Clara Mokri / Special to The Chronicle
From Sonoma County to Marin, Highway 1 resembles something of a quintessential Robert Redford film character: a stoic, formidable presence with an untamed heart. This stunning 145-mile stretch of coastline spans three counties — Mendocino, Sonoma and Marin — most of which remains wild and protected by state and national parks along the scenic roadway. Here, modern travelers can catch a glimpse of the land as it has existed for centuries, since indigenous tribes like the Pomo Indians, Coast Yuki and Coast Miwok were its only inhabitants. Compared to regions further south, the cliffs here appear more chiseled and the waves seem to crash a little harder. According to Cally Dym, a fifth-generation resident of Mendocino County and proprietor of the beloved Little River Inn, the eco-consciousness of the hippies continues today in “Mendonoma,” a contemporary portmanteau of Mendocino and Sonoma. Daily stewardship of the land and sea is entwined, for example, in the sustainable foraging of seaweed, mollusks and mushrooms. While such ingredients may provide a satisfying sense of place for Highway 1 destination restaurants like the Harbor House Inn’s two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Elk, the flip side of foraging around here is that traditional subsistence is a hard-fought right for local Indigenous people. Given all of the adventure that the Mendocino coast offers motorists — from world-class beachcombing at Greenwood Beach to long hikes in Van Damme State Park’s lush, fog-fed Fern Canyon to, yes, guided foraging excursions organized by various Mendonoma inns, including Dym’s — the average traveler may not realize the environmental damage happening beneath the ocean’s surface. Owing to an overpopulation of seaweed-hungry purple sea urchins, the North Coast has lost 90 percent of its highly productive kelp forests, which provide shelter for sea life and sequester carbon out of the atmosphere up to 10 times more than tropical rainforests. For her part, Dym has organized the region’s annual Urchin Fest — a summer weekend of unadulterated urchin harvest and slurp-worthy consumption — to help restore balance in the waters. “When you live on this part of the coast, the ocean becomes this gigantic character in your life,” she says. “Which means you can never take it for granted.” Sonoma County is probably best known for its famous inland grape-growing valley, and yet the coast is an under-the-radar appellation of its own. The long grape-growing season here yields fresh, elegant wines that are low on sugar, high in acidity. Acclaimed winemaking operations like Peay Vineyards and Flowers Winery are sited along the ridges of the coastal mountains, taking advantage of the temperate maritime environment. Bohemian communes settled in the foothills of the Sonoma Coast in 1969 and 1970. Long dismantled, they live on only in archival pictures. However, the hippies’ back-to-the-land intentions were predated by the utopian-minded Bay Area architects and designers who created the Sea Ranch circa 1964. The modernist structures of this enduring mid-century design development famously exist in harmony with their environment, a wind-swept, ocean-sprayed, 10-mile-long coastal terrace that had once been a 19th-century livestock ranch. In October 2021, the Sea Ranch Lodge, originally built in 1964, reopened after an extensive three-year renovation and is now a sophisticated stopover for Highway 1 motorists. In West Marin you’ll find the recreationalist’s reverie of Point Reyes National Seashore, a 71,000-acre coastal preserve with 150 miles of hiking trails and 80 miles of undeveloped beaches. Unfolding around it are beef and dairy ranches – some historic – that continue to operate, albeit controversially. Aquaculture is also important around these parts. Highway 1 skirts along the eastern shore of Tomales Bay, an ocean-fed inlet that’s home to bivalve farms and seafood shacks like The Marshall Store and Hog Island Oyster Company where citysiders come to shuck and slurp. Mostly in Marin, Route 1 also goes by the handle Shoreline Highway and functions as a popular track for motorists and cyclists — consider this your gentle reminder to share the often-shoulderless road. From sea to summit, some of the greatest hits include Stinson Beach, a sleepy second-home community known for its long, crescent-shaped, white-sand beach, and Mount Tamalpais, the site of the hallowed Muir Woods National Monument, the Bay Area’s only old-growth coastal redwood forest. Even for those who routinely travel to San Francisco along Highway 1, catching sight of the Golden Gate Bridge upon emerging from the Robin Williams Tunnel is always a breathtaking moment of staggering grandeur, to riff the bestselling title by literary icon and Marin County resident, Dave Eggers. Sometimes, this International Orange marvel will be completely obscured in fog. On clear days, the 1.7-mile suspension span gloriously manifests into the greatest visitor attraction on the West Coast. —Leilani Marie Labong
The hub of the late 19th century North Coast logging industry is now a booming creative community. The wares of this tiny coastal town’s disproportionately deep bench of artistic talent can be discovered at the Artist’s Collective Gallery, a shared exhibition space for 30 local artists. Elk’s gastronomic culture is also surprisingly robust. The Elk Store’s stacked-high deli sandwiches — particularly the banh mi with house-smoked pork belly — are standard provisions for beach picnics. The Restaurant at Harbor House Inn, where celebrated chef Matthew Kammerer serves a 12-course fixed-price dinner featuring purple sea urchin and four types of seaweed sourced from the property’s private ocean cove, is currently the only Michelin-starred restaurant in Mendocino County. For a dose of nature, have a seat on a driftwood log at Greenwood State Beach or watch the harbor seals at Navarro Beach.
