Hike No. 16 - Bluffs and Beaches on the Mendocino Coast

May 31, 2012
2.2 Miles


About 2-3/4 miles south of the bridge over the entrance to Noyo Harbor at Ft. Bragg is a little-know coastal access trailhead. Tucked just off of Highway 1 on Ocean Drive near the sign for the Pine Beach Motel, there is room for at most three cars, but I was alone when I arrived on this crystalline clear day. Walking the trail provides little hint of the spectacle to come, other than perhaps a faint distant sound of breakers and the whistle buoy off Noyo harbor on a day when the sea is up, as this one was. The sweet little trail and the beautiful day, the relaxing ramble over bluffs and across beaches with not another human in sight inspired not only photographs but a few words as well.

To The Beach

The little path

wiggles carelessly,

reflecting a feigned indifference,

as if its destination

was no big deal.

It keeps its secret

first brushed by marsh grasses

then through scraggly pine woods,

past clumps of violet irises,

footfalls silenced 

by a carpet of pine needles.

All the better to hear

nearby birds,

a distant whistle bouy,

plaintive like a seasick dove,

and a faint roar

like a distant freeway.

It rounds a low pine

pruned by the sea wind

to display blue and white,

the faint roar now a

rush and crash in 5.1 surround sound.

Here the path widens a bit,

as if to throw open its arms,

to finally reveal

its secret, and proudly say,

"There now, how about that!"