Fort Bragg, CA hiking

Finally we made it to the west coast and cooler temperatures.  This is at Mackerricher State Park just north of Fort Bragg, CA.

We walked north along the old haul road checking out the ocean where could see it.

This rock would go underwater when the waves came in.

Water would also shoot into the air.

On rock was covered with seals and the further out rock was covered in birds

Day 2 at Fort Bragg we went south to Jug Handle State Natural Reserve to do the Ecological Staircase Trail.



The Ecological Staircase trail explores three wave-cut terraces formed by the continental glaciers, rising seas, and tectonic plates that built the Coast Range.  It took us three hours to hike the 5 miles round trip.

First we checked out the headland.

Some of the wildlife was interesting (naked man wandering around the beach.  We left that photo out of this blog).

Jug Handle Creek crosses under Hwy 101 and empties into the ocean.

We crossed under the bridge and hiked up the ravine that Jug Handle creek flowed down. 

Another hiker pointed out this hornet nest.

Two trees have grown up using a nurse log (fallen tree).

The hike ended up in the pygmy forest.  These are the same trees that grew in the lower forest but, due to poor soil conditions, their growth is stunted.

Click on the photo to enlarge for reading.

There were still some rhododendron blooms.

We had to go down these stairs at the start of the hike and had to climb up them on the way back.

Day 3 at Fort Bragg:   We hiked along more of the haul road.

Another day we went to Glass Beach.  For years the residents of Fort Bragg dumped their garbage into the ocean.  The glass dumped in was broken and the pieces were smoothed by wave action.  I think a lot of the glass has been hauled away by tourists.  Nolan saw this little fish in a tide pool

Glass fragments on the beach... yes we put them back on the beach.

We went out to find the Forest History Trail in the Jackson Demonstration Forest.  We found a single lane dirt road but we never found the trail.  Back on pavement, the road lead to the town of Mendocino.

The next day we headed back out.  Still couldn't find the Forest History Trail but we found another trail to hike.  At first we saw a bunch of these hanging from the trees.



We kept heading downhill and found this muddy place.  JoAnn fell in the mud so we turned around.

We found a better trail!

There were some bicycles on the trail ahead of us and we think they ran over this snake.

Someone had covered a large log with brush but we didn't know why.