In March 2014 former President Barack Obama declared these 1,700 undeveloped acres as the only onshore section of the California Coastal National Monument. A rich microcosm of wildlife, from humpback whales to peregrine falcons to the endangered Point Arena mountain beaver, thrive in the equally wide variety of habitats. A quintessential visit includes a stop at the historic Point Arena Lighthouse, a wander along the 5.7-mile out-and-back coastal trail and a photo opp teetering atop one of the sandstone spheres at Bowling Ball Beach.
Animal conservationists Frank and Judy Mello established the 110-acre B. Bryan Preserve in 2004, not just to restore populations of threatened species (including the greater kudu antelope and Rothschild’s giraffe), but also to spread the word about Africa’s natural wildlife habitats, declining due to an increase in poaching and intensified political unrest. Each motorized tour — self-guided is an option — culminates in hand-feeding carrots to the giraffes.
Not that this town wasn’t already on the map before March 2014, when President Barack Obama established 1,665 acres of its coastal prairie as the first onshore addition to the California Coastal National Monument, but such a presidential declaration can be a reputational boon and boost for the local economy. Of the varieties of hikeable terrain here, one landmark has been helping travelers get their bearings since 1870: The Point Arena Lighthouse (the tallest of its kind on the West Coast at 115 feet). Another vestige of the logging era is Point Arena Pier, which was rebuilt in the mid-1980s after a 1983 storm dismantled its forebear. Anglers have been known to hook cabezon, buffalo sculpin, sea perch and even octopuses from its railings. It’s also been a favorite place for locals to sit on the dock of the bay with a pie from the iconic Point Arena Pizza and watch the whales float by.
Crucial to visiting this Point Arena beach is checking the tide tables. Peak low tide is the best time to see the dozens of globular sandstone concretions, shaped by millennia’s worth of whipping winds and crashing surf. From the north end of the parking lot, take a short hike through a meadow, which will lead to a rickety ladder — some scrambling over boulders will be in order. Then walk along the beach for a half mile to see these geologic wonders.
For the last decade, this vintage gourmet grocer has been mounting a festive weekend barbecue to live music in its parking lot, drawing anyone who finds the aroma of smoke and charred meat irresistible. Over grills smoldering with white-hot mesquite charcoal, the market’s skilled pitmasters prepare baby back ribs, rotisserie chicken and tri-tip to their tenderest smoky-sweet potential. Since the barbecue experience is often judged by the available sides, Surf Market’s roasted sweet potatoes and corn on the cob are slathered with butter and then topped with chile crunch.
Cabins on Oz Farm, a 17-acre, off-the-grid horticultural oasis powered by wind and solar, include yurts and a two-story octagonal shanty called the Tower that evokes a stove-top espresso maker. The most architecturally striking are the Domes, on the south bank of the Garcia River, which hark back to the counterculture structures handbuilt in the Mendocino backwoods. In the spirit of the surroundings, guests can order a CSA farm box and purchase bottles of estate-brewed hard cider made from over 50 varieties of European and heirloom apples grown on Oz Farm’s orchard.
The rural Sonoma Coast seems like an odd place for a globally acclaimed utopia of modernism, but nevertheless one exists on a jagged coastal shelf that was once a late-19th century ranch. In 1963, visionary developer Al Boecke, landscape designer Lawrence Halprin and the San Francisco architecture studio MLTW broke ground on Sea Ranch, a residential community driven by nature, a philosophy inspired by area’s Indigenous Pomo nation.
Clad in local redwood, the exteriors of structures here develop the familiar weathered-gray patina of coastal trees and echo the color of the frequently soupy setting. Homes are arranged perpendicular to the coast for democratic access to ocean views, while others are intentionally tucked behind cypress hedgerows for protection from the elements. The hamlet’s 10-mile-long bluff-top trail offers opportunities to descend to black sand beaches and tide pools, plus close-ups of the groundbreaking architecture.
