Mountain View to Lake Mendocino

We have a number of options when it comes to driving home from the Mendocino coast, and all of them are at least somewhat winding and scenic. We’ve traveled State Route 20 from Fort Bragg east to I-5 in Colusa County; Highway 128 along the Navarro River to Cloverdale on U.S. 101; and of course the more indirect route, down […]

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The abandoned, Part 3

Since I’ve now visited the area near Manchester Beach State Park a couple of times, I finally decided to do a bit of digging for more information. In doing so, I learned that the region to the west of Highway 1 and north of the park entrance on Kinney Road is called Lake Davis Wetlands and Coastal Dunes Natural Preserve. […]

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The abandoned, Part 2

My limited series continues with some images from what I’m calling the beach house — or perhaps houses. They appear to be two separate houses sitting side by side, but according to Google there is only one street address. I found them on what I believe is state park property, perched above Manchester Beach and roughly half a mile west […]

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The abandoned, Part 1

I truly don’t think of myself as an adventurer or a risk taker; but every once in awhile something will grab hold of my imagination to the point where I just have to see what it’s all about — and especially if it offers the potential to use my camera. You may recall that back in early January I mentioned […]

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Overlooking the sea

My post of last Thursday should rightly have been titled “Between the storms,” since we had one more day of steady rainfall before the sun finally managed to come out. It wasn’t until Friday morning that we were able to get out and start exploring; and while the temperatures were a bit on the chilly side — mostly thanks to […]

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After the storm

We knew we were in for some rain when we left home on Monday and headed for the Mendocino coast; but we didn’t realize we had an “atmospheric river” bearing down on us. Earlier storms had already left the coastal areas saturated, and our first clue was the detour on the Valley Ford Road west of Petaluma due to flooding […]

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Moat Creek details

When I stopped along Highway 1 to check out the Moat Creek beach access in December 2023, it was not my first visit. But it was the first time I followed the trail up onto the bluffs above the beach. What I found was a neat little loop trail, although at the time I was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t […]

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Mendocino beauty spots

Two locations in Mendocino County, near the town of Point Arena — Stornetta to the north, and Moat Creek to the south. Stornetta has become a favorite fishing area for the Big Guy, and I’ve enjoyed exploring the trails there, where occasionally you may encounter grazing dairy cattle. In early December 2023, I visited both sites on the same day. […]

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