Mendocino, Part 4 of 4

Friday October 2

As I came to, the raspy gargles of a pair of ravens sitting in the eucalyptus just outside our open balcony door greeted me. The whistle buoy offshore moaned at regular but not exact intervals in the distance. I expected them both. We roused ourselves and waited for breakfast at 0900. During breakfast, the Red-shouldered Hawk made its usual morning appearance in the eucalyptus. I expected it too.

Thanks to our excursion to Boonville yesterday, we needed gas for the car, requiring a drive north to Fort Bragg. After breakfast, we drove north, starting along the headlands in Mendocino. I walked along them yesterday and thought Ann would appreciate seeing them before we got on the highway. We spent a few minutes walking out on the various fingers of rock projecting into the ocean.

Arched Rock at Mendocino Headlands State Park

Looking North at Point Cabrillo Lighthouse

Vulture in Horaltic Pose, Warming Up

All the way from Point Reyes north to Mendocino, I had seen hundreds of Turkey Vultures surfing the headlands, slowly moving from north to south. Our timing was perfect to watch these magnificent fliers migrate. Surprisingly, the group in the photo above was still grounded at 1115. On previous mornings, other groups were already airborne by now.

Almost immediately after rejoining the coast highway, we saw a sign for the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse. We had already seen the lighthouse while walking the Mendocino headlands just a few minutes earlier but wanted to see it up close. From the parking area, it's about a half-mile walk downhill through largely open grasslands to the lighthouse.

Alongside the access road grew several pines of a kind I did not recognize, with relatively long needles in bundles of three, like a Ponderosa Pine. Back at the B&B later, I discovered that they are Monterey Pines, some planted here intentionally, others escaped into the wild. Out in the grass, an evergreen shrub with handsome lance-shaped leaves caught Ann's eye—Pacific Wax Myrtle.

Pacific Wax Myrtle

Along the headland surrounding the light station, waves rushed into deep cuts in the rock. Above the roar of the waves, we heard several warning whistles that I had heard before but could not place. I recognized them when I saw a California Ground Squirrel scamper from its burrow.

Point Cabrillo Light Station

Fresnel Lens atop the Lighthouse

Ground Squirrel Splayed out on the Ground

Pink-sorrel, an Oxalis near the Lighthouse

A California Hedgenettle

Bright Yellow Coastal Gumweed

Our next stop was in the north end of Fort Bragg where a sign for Noyo Headlands lured us into a large parking area. While I wandered the rocks looking for interesting things in standing pools of water, Ann scoured the sand for bits of sea glass, remnants of an old dump on this site, memorialized in the name Glass Beach.

Up on drier land, each patch of ice plant had its own ground squirrel; I saw dozens, reminding me of my walks through the hazelnut orchards in McMinnville, home to a small army of them.

On the way back to Mendocino, we stopped in at Noyo Harbor, the working harbor in Fort Bragg. I often find great photography subjects in marinas and harbors, so it was worth a shot (pun intended). It was lunchtime and the restaurants at the harbor had attracted hordes of tourists. We left quickly after finding a place to turn around in the cramped harbor that seemed more a tourist trap than anything. At another time and perhaps a bit upriver away from the tourist areas, I might have found some subject matter.

I found some subject matter just to the south, where the sign for Jug Handle State Park caught my attention. Just as we pulled in to the parking lot, the fog started rolling in from the ocean giving a delightfully suffused light for photography. What a great little hidden-away locals-only beach we found!

Hidden Beach at Jug Handle State Park

Krummholz Trees in the Fog

Highway 1 Bridge in the Light Fog

Back in Mendocino, the weather continued to change from fog to sun and back again. In the late afternoon, we took a short walk along the cliffs that started in mostly sun and finished in mostly fog. 

Hidden Cove Near our B&B

Mendocino Bay Surfer Emerging out of the Fog

Coming Back to the B&B from Our Walk

Just before dinner, the fog evaporated and the sun returned. Ann suggested getting take-out pizzas from Café Beaujolais to have with wine on the balcony outside our room. We spent an extremely pleasant early evening sipping Pinot Noir while Anna's Hummingbirds zipped all around, Lesser Goldfinches worked over the rosemary in the garden below us, and Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Hairy Woodpeckers patrolled the apple tree just off our deck. Below, White-crowned and Song Sparrows scratched in the flower beds while Steller’s Jays, Mourning Doves, and Common Ravens all called from the towering eucalyptus. Out at the river delta, the receding tide exposed a sandbar now covered with Brown Pelicans and Herring Gulls. This was truly dinner and a show.

One of Ann's Favorite Wines
Waits-Mast Pinot Noir Anderson Valley "Nash Mill Vineyard" 2024

Stellar Sunset to Cap Our Evening

Saturday October 3

I had thought that we might head south down the coast a bit to Point Arena and the town of Elk, but Ann proved to be in a bit of a somber, stay-at-home mood. I too had that ready-to-be-home feeling that comes toward the end of every vacation.

After breakfast, while Ann stayed in and read, I took advantage of bright sunshine to walk first around the town and then to walk the entire length of the headlands, taking pictures of whatever caught my fancy.

Masonic Hall
Topped with Carving Entitled "Time and the Maiden"

Siren on the Fire Hall
It Went off Once, for the School Homecoming Parade

Water is a big deal in Mendocino. In the past, windmills pumped water from shallow wells into cisterns, redwood tanks elevated on towers. The windmills and water towers are now an iconic part of the Mendocino skyline.

My town walk ended abruptly at the edge of the Mendocino Headlands State Park. City streets transitioned to wild open space where meadowlarks, sparrows, and Black Phoebes all hunt the grasslands atop the cliffs.

Unusual Round Monterey Cypress Cones

Expecting to Find Pelicans on the Seaside Rocks, not Geese

Seaside Daisy in Situ

Close-up: Mauve and Yellow Seaside Daisies

California Poppy: Unusually, a Single Shade of Yellow

An Escaped Cape Gooseberry

I Ate Many of These Cape Gooseberries
A Favorite Fruit Tasting of Brown Sugar and Pineapple

Black Phoebe Hawking Birds from a Road Sign

Gorgeous Backdrop for Pearly Everlasting Blooms

Mendocino is Home to a Large Group of Curious Ravens

Back at the B&B, we got into going-home mode. After packing our things and stowing all my camera gear in its travel box, we set about having a late lunch/early dinner of all our leftover cheese and salame out on the balcony with our final bottle of wine. As we ate, the Hairy Woodpecker that had called constantly while hidden in the apple tree finally came out where we could see it. We turned in early in anticipation of leaving before breakfast.

Hairy Woodpecker

Final Dinner in Mendocino
Local Cheese, Salame, Bread, and Wine

Sunday morning, we departed long before breakfast for the trek back to San Francisco, this time retracing our path back through Boonville and then taking Highway 101 back through Sonoma and Marin Counties.

A few things stand out. During the drive, I was able to locate several wine areas in my mental rolodex: Anderson Valley AVA, then Yorkville Highlands AVA as we climbed, before descending into Sonoma County and the Alexander Valley AVA.

The trip back along 128 goes through some wild areas that gave us sightings of Acorn Woodpeckers, wild turkeys, more black-tailed deer, and a lone coyote with a supremely bushy tail that would be the envy of any fox.

The wildlife was a welcome start to a day that would end up with us wrestling our way through the surface streets of San Francisco trying to return our rental car at the airport. Fortunately, that was the only irritant on our trip home, almost the opposite of our trip to California.