This 10-mile trail fronts Sea Ranch’s jagged coastal shelf and leads to a variety of outdoor experiences, not to mention endless close-ups of the modernist enclave’s iconic architecture. Be sure to stick to public-access paths. Head down to Black Point Beach, just a two-minute walk north from the newly renovated Sea Ranch Lodge for a perspective on the coastal terrace from the bottom of the bluff. Swimming is highly discouraged due to dangerous rip tides.
This higher-altitude detour is popular for motorists seeking a brief respite from the twists and turns of Highway 1. Along this approximately 11-mile route, you’ll find Fort Ross Winery. A reservations-required, 90-minute wine tasting at the estate — a modern mountain cabin surrounded by forests and meadows — is paired with small chef-prepared bites like risotto with leeks or beef sliders with peri-peri sauce, making the winery a pleasant pit stop for the peckish over-21 set. If the coast happens to be socked in, you’ll be above the fog line, which will feel like you’re floating, no wine required.
You may not recognize Bodega Bay as the location for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 thriller “The Birds.” But take a closer look at the subdued, treeless landscape and old-school fishing harbor, and you’ll soon be able to imagine large flocks of fowl darkening the sky. The old Potter Schoolhouse (now a private home), was the site of a key bird attack in the film, and can be found a few miles inland in the town of Bodega. Not far from there is the Casino Bar & Grill, hardly a gambling hall as the name implies, but rather a favorite among locals for its homey tableau and sophisticated, farmers’-market-driven menu.
Beach camping is popular in Bodega Bay. Where the Bodega Dunes campground is more secluded — that is, by a pleasantly strollable mile — from the popular surfer haunt Bodega Dunes Beach, Doran Regional Park has a beachside campground for immediate toes-in-the-sand gratification. Doran’s Bird Walk Coastal Access Trail, a 1.2-mile loop around saltwater marsh, turns a morning constitutional into a birding excursion worthy of the town’s cinematic history. On any given day, you may see northern harrier raptors, Bewick’s wren, merlins and maybe even a bald eagle.
Atop this granite promontory that protects the town of Bodega Bay from stormy ocean weather, the 1.7-mile Bodega Head Nature Trail loops through windswept meadows of California poppies, lupine and aster, plus large patches of ice plant. From November through April, when gray whales make their annual migration from the cold feeding grounds of Alaska to Baja’s warm calving lagoons, this bulbous landmass is a prime viewing spot along their 10,000-mile round-trip journey.
A slurping excursion to Marshall, on the eastern shore of Tomales Bay is a favorite pastime of Bay Area residents. Slide into a picnic table at Hog Island Oyster Co., where a selection of freshly harvested oysters — from buttery Kumamoto to French Hog, a rare variety with coppery notes — is served raw with a side of Hogwash, the jalapeño-spiked house mignonette.
In the gently lapping waters of this under-the-radar beach in Inverness, on the west shore of Tomales Bay, swimmers may be surprised to find no fowl in sight, but rather juvenile bat rays skimming the shallows and fist-size jellyfish farther from shore, making this beach a captivating aquarium setting for swimmers, paddleboarders and kayakers. See nearby Blue Waters Kayaking for rentals.
This wine producer, located on a pastoral 300-acre former dairy farm just outside of Point Reyes Station, puts a spin on Northern California’s winemaking heritage by fermenting honey with water to create sparkling mead. If you’re new to this grape-less style, a tasting flight is a good introduction to the “flower to flute” fizz.
As the main commercial district for the Point Reyes National Seashore, this no-stoplight town’s culture quotient is higher than that of most rural outposts. The destination officially came to be in the 1870s when a train depot was built on a dairy pasture belonging to a ranching heiress. That frontier feeling endures, perhaps due to the main drag’s original late-1800s Italianate-style edifices. Point Reyes Station’s two gourmet grocers, Palace Market and Toby’s Feed Barn, are stacked with packable artisan provisions. As for a relaxing apres-adventure scene, knock back a cold one in the dark and musty Old Western Saloon, a mainstay since 1860.
This far-flung, westernmost point on the Point Reyes National Seashore also happens to be the foggiest — and second-windiest — spot along North America’s Pacific coast. After a 45-minute drive from the town of Point Reyes Station, the journey culminates in a 313-step descent to the historic lighthouse, which transmitted its inaugural beams a whopping 24 miles out to sea in 1870 thanks to its “first-order” Fresnel lens, restored for posterity in 2019.
