Pacific Coast Highway
Bodega Bay, Point Arena Lighthouse, & Avenue of the Giants Redwoods
Thursday - Saturday, July 05-07, 2018
Clear, 85°
**Note – No internet or phone service the last several days so behind in posting, trying to catch up.
“The journey is my home.”
We left my daughter’s house on Thursday morning for the drive up the Northern portion of the Pacific Coast Highway (PHC) 1 and 101. We connected north of San Francisco and had about a two hour drive to Bodega Bay. The campground was nice and it seemed it was “on the beach” but after a trek up and down several hundred foot sand dunes, we finally saw the beach about ¾ of a mile away.
Bodega Bay
I continued trekking towards the Pacific Ocean and came upon the last sand dune, over 100 feet tall and solid vertical vegetation on the beach side, with no access to the water. There were several trails leading from the campsites toward the beach and they all seemed to join up at the one spot where you could see the ocean.
Bodega Dunes
Unfortunately, there was no way to get there. I am sure there were plenty of people who made the trek and had to return not making it to the water’s edge. There was another path to the Bay but after climbing the dunes it was not worth the effort to explore any further. Campground Rating: 8 for the campsites but 3 for the “on the beach” advertising, lol.
Nice View
The next morning’s drive north on Highway 1, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, led us to a monument to time and the perseverance of our fellow Americans. The Point Arena Lighthouse was constructed in 1870 to help sailors navigate the rocky shoals along the Pacific Coast.
Split rock
Point Arena is a narrow peninsula jutting about a 1/2 mile into the Pacific Ocean. This sandbar creates a natural hazard to navigation, and hence the need for a lighthouse and fog signal there. Arriving, there was a foggy mist in the area and as the morning continued, the fog rolled in creating a ghostly contrast between the lighthouse, the rocks and the ocean.
Point Arena Lighthouse in fog
The brick-and-mortar tower included ornate iron balcony supports and a large keeper residence with enough space to house several families. In April 1906, a devastating earthquake struck the light station. The keeper's residence and lighthouse were damaged so severely they had to be demolished.
The company chosen to rebuild the structure normally built factory smokestacks, which accounts for the final design for the new Point Arena Lighthouse, featuring steel reinforcement rods encased in concrete. This was the first lighthouse built this way.
Pacific Coast Highway Nice View
The new lighthouse began operation in 1908, nearly 18 months after the quake. It stood 115 feet tall, and featured a 1st Order Fresnel Lens that was over six feet in diameter and weighed more than six tons. The lens was made up of 666 hand-ground glass prisms all focused toward three sets of double bulls-eyes. It was these bulls-eyes that gave the Point Arena Lighthouse its unique "light signature" of two flashes every six seconds. This incredible optic, that held an appraised value of over $3.5 million, was set in a solid brass framework, and was built in France.
Its height of 115 feet helped to guide many a ship to safety and in return it endured the foulest of weather, howling winds in excess of 120 mph carrying sea water battered the lighthouse, along with snow, ice and rain. The lighthouse stood its ground and endured.
Even when it was no longer needed and had been replaced by technology it still stood as a sentinel watching over the Pacific Coast. In 1984, a nonprofit organization called the Point Arena Lighthouse Keepers acquired the light station as part of a 25-year land lease from the Coast Guard and the Department of Transportation.
In November 2000, the nonprofit group became the official owners of the property due to their diligent historic preservation and educational efforts. Daily visitation, gift store sales, memberships and the rental of the historic Keeper's homes on the property as vacation houses, all provide income to the group, for ongoing preservation, facility upgrades, and educational endeavors.
Point Arena - Distant lighthouse in fog
The Point Arena Light is California Historical Landmark No. 1035.
I remember this lighthouse was used in two movies I have seen. The final scenes of the movie Forever Young (1992, starring Mel Gibson) were filmed near the lighthouse. The lighthouse also appears in the 2014 movie Need for Speed, as the finishing point of the De Leon underground supercar race which forms the climax of the film. Both made good use of the Lighthouse and surrounding area (fields) in the movies.
Hole in Rock
Listening to the waves breaking against the rocks below the lighthouse and the call of the gulls as they wing their way over head I can’t help but feel a calm as if the lighthouse is still watching over us offering its protection as it has done for the last 150 years. The fog is rolling in today from the ocean with Point Arena Lighthouse doing its job. The beacon at the top of the lighthouse is once again aglow beaming its light through the fog. The lighthouse is saying even though I am no longer needed, I am still here waiting!
Driving further north, the highway turns away from the coast for a bit, where the Redwoods and Giant Sequoia trees grow so tall. This included a stop at the Drive-thru Tree called the “Chandelier Tree” in Leggett.
Chandelier Tree
It stands at 315 feet high, is 21 feet in diameter and has been growing 2,400 years. Pretty impressive, as is the hole in its base that a small vehicle can drive through. There were several fallen trunks of these massive trees on the ground showing the age rings with signs that provided information about the trees growth cycle and age.
We took another turn off the main highway 101 to drive through the Avenue of the Giants, an old grove stand of ancient trees.
Ave of the Giants
The long and winding road is cut between the redwood and sequoia trees so everything is really up close as you make your way along these 20+ miles of beautiful highway.
Road through the Redwoods
There are places you can stop to admire the trees, take photos, or walk into the woods on the trails. Many of the trees’ bases were 15 to 20 feet in diameter, as they reach into the sky with their limbs outstretched far up into the air. It is well worth the deviation off the main route to see these beautiful majestic trees.
Clouds and Rocks
We camped in Fortuna, California that night. The next morning ended the coastal highway portion of the trip in Crescent City as the road turns northeast to the Oregon border and places beyond the horizon.