Light of the Mendocino Coast

Two miles north of Mendocino is a scene that will stir the heart of any seascape painter: a rocky, wave-battered peninsula, a picturesque lighthouse, three red and white Victorian houses, a ragged line of wind-sculpted cypress. Add a dramatic horizon, dark clouds, white-capped ocean and you have a tableau to remember.

Even visitors without paint and canvas will savor Point Cabrillo Preserve and enjoy a walk over the magnificent bluff tops.

Point Cabrillo Lighthouse was constructed by the U.S. Lighthouse Service in 1908 to aid navigation by the North Coast steam-powered lumber schooners, known for their maneuverability in small coves called dog hole ports. Lightkeepers and their families lived on the point until the late 1960s, when the light was automated.

Thanks to the considerable two-decades-long efforts of the California Coastal Conservancy, the lighthouse and 300 surrounding acres were acquired and recently opened to the public. Point Cabrillo Preserve is jointly managed by the conservancy and the nonprofit North Coast Interpretive Assn.

The preserve is bounded by private residences north and south, Point Cabrillo Drive to the east, the restless Pacific on the wild west side. About 300 acres of grassland tilts toward the water. Watch for the long ears of the coast mule deer poking above the grass.

A farmhouse on the eastern edge of the preserve is all that remains of Pine Grove, a community that by all accounts knew how to have a good time. A racetrack, brewery, hotel and a dance hall entertained travelers and timber workers from the 1870s to the 1920s.

Docent-led tours of the lighthouse are scheduled on some Sunday mornings. Call the preserve for more information.

Directions to trail head: From Mendocino, drive north on Coast Highway (California 1) a few miles to Point Cabrillo Drive. Drive a mile and turn left into the new parking area for Point Cabrillo Preserve.

The hike: Take the main lighthouse road (closed to vehicles) leading coastward. It proceeds in straightforward fashion a short mile to the lighthouse.

After admiring the lighthouse and the historic nearby homes of its former keepers, walk north on the bluff-top path over the grassy headlands. Watch for black-shouldered kites, northern harriers and marsh hawks swooping over the grasslands and coast mule deer.

Ocean views are spectacular. Black oyster catchers, cormorants and pigeon guillemots nest on the rocks offshore from Point Cabrillo. Otters and harbor seals bob in the waters adjacent to the point, which has been designated a reserve by the California Department of Fish and Game.

The path bends eastward with the coast and reaches the northern boundary of the preserve. At an unsigned junction, join the trail heading due south. This path leads to another east-west trending road. Turn left (east) and follow this partly dirt, partly paved road back to the upper end of the parking area.

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Point Cabrillo Trail

WHERE: Point Cabrillo Preserve

DISTANCE: To lighthouse and around preserve is 3 miles round trip.

TERRAIN: Mendocino’s rocky headlands

DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: Easy

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Point Cabrillo Preserve, P.O. Box 641, Mendocino, CA 95460; tel. (707) 937-0816.