By now, this little shoreline bohemia’s begrudging attitude toward outsiders just adds to its charm. For a place that takes its hidden-gem status perhaps too seriously, enchanting amenities seem tailor made to oblige respectful visitors: There’s a vintage inn (Grand Hotel) and a cool new vacation rental (Ocean Parkway House). There are quaint eateries (Coast Cafe) and drinkeries (Smiley’s Saloon, rumored to be the oldest continually operating watering hole on the West Coast). Surf schools (Bolinas Surf or Tamalpais Surf Club) capitalize on Bolinas Beach’s beginner-friendly waves. And art and history are under one roof at the Bolinas Museum. The shoreline of the Bolinas Lagoon, once lined with hotels, is now a 1,100-acre protected tidal estuary, part of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, where harbor seals, large waders like herons and egrets, and birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway, take refuge.
Visitors arriving to Stinson Beach have either cruised in on a roller-coaster section of Highway 1, hiked in via challenging footpaths in the labyrinthine Mount Tamalpais trail system, or completed the famous Dipsea Race, which has led racers 7.5 rugged miles from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach since 1905. You’d think such arduous travel would discourage tourism in this normally sleepy coastal town, but it seems only to make it more alluring.
This former World War II observation post turns into a slice of beachy Americana on weekends and especially on patriotic holidays, when barbecue picnics fill the grassy 51-acre beach park. Colorful umbrellas dot the town’s eponymous attraction, a 3-mile-long crescent of white sand beach; surfers and skimboarders vie for easygoing waves and frothy shore break, respectively; and the overall mood among Stinson Beach visitors is flag-wavingly festive.
Predominantly pink thanks to a proliferation of coralline algae, the tide pools at this large shale reef on the southern tip of the Point Reyes peninsula can be easily accessed through Agate Beach in Bolinas. Just like all discovery missions to the intertidal zones along the California coast, it’s best to visit Duxbury, a state marine conservation area, during an ebb cycle (consult the NOAA tide table).
This quintessential Marin County trail dates to 1905, when two friends — members of San Francisco’s Olympic Club — made a wager: Who would finish first in a strenuous footrace over 7.5 miles of rugged Mount Tamalpais terrain, starting at the Mill Valley train depot (Cascade Drive, Cascade Way and Molino Avenue in Mill Valley) and ending at the Dipsea Inn, a hotel in the coastal town of Willow Camp (now known as Stinson Beach). But you don’t have to participate in the race to enjoy the trail. If you finish in Stinson Beach, consider a dip in the sea to celebrate.
In picturesque Sausalito, houses either cling to hillsides or, famously, float on the bay. Taking a self-guided tour of Sausalito’s iconic floating homes is a classic way to pick up the local vibe, whether by land or by sea. From Sea Trek on Richardson Bay, rent a kayak and paddle 15 minutes due north.
While downtown Sausalito is a borderline tourist trap, strolling the promenade is practically obligatory. At Copita Tequileria y Comida, the juicy lamb quesabírria is a gamey, gourmet take on a trendy dish, and more than 100 tequilas and mezcals are available. Head to Fish, at the Marina Plaza Harbor, for piled-high albacore tuna melts, grilled local octopus stew and crab rolls to celebrate peak-winter Dungeness season.
Sausalito is also home to major forces of art and design. The Headlands Center for the Arts, in historic Fort Barry, offers immersive experiences — open houses, workshops, nature walks, exhibitions and community meals — for visitors to engage with artists in residence. And a tour of the original Heath Ceramics factory on Gate 5 Road is full of historic and artistic insight into the award-winning mid-century brand.
This globally recognized marvel of engineering, constructed in the 1930s, attracts scores of travelers the world over. Pedestrians, cyclists and wheelchair users can travel the 1.7-mile span via a walkway on its eastern edge, and linger below the 746-foot towers and cables. With two trailheads on Lincoln Boulevard, the Batteries to Bluffs Trail above Marshall’s Beach and Baker Beach features an elevated view of the Pacific Ocean horizon, as well as the Presidio’s western shoreline.
Arriving at this semi-sheltered cove beach toward the end of a loop around Fort Cronkhite (take the Miwok up to Wolf Ridge, then descend on the Coastal Trail) includes a detour through military history. Hill 88, about two-thirds of the way around the loop, once housed Cold War-era Nike missile bunkers and a radar station. Once you reach the beach, you’ll immediately notice its unique sand geology — different iron levels in undersea chert form the multicolored pebbles. Rodeo Lagoon is a brackish habitat for river otters, American goldfinch and the endangered tidewater goby, a small fish that lives its entire life in this shallow body of water.
The meandering trails crisscrossing this rolling, rocky terrain, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, offer a lot of exposure to the elements, which translates to awesome views. Reward your effort with frosty pints at the nearby Pelican Inn, a 16-century-style Tudor estate that seems like an English countryside mirage in the redwoods.
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