MacKerricher State Park

MacKerricher State Park in Northern California offers a variety of habitats: beach, bluff, headland, dune, forest, and wetland. Tide pools are along the shore. Seals live on the rocks off the park’s Mendocino coast. More than 90 species of birds visit or live near Cleone Lake, a former tidal lagoon. The park is the home of nearly the entire remaining distribution of the endangered Mendocino spineflower (Chorizanthe howellii).[1]

During winter and spring, the nearby headland provides a good lookout for whale watching. The park is popular with hikers, joggers, equestrians, and bicyclists. Fishing is also popular, with trout in two fresh-water lakes. The park has a wheelchair accessible nature trail.

Contents

Location/Directions

The park entrance is three miles (5 km) north of Fort Bragg, California on Highway 1, near the town of Cleone. The park encompasses much of the land west of Cleone as well as a strip of beach between Fort Bragg and the Ten Mile River. Between Fort Bragg and the park entrance, it includes Glass Beach, Pudding Creek Beach, and Virgin Creek Beach. Near the park entrance are Lake Cleone and a boardwalk to Laguna Point, a rocky point frequented by harbor seals. Ten mile beach runs north from Lake Cleone to the mouth of Ten Mile River. A haul road (restricted to pedestrians and bicycles) connects the beaches, with a trestle bridge over Pudding Creek Beach as its south terminus.

About the Park

The Park is the only one in the park system that was at one time part of the Mendocino Indian Reservation. It is the only park unit that was part of the Union Lumber Company's vast timber and shipping holdings in northern Mendocino County. A small, independent logging and shipping operation began here, then was absorbed by the larger corporation. MacKerricher, known historically as Cleone, thus followed a pattern common to many of the small areas in the region. The park was officially opened in 1952; land was added along the Ten Mile beach until 1977. In 2002, the 38-acre (150,000 m2) Glass Beach property was purchased by the state park system and after a cleanup phase it was added to the park.[2]

References

  1. ^ Mendocino Spineflower: Five-year Review
  2. ^ Glass Beach Acquisition, California Environmental Information Clearinghouse, retrieved 2010-08-17.

External links