Blogs from Mendocino, California, United States, North America

Many years ago, Phil and I came for a week of horseback riding with the Ricochet Ridge Ranch in Fort Bragg. Our group rode horses used in endurance races that vary from 25 - 100 miles! Our rides were much shorter, but included 2-mile trots, ocean-shore rides and one 2-mile canter up through the redwoods. At that time, our evenings and nights were spent at various bed-and-breakfasts in the area, including one in Mendocino and one on a local farm. We loved the area and are delighted to be back to explore it more thoroughly by hiking. For this seven-night visit, we rented a small secluded cottage down a winding foot path through the massive redwoods and rhododendrons on a high ridge above the Big River. Our enchanting cottage has large windows to enjoy the trees ... read more

All kinds of roads took us from the majestic Yosemite National Park to our hidden retreat in the tall redwoods outside Mendocino, where we will hike for a week. The roads started with the incredible CA-41 that winds endlessly down from the Wawona Hotel, fleeing the towering sequoias, lodgepole pine and incense cedars for 40 miles, then traveling West through the Sacramento River delta, and finally to wine-proud Napa for the night. The next morning we followed the breathtakingly beautiful CA-1 from Jenner to Mendocino, meandering along the Pacific coast. Many bicyclists were traveling this narrow and busy highway, passed by several clutches of motorcyclists that tore past single file or in pairs. In addition, there was road repair, RVs, houses crowding the right-of-way, heavy-duty wiring dangling across the road, and trees arching over the pavement. ... read more

We are still enjoying the sights here around Albion River, just outside of Mendocino. At noon we left to go kayaking. The weather was pleasantly warm and the sky blue with a few clouds. We feel blessed that all is working out so well on this trip and kayaking was no exception. It took about two hours to get to the end of the river. We went as far down as we could before having to turn around and return. We saw all kinds of birds including, Hawk, Eagle, Cormorant, Blue Herons AND...Wild Turkey! They were all beautiful in their natural environment. The further out we got, the more we saw. We also saw a couple of River Otters with their sweet faces peaking out from the water. So quiet out there. We encoutered one other ... read more

Day 3 of our vacation had us waking up in Redwood Valley at my cousin's place. My cousin, Troy, visited with his family, as it was his wife's birthday. We celebrated with breakfast and cake... then they left and we decided to check out the beaches. What a fun day... we drove through more Redwoods and got to the beach. Ft Bragg, Casper, Glass Beach and Mendocino beaches were visited. Walking along cliffs, on the beach and just experiencing that scenery was amazing! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_Beach_(Fort_Bragg,_California) is a link to see more on Glass beach... interesting and a fun place to be. Weather was just perfect! We got home late, as usual (who said you need to get sleep on a vacation)... last night with my cousins.... read more

Left Petaluma in the am and arrived here after lunch. The trip was a challenge part of the time as we took highway 101 N to highway (?) 128 to cut across to the coast and back to route one. It was a narrow road that started off with many switchbacks and white knuckle turns as traffic was heavy. We arrive at Caspar Beach RV Park to find it located just across from the Pacific. What amazed Bill was how rugged the coast line is and how cold the tempertures stay in this part of Calif. The water was about 50 degrees at best and the temps were in the low sixties. After settling in we went to Mendocino as we had come here because of things we had heard. The town looks like a New ... read more