It’s Road Trip Season: Explore Hidden Seaside Gems

By Michele E. Buttelman Signal Staff Writer

We all have our favorite seaside towns and beaches. In the Santa Clarita Valley, we are fortunate that we can access the ocean by driving to Ventura, Malibu, Santa Monica and other popular SoCal ocean locations. However, now is the season to jump in the car, with the sunroof open, drinks in the cooler and a bag full of snacks and explore some unexpected and little-known seaside gems in Northern California.

Trinidad

Info www.exploretrinidadca.com/

Eighty miles below the Oregon border is the picture-perfect headlands hamlet of Trinidad, the oldest town on California’s northern coast. If you’ve never heard of Trinidad, you are not alone.

With a population of just 360 residents Trinidad is one of California’s best keep seaside secrets. It’s also the perfect location to start your exploration up and down the Redwood Coast. In Trinidad it’s all about the sea.

Trinidad Head, Trinidad State Beach, Lighthouse Road and Bay Street, Trinidad 95570 Info www.californiabeaches.com/beach/trinidadstate-beach

Trinidad Head is a rocky promontory surrounded by sea stacks sheltering Trinidad Harbor, adjacent to the town of Trinidad. It is designated as California Historical Landmark #146. On June 11, 1775, Bruno de Hezeta, commandant of an expedition up the northwest coast, marched with his men and two Franciscan fathers from the shore of the bay to the summit of Trinidad Head and claimed it for Spain.

This lush, rocky outcrop with an elevation of 358 feet has a summit hike with ocean views. This 1.7mile loop trail is considered an easy route. Hike to the top of Trinidad Head to watch for whales. Trinidad State Beach is also a well-known surfing spot.

Trinidad Head Lighthouse www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=61

Trinidad Head Lighthouse is a small tow- er perched on a 175-foot shelf above sea level. The lighthouse is still active, with a LED beacon mounted outside the lantern room. The 146-yearold lighthouse was transferred from the U. S. Coast Guard into public ownership and the Bureau of Land Management in 2014. The BLM is currently managing the facility cooperatively with the city of Trinidad, the Trinidad Rancheria, the Trinidad Museum Society and the Yurok Tribe. Pedestrians may walk up Lighthouse Road for about one-half mile and go through the open gate to the 1871 lighthouse on the southwest edge of Trinidad Head.

The Trinidad Head Memorial Lighthouse, located on Bay Street, near the wharf, at Trinidad State Beach is a replica of the Trinidad Lighthouse and was built in 1949 to house the historic artifacts of the original lighthouse still located on Trinidad Head.

Old Home Beach

Edwards Street, Trinidad 95570

Info californiabeaches.com/beach/old-homeindian-beach

Previously known as Indian Beach, this is the perfect beach for tide-pooling and watching the sun set over the Pacific.

To reach Old Home Beach from the bluff above head down a trail with stairs at the corner of Trinity and Edwards Streets. Or visit the second beach access point, down a trail at the end of Parker Street called the Parker Creek Trail. Park on grass at top of the hill and walk down Parker Street.

Trinidad Pier

1 Bay St., Trinidad 95570

Trinidad Pier sits on one of the most ruggedly beautiful stretches of California coastline. This is the ideal spot to soak up one of the most spectacular and visually stunning parts of the state.

Refurbished in 2012, Trinidad Pier juts into Trinidad Harbor, a popular crabbing spot.

Views from the pier include wave-sculpted sea stacks and tree-covered Pewetole Island, along with one of Northern California’s prettiest villages. Sue-meg State Park

4150 Patricks Point Drive, Trinidad 95570 Info www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=417

The park sits on a forested promontory beside the Pacific Ocean. The one-square-mile park also offers a beach with tidepools where you can see purple shore crabs, limpets, ochre stars and orange cup coral. You can also peer out at the ocean to spot seals, sea lions and migrating whales. Sue-meg has a visitor center, a native plant garden and a reconstructed Yurok plank-house village.

Westport

Westport-Union Landing State Beach

25000 Hillshore Drive, Westport 95488

Info www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=440

It’s a scenic 140-mile drive south of Trinidad on CA-1 to Westport-Union Landing State Beach. This three-mile-long largely deserted swath of sand backed by white-crested waves is the definition of unknown seaside gem.

The water is too rough and cold for swimming, but the beach is perfect for capturing photos of the raw shoreline and ancient offshore rocks, or taking long walks searching for washed-up treasures.

Point Arena

Bowling Ball Beach

Schooner Gulch State Beach, 28200 CA-1, Point Arena 95468

Info www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=446

From Westport it is an hour and a half drive to Point Arena. You’ll pass through the towns of Fort Bragg, Caspar and Mendocino.

My friend Elizabeth just moved to sleepy Point Arena, (population 470). She tells me that Bowling Ball Beach, 3.5 miles south of town, is worth the trip.

Check the tide tables before you go. During very low or minus tides, walk north from Schooner Gulch State Beach and follow the blufftop trail, or walk along the sand, less than a mile to see an intriguing assembly of round rocks, formed by millions of years of weathering. The oddly spherical “balls” were formed when the softer surrounding rock was eroded away under the onslaught of Pacific Ocean waves leaving the harder “bowling balls” behind. 