Gualala, the Navarro, and the Noyo) and through a lot of small towns, one of which is Point Arena, population 473. It’s all too […]

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Return to the pier

The Point Arena Pier was closed to the public during our first visit in November of last year. This time around, the pier was open and we were able to walk out to the end and have a look around. Things still seemed a bit quiet — but maybe that’s because we’re so used to seeing tourists teeming around Bodega […]

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