Exploring the Coastal Pleasures of Mendocino

Few coastal locales are as photographed as the town of Mendocino and its bold headlands.

The town itself, which lies just north of the mouth of Big River, resembles a New England village, no doubt by design of its Yankee founders. Now protected by a state park, the headlands are laced with paths that offer post-card views of wave tunnels and tide pools, beaches and blowholes.

Today, Mendocino may be familiar to fans of the TV series “Murder, She Wrote.” It stands in for Cabot Cove, sleuth Jessica Fletcher’s hometown.

Like the town, the headlands have a storied past. Booldam--”Big River”--is what the Pomo Indians called the village here. Wave tunnels, one measuring more than 700 feet long, penetrate the Mendocino Bay bluffs. They’ve been the death of many ships, particularly during the days of sail, when a number of vessels were reportedly blown into the tunnels and never seen again.

Despite rough surf conditions, one of California’s first dog-hole ports was located here. A railway, built in 1853, carried redwood lumber from a nearby mill to a chute on the point. It was a tricky loading operation, to say the least.

Once the most cosmopolitan of little ports, Mendocino declined in economic and cultural importance as the logging industry came to a halt in the 1930s. The town revived in the 1950s when a number of San Francisco artists established the Mendocino Art Center. What was bohemian and cheap in the 1950s and ‘60s is now upscale and pricey, but the town’s Maine village look has been preserved.

Mendocino’s citizenry not only preserved the town in a historical district, but succeeded in placing the majestic bluffs--threatened with a modern subdivision--under the protection of Mendocino Headlands State Park in 1972.

Mendocino is a great town for the walker to explore. Grand Victorian houses and simple New England saltboxes mingle with a downtown that includes several fascinating 19th-Century buildings. Among the architectural gems are the Masonic Hall, built in 1866 and topped with a redwood sculpture of Father Time; the Mendocino Hotel, with its antique decor, and the Presbyterian Church, constructed in 1867 and now a state historical landmark.

Be sure to check out the historic Ford House perched above the bay on the south side of town. Inside the house are exhibits interpreting the human and natural history of the Mendocino Coast.

A summer or weekend walk onto the headlands allows you to escape the crowds, while a winter walk, perhaps when a storm is brewing offshore, is a special experience indeed. From the end of town you can walk down-coast to Big River or up-coast to a blowhole.

Directions to trail head: From “downtown” Mendocino, follow Main Street up-coast past the Mendocino Hotel to Heeser Street. Park wherever you can find a space.

The hike: The unsigned trail leads southwest through a fence and soon forks. First, the route down-coast to Big River Beach:

Heading east, the trail delivers you to some bluff-top benches and a coastal access leading down to Portagee Beach. Wooden steps cross a gully and the trail soon forks again--offering both a route along the edge of the bluffs and another heading on a straighter course toward Big River.

Notice the crossties, remains of the old oxen-powered railway that hauled lumber to the bluff edge, where it was then sent by chute to waiting ships.

Wildflowers that seasonally brighten the grassy headlands include lupine and Mendocino Coast paintbrush. More noticeable are nonnative species, domestic flowers gone wild--nasturtiums, calla lilies, hedge rose--as well as Scotch broom, an unwelcome pest that thrives along the north coast.

After meandering past some Bishop pine, the path descends moderately to steeply to the beach, where Big River empties into Mendocino Bay. The quarter-mile-long beach is part of Mendocino Headlands State Park. Back of the beach is a marsh--Big River Estuary, a winter stopover for ducks and geese. Salmon and steelhead spawn up-river.

Return the same way or detour through town to admire some of Mendocino’s historical buildings.

To the blowhole and beyond: Bearing right at the first trail junction from the trail head leads to the blowhole, which is encircled by a low fence. While not exactly an aqueous Vesuvius, the blowhole can at times be a frothy and picturesque caldron.

The path continues north along the edge of the headlands for another mile. You’ll pass a plaque dedicated by the sister cities of Mendocino and Miasa, Japan, “to the peaceful pursuit of the peoples of the Pacific and to the protection of the environment that all living things therein may exist in perpetual harmony.”

Where: Mendocino Headlands State Park. Distance: 2-5 miles round trip. Terrain: Majestic bluffs. Highlights: A town made for walkers, plus bluff-top views of sea caves, tide pools, beaches. Degree of difficulty: Easy. For more information: Contact Mendocino Headlands State Park at (707) 937-5804.