california coast — Nikon F: The Start — Single Roll Photography

A 5-hour drive is not something I would usually take the time to write about, but when it ends up being a 12-hour side trip, it’s worthwhile. We made the decision to bypass the more direct expressway route and travel north along the California Coast State Route 1. In some parts it’s also called the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), and for us the trip started in fog at The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. While it was cool to see the bridge and Alcatraz Island, we were really looking forward to seeing the Pacific Ocean and the scenery changed quickly north of the city. Driving through this part of the state felt vastly different than the first part of the trip, leaving the arid behind and welcoming rolling hills and scenery everywhere. When we stopped in Bodega Bay there were signs everywhere advertising Dungeness Crab, fishing supplies and trawlers tugging through the calm of the day. It was also the place I bought a bag of chili coated mango strips. The lady at the gas station said they were an amazing local treat, I’m not sure I agree. Maybe they’re an acquired taste.

Just outside the town we ran into the first of many beaches. Seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time was glorious. There were surfers out on the swells and families wandering the sand. There is a turnout for a beach every couple miles along this road, and if you like going to the beach you could happily spend a day at any of the dozens we saw.

Black Point Beach is the first we stopped at but didn’t get far into the walk. It looked like there was about a mile to the beach and we needed to keep moving. There were also multiple signs stating this is one of the most dangerous beaches in the state due to waves and undertow, so we moved on. If we were going to be walking a mile to touch water, it should be reasonably safe to do so.

The beach we did stop at was every bit worthy of being called majestic. Aptly named Driftwood Beach it was easy to understand why when we finally go down to it. About halfway there is a beautiful tunnel through a grove of over-arching trees followed by a flight of wooden stairs down to a packed dirt trail. The whole stretch leads to an incredible view. The beach is littered with more driftwood than I’ve seen in one place, enough to build a small hut if you wanted (which someone had). At most parks it’s not allowed to remove vegetation or rocks so I took a minute to see how illegal it would be for us to gather the driftwood I knew we would be taking home with us. According to the California State Park website, visitors are allowed to take no more than 5 pounds with them. We spent about an hour here just wandering around and then out to an overlook that separates two beaches. If you only have time to stop for one beach on Rte. 1, you could do a lot worse than Driftwood.

The rest of the day was more amazing views, cute little beach towns with BBQ trailers and more switchback roads than I’ve ever imagined could be stuffed into miles of road. The speed limit through most of this part is 55 mph. I don’t think we were able to even go 30 mph most of the time. The speed limit signs should all say “55”, but it was beautiful and I’m glad we took the detour. An RV or pull behind trailer would be a tough drive, but there are campgrounds on bluffs over the ocean I could see myself pulling over to spend a day grilling, drinking a local beer and watching what would be an amazing sunset. If I were to move to California, one of these little towns would be a dream.

We ended the day in Arcata, just north of Eureka after a lot of searching for a safe town to sleep. This was the first time we saw a publicly available patch of green grass in nearly a week. Grass typically isn’t something I’m particularly happy to see, but this time it meant hopefully there would be a little less dust for at least that day. Traveler’s Tip: on our journey we were all craving pizza and the first real city we came through between San Francisco and Arcata was Fort Bragg. While it is a chain restaurant, they do make a very nice pie. Even better they make a really good Gluten Free/Soy Free pizza and were very friendly while I was waiting. It’s a little expensive but was well worth a stop in the middle of the day.

Travel Blog #7: California Coast Rte. 1