The Lost Coast is about 230 miles north of San Francisco. It begins in northern Mendocino county and continues through southern Humboldt county, where Highway 1 juts inland to avoid the steep terrain and rocky coastline.
If your perfect bliss is the total absence of civilization . . . the romantically named Lost Coast is as remote and empty as the most confirmed misanthrope could desire. This 850-square-mile area south of Ferndale and north of Westport, with more than 75 miles of coastline, has few roads, and though several towns are shown on maps, it is almost uninhabited. Backpackers love the beaches with their pristine tide pools, abundant wildlife, remnants of legendary shipwrecks, and miles and miles of solitude. – Best Places: Northern California
One reason the coast is “lost” is because no highways cross it. So rugged is this country, highway engineers were forced to route Highway 1 many miles inland from this coast—and the region has remained sparsely settled and unspoiled. It’s grand vistas and varied terrain— dense forests, prairies, coastal bluffs, beaches—reward the hardy explorer. – California Department of Parks & Recreation
“Just inland, extending from San Francisco Bay to the Oregon border, there once commenced a primeval forest of redwoods . . . These trees (Sequoia sempervirens) and their first cousins (Sequoiandendrom giganteum), flourishing in some thirty-five groves in the Sierra foothills, were the most ancient living entities on the planet, some of them four thousand years old.” – California: A History
, by Kevin Starr
I haven’t visited the Lost Coast (yet!), but it sounds like a great place to visit or escape to when the sounds and smells of city life threaten to overwhelm.
Click on any of the thumbnails above to see a larger version.
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More Information
- Lost Coast Wikipedia
- Why the Lost Coast Will Remain Lost
- CA Dept of Parks & Recreation, Sinkyone Wilderness State Park // Trail head location.
- Shelter Cove – Lost Coast // Map & Directions // Hiking
- Weather & Tides from the Bureau of Land Management
- California’s Lost Coast Map
Photos: Roosevelt Elk (second photo), by goingslo // The remaining pictures were taken by my friend Brian Scates. For more photos, check out his Lost Coast Flickr album here. Thanks, Brian!
