A local’s guide to Salt Point State Park

Many who come to California’s coast searching for inspiring Pacific vistas turn south, to Monterey Bay, Carmel or Big Sur. It’s nice down there. But if, like me, you occasionally long for uninhabited miles of panoramic coast, stone standing defiant against crashing blue-white surf and thrilling don’t-look-down coastal drives, turn north.

A bit off the beaten path in northwest Sonoma County, you’ll find Salt Point State Park. It’s one of my favorite places on the planet. It lacks the usual coastal hotels and restaurants and golf — it’s an entirely rustic piece of oceanfront escape — but out of California’s entire coast, it’s in a class of its own.

What makes it different? There are pitifully few stretches of accessible coastline left now where we still can imagine what it must have been like before we came, before roads even; somewhere to stand and fully experience the awesome, wild planetary triple junction of land, sea and sky in a 360-degree view. That’s Salt Point.

The park’s 6,000 acres of wild California coast hold blue-green seawater coves, upland redwood and hardwood forests, terraced prairies, pocket beaches and monumental weathered stone cliffs. It seems at every turn, there’s eye-catching natural scenery to walk into. The air is charged with the scents of sea, pine and prairie.

There is electricity here, but don’t count on cell service. The activities are all outdoors.

You can dive, fish and kayak (with caution — the ocean here is unforgiving). You can wander 20 miles of hiking and equestrian trails, hunt for mushrooms or watch for wildlife or just take a long nap on a sunny wildflower-covered bluff while listening to the rolling shush of the sea. On clear evenings when the wind isn’t ferocious, campers drift down to Gerstle Cove, to the top of a stony outcrop to watch the sun set. Don’t forget the camera.

Getting there

The practical way to reach Salt Point is to follow Highway 1 north from Jenner. At Russian Gulch, the road climbs into the coastal mountains and suddenly crests, hundreds of feet up, with a heart-stopping view of the Pacific far below and skyscraping ridges ahead, sloping into the sea.

For awhile, the stretch of road isn’t much more than a narrow, high ledge cut into the mountain wall. Watch out for road crews at work. On any other highway you’d barely notice them, but here you realize why they’re so busy. They’re trying to prevent the slopes that hold the road from pursuing their natural tendency — to drop into the ocean.

The Salt Point State Park entrance may be just 19 miles from Jenner, but plan on a 40-minute drive, with some hairpin turns and the inevitable slow RV. There are some fun stops on the way, too, like the unexpected Fort Ross, raised in 1812 by Russians. The wood fort is expansive, with stockades, cannon, chapel and barracks. It’s a careful preservation of life two centuries ago.

The park

Salt Point was the ancient home of the Kashaya Pomo people, who thrived here on the rich landscape at least 10,000 years before Europeans took notice.

By the 1500s, Spanish galleons laden with treasure were gliding offshore, beating their way back from Japan and the Orient. Until the 1800s, sailors prudently continued to sail right on by; there are no harbors here, but plenty of hull-chewing rocks, treacherous currents, stiff winds and frequent blinding fogs.

The park’s name refers to the rock ledges along the shore, honeycombed with many shallow pockets where sea salt collects, deposited by surf and ocean spray and dried by the sun into a layer of sparkling-white crystal.

Dramatic sea and stone are the defining coastal features here. Both had prominent roles in settlement and trade. There were no roads over the coastal mountains at first. But from the sea it was easy to spot the giant, fine-grained ocher sandstone cliffs. They’re still here, minus untold tons of blocks that were cut out, manhandled with ingenious clifftop chutes onto schooners and used to rebuild San Francisco after fires and the 1906 earthquake. Redwoods, cut into lumber in John Colt Fisk’s mill, took the same trip.

Today the park and its features are protected, only open to those seeking an outdoor experience.

Things to do

The first people here all walked, and it’s possible to follow their likely paths.

From sheltered camps, single-track dirt trails trace the shoreline’s rocky edge around surf-charged coves out onto rocky points. Some trails pass through groves of bishop pine and emerge onto prairie bluffs that burst with rich carpets of blooms in spring and summer. Some of the best of these trails are the Salt Point Trail going north and south of Gerstle Cove and on the headlands near Stump Beach.

Other trails climb upland, through second-growth redwood, tanoak and madrone, to the easternmost ridge line. Some trails are steep in places, and as you go farther inland where the sea breezes don’t reach, temperatures get much warmer, so bring water.

