February Destination: Mendocino County

I stuck with my "Travel More" New Years Resolution into the month of February. Woohoo! Two month streak. Conveniently, my boyfriend's dad, David, bought a oceanside house in Elk, California so Brad and I planned a visit! You may be thinking of Elk Grove. No, that's a suburb of Sacramento. This is a tiny hidden gem inside Mendocino County with a population of 250. If you blink, you'll miss it. So don't blink. Keep your eyes open. You don't want to miss the epic views, gorgeous redwoods, and quaint little towns.

Elk, CA is located 22 miles south of the biggest town in the area, Fort Bragg. Like many towns in this area, Elk was a lumber town from the early 1900s to 1960s. Several sawmills were built in the coves to lumber giant Redwoods and Douglas fir trees. Today, the town features a perfect breakfast spot, a cute grocery store run by a married couple, small shops, a nice restaurant with a small bar, a car shop, a tiny post office, and a few bed & breakfasts.

Brad and I flew from Burbank Airpot to San Francisco to cut down on our travel time. We flew Southwest and bought cheaper tickets during one of their sale offers. We rented a car and drove across the Golden Gate bridge and into Sonoma County towards Santa Rosa. We made a pit stop at Twomey Cellars in order to pick up a case of wine that David ordered. Then, continued north on the 101 and continued west on Route 128 towards Elk, CA.

Okay now, lets talk about this house. It was once an Airbnb home and is located on a cliffside ocean lot with an incredible view. The lot contains 2 houses with the A-frame as the 'main' house. It features a massive deck to help you soak up the sun and take in the amazing view. It's also the perfect spot to cozy up in a blanket for star gazing at night. The stars are absolutely incredible out there!

Brad and I stayed in the main house during our visit. There are TONS of windows letting in so much natural light...and amazing views of course. I posted the above picture to my Instagram and had someone ask what hotel I was staying in. Hotel level views right there.

Seeing the tallest trees in the world trees has been on my bucket list my entire life, so I was determined to find some Redwoods while visiting Mendocino County. I researched the best parks to visit in the area using RedwoodHikes.com. I highly recommend this website. It breaks down the redwood locations by region and then by park with tons of information and pictures.

NAVARRO RIVER REDWOODS STATE PARK

Our roadtrip took us along Route 128 which is the home of the Navarro River Redwoods State Park. This unique stretch of road features second-growth redwoods along an 11 mile stretch of road. It's an absolutely gorgeous drive! There is a campground next to the road and various turn off spots to pull over and admire the redwoods along the road.

VAN DAMME STATE PARK

Brad and I woke up motivated to get outside and adventure during our first full day in Elk. David drove us up the PCH to Van Damme State Park for a hike. This large park requires a fee to enter, but you could probably park across the street at a nearby beach and walk over for free. We drove past a few campsites towards the start of the Fern Canyon Scenic Trail. It is a day hiker's dream! The trail winds back and forth across Little River with several gorgeous walking bridges.

We hiked 2.5 miles along the Fern Canyon Trail until we saw signs for the Pygmy Forest. We opted out of seeing that and looped back around totaling 5 miles there and back. It is an easy, scenic hike that has very little elevation change. Half way through the hike are dozens of gorgeous camp grounds surrounded by the best redwood trees in the area. 

MONTGOMERY WOODS STATE NATURE RESERVE


The next day Brad and I adventured out on our own in search of this state reserve I found using redwoodhikes.com. Thing is, there is no service in majority of Mendocino County, so I was unable to use GPS to track our exact location. I did it old-school and used a map to direct us towards the correct roads. Coming from Elk take Route 128 and turn left heading north on Flynn Creek Road. Then, turn right heading East on Comptche Ukiah Road. This road was much longer and windier than we anticipated. Eventually, the road turns into Orr Springs Road about 10 miles east. Once you think you are lost on a narrow, pot filled road you will suddenly come upon a busy state park on your right. I was shocked at how many people were visiting this remote, isolated nature reserve!

The park is a fairly popular destination partly due to the fact that, at one time, Montgomery Flat contained the tallest measured tree in the world. However, the tree is not marked in order to protect it from vandalism.

The park is only a 1.2 mile loop, but absolutely worth the drive! You will enter in the park and make your way up a steep .3 mile path towards the beginning of the Montgomery Tail loop. Don't judge the hike just yet, because once you descend down into the Montgomery flat your jaw will drop. The park drastically changes from a dry, ordinary redwood park to a cathedral-like alluvial flat forest filled with old-growth redwoods. You will immediately be able to feel the moisture in the air that the giant redwoods thrive off of. Fog is estimate to provide 20-40% of the total precipitation inputs to the coast redwood forests.

Brad and I visited during the recommended hours of late afternoon and had sections of the park completely to ourselves. You almost catch yourself whispering at times from the noticeable quietness of the park. The thick mats of redwood needles on the ground are sound-absorbing.

Brad kept saying, "This was so worth it. I'm so glad we came here!" So, we highly recommend adventuring out in the middle of no where to play around the old-growth redwoods at Montgomery Woods! We hope to introduce this park to a few other members of his family, and hopefully a few of you reading this post!

MENDOCINO HEADLANDS STATE PARK

The quaint little town of Mendocino is about 17 miles north of Elk, CA. It's has a population of about 1,000 people. Despite its small size, the town's scenic location on a headland surrounded by the Pacific Ocean has made it extremely popular as an artist colony and with vacationers. Mendocino Headlands State Park consists of 347 acres (1.4 km2) of undeveloped seaside bluffs and islets surrounding the town. David took us to the bluffs to watch the sunset. It was an absolutely beautiful view that I forgot to take more pictures of the park.

On Sunday afternoon Brad and I adventured around Mendocino. It was booming! There was tons of people roaming the streets and visiting the cute little shops. I regret not taking pictures of town! Just gives me an excuse to visit again!