There are opportunities for looping hikes, sea to sky, and horses and bikes are permitted on some trails at certain times of year. The coastal forests are pleasant and varied. High along the park’s easternmost edge, where native elk still roam, you’ll meet the San Andreas fault, which has left long sinks and bog.

One short, paved wheelchair-accessible trail leads from the Gerstle Cove parking lot to the seaside.

The park boundary here also extends into the salt water — one of California’s first underwater marine parks — and diving is permitted. Fishing with a license is also allowed, except in the Protected Marine Reserve at Gerstle Cove. For the experienced, kayaking is popular.

Bring food and drinks to the drive-up picnic tables along the bluffs near the park’s visitor center, or just eat al fresco wherever the mood strikes you.

If it’s windy — and it frequently is — look for sheltered spots in the lee of the rock outcrops. For true luxury, there is one sandy beach — a real rarity north of Jenner — Stump Beach, accessed by a flight of railroad tie stairs. It fills the mouth of a beautiful wide cove, carved through the surrounding headlands by Miller Creek. There is well-marked parking here, too.

Mushroom hunters (this is the only California state park that allows mushroom collecting) appear in numbers after rains, gathering among the forest duff and fallen leaves to seek out edible (and many poisonous) quarry.

Tips and features

Weather: Salt Point, facing the Pacific, gets the brunt of ocean weather, from why-am-I-even-standing-out-here fierce winds to cold damp fog, from clear blue skies and hard sun to pounding rain, sometimes all on the same day. Check the weather forecast and come prepared.

Tafoni: This remarkable, intricately sculpted rock is found at Salt Point and only a few other places around the globe. Its lacy patterns and otherworldly shapes are apparently (no one is sure how) eroded by salt air, sea spray and variations in the local sandstone.

Pygmy Forest: Cypress, pine, redwood and other plants, severely stunted by leached and depleted soils, form hobbit-like stands on what were once ancient seabed terraces. Falling sea levels and a rising coast have left these level island-like platforms, stripped of nutrients over 10,000s of years. There’s a loop trail through one of these stands, with informative signage.

Wild things: The park is home to an assortment of wildlife, from yellow banana slugs to black bears, foxes, skunks and badgers. A hundred species of birds pass over on the Pacific flyway, migrating just like gray whales do offshore. Sleek harbor seals haul out on the rocks along sheltered coves. Tide pools are somewhat difficult to access, but teem with life. Campers may meet the clever local raccoons, which, I once discovered, will gnaw through plastic jugs and gleefully make off with anything remotely edible you leave unattended.

This is a wild place, so please respect the ocean’s power, slick rocks, cliffs and other natural hazards. The forest and prairies are primed for fire, too, so use caution.

There’s an $8 entrance fee per car for Salt Point State Park, and camping is $35 a night, which must be reserved in advance online.

Camping, dining, rooms

Salt Point has three comfortable family campgrounds, accommodating RVs and tents, but only Gerstle Campground’s 28 sites are open year-round.

Gerstle is close enough to the ocean you can faintly hear high surf. There’s an onshore breeze, which means it can be windy and foggy. The two much-larger campgrounds on the uphill side of Highway 1 are warmer, with less wind and good sites.

There are no stores or food available in the park, but points north and south have restaurants, stores and hotel rooms.

Timber Cove Resort, 7 miles south of the park, has hotel rooms overlooking the sea, dining, bar, wine tastings and live music.

The tiny hamlet of Stewart’s Point, 9 miles north of Salt Point, is home to the iconic Stewart’s Point Store. Here the wildly popular Twofish Baking sells goods fresh from the ovens, coffee, sandwiches and other treats.

Sea Ranch Lodge and dining is 15 miles north of the park. Farther on, you’ll return to civilization in the village of Gualala, 20 miles north of Salt Point, with supermarkets and gas, a few motels and restaurants.

If you visit

One of the treasures of this place is that it exposes nature for us to experience in some of its more raw forms

Here, the elements dominate, powerfully. In a human-built world as crazy as ours, it can be deeply reassuring to still have such places. It reminds us that change is the only constant — the sea, the weather and the landscape itself.

Visit and enjoy. Reach out for trail maps and support those working to preserve this area for all of us at Fort Ross Conservancy: saltpoint.org.

Stephen Nett is a Bodega Bay-based Certified California Naturalist, writer and speaker, with local nature stories at findingcalifornia.com. Contact him at snett@findingcalifornia.com