overland

Lost Coast Trip Report June 14th-17th

The Lost Coast is by far one of my favorite areas of California. It's special as USAL Beach was the first off the grid camping trip for my then girlfriend (now wife) and I back in 2009. In 2016 we returned with our two year old son. I had a week of vacation scheduled for early June and if the weather was favorable we planned on heading back to the Lost Coast with our family of four to roughly follow the OTG route.

We left the Central Coast of California Sunday morning with our destination being Santa Rosa, CA. My wife and I both went to school at Sonoma State and still have friends in the area. We opted to stay in a hotel that evening in order to break up the drive and visit friends.

Santa Rosa, CA > Big River Beach

I decided to head to Big River Beach and Bridge which is listed on the Emerald Triangle Grand Traverse guide as it was a convenient first day destination for the kids to play. It was overcast as we approached the coast but as we got closer to Big River the skies began to open up and we were greeted with a sunny afternnon playing by the river. I took the dog for a walk and the kids played for a few hours before we headed to our first campsite for the night in Jackson Demonstration State Forest.
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I wasn't quite sure what to expect at Jackson Demonstration State Forest. I had never heard of it before. I was VERY impressed with this area tucked into the redwoods and a great sense of solitude not far from the road. We spent a half hour driving around trying to find a campsite which suited us. These are LARGE campsites with dedicated vault toilets, picnic tables and a fire ring. We ended up staying at the South Bend Campsite. The kids saw banana slugs and played in the small creek by the campsite. What a special area.
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JDSF>USAL
Tuesday morning we headed into Fort Bragg and made a stop at Glass Beach. Fun area to explore. We topped off our gas and water, picked up some bug spray and headed to USAL Road. USAL road was in great condition and there was some sections with standing water as it had rained the previous weekend. There was no mud I noticed.

I remembered @OTG Ben writing about how a fire was started by a firework along the route. When I saw the section he was talking about I pointed this out to the kids hoping to make them a little more fire aware. The skies were clear and it was windy at the beach. We set up camp in the redwoods to protect us from the wind and headed to the beach. Once at the beach we saw two Roosevelt Elk at the river outlet. They laid there for the 2-3 hours we were at the beach. We decided to get out of the wind and go back to the campsite. It was a good idea to setup camp here as we could hear the wind howling all evening/night but we were protected by the mountainside and trees. The kids were spoiled these first two nights with large campsites and creeks to play in. We took an evening stroll on a closed FS route an counted 50 banana slugs!

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USAL>Shelter Cove>Mattole Beach>Eel River

The next morning we packed up and headed to Four Corners. Yes, this drive is longer with not many views but it was fun nonetheless. From Four Corners, we dropped down to the Needle Rock Visitors center. The visitors center was closed, but the weather was fantastic so we utilized the picnic table to have lunch and hang out. My wife and I were trying to remember this area as we did visit in 2009. I think we probably drove right past the visitors center and headed to Bear Harbor, which now has a closure gate. After lunch we drove to Shelter Cove. We stopped by the Cape Mendocino Lighthouse and played in the tide pools below. The weather was warm this day and we decided to head "across" town to the Black Sands Beach. This was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been two. Expansive coastline with the rugged forest backdrop to take in.

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We hung out at the beach before heading back to Shelter Cove for dinner. I decided to tell the family we were grabbing Pizza in town. Unfortunately, I promised this on the only day this pizza place is closed. Oh well. We hit the dirt again and drove towards Tolkan Campground to stay the night. Once at Tolkan, there were a few more people there than I prefer. We decided to press onward. The day was getting late and we just decided to pull off the FS road to camp for the night. If I were to do it over again, I would have pressed on to AW Way.

The next morning we drove to towards Mattole Beach. We stopped by AW Way campground to scope it out as a future destination. It has river access and pretty spaced out campsites that I think would have suited us well. From AW Way we made a pit stop in Petrolia to fill up gas. I hadn't filled up on an old school gas pump in a LONG time and it was pretty damn cool. I asked the nice young lady a the counter about the "Truck in the tree" and she gave me a general idea of where that was. Off we went to Mattole Beach but not after finding the truck in the Tree. The kids thought that was pretty cool! Once at Mattole Beach we headed up Prosper Ridge to take in the views. The fog was sitting pretty high and once the views diminished we turned around. Wish we hadn't. I knew there was a hike to the lighthouse at the end of this road but thought it was longer than a mile. The kids could have handled that. After walking around Mattole Beach a bit and checking out the driftwood forts the wind was too much for us and we made the decision to head towards the Eel River.

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Before getting to the Eel River we drove through Bull Creek Flat, had lunch and did a nice half mile loop in the redwoods. A short drive later we were at the Eel River for a couple hours of swimming before driving the Avenue of the Giants and hitting up some drive through trees on the way home. The rig was too tall to drive through the trees, so I had to drive ON one. Ha.

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Thanks for the excellent guide OTG. This was an epic trip!
 

Brian.Whitaker

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CAchief -- thanks for spending the time to do the write-up! My g/f and I are planning a trip now for early April, using Ben's route as a guide. I'll be prepared to drive past Tolkan :)
 

CAchief

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@Brian.Whitaker Tolkan can be a decent spot I imagine if the winds are light and crowds are small. I have a feeling we were there when a large group was present.

Have a great time!
 
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OTG Ben

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@Brian.Whitaker Tolkan can be a decent spot I imagine if the winds are light and crowds are small. I have a feeling we were there when a large group was present.

Have a great time!

Awesome write up and photos! I think the wind through Tolkan must be a common theme. Was pretty windy when we were there last year as well. The north end seems to bear the brunt of the heavy windy, while the southern end doesn't get nearly as windy.

Jackson Demo Forest is a hidden gem. I just wish it was possible to reserve a campground and they extended their season beyond labor day!!
 

beaky

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Jun 14, 2022
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couldn't find South Bend Campsites on Google earth, is it off Hwy 20, thnx, we are heading up in Aug and need an overnight near Bragg
 

CAchief

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Just to add... When you get to the campground there will be a board with people tagging spots they are camping in. When we went, the board reflected the campground was full, but this information was outdated from the previous weekend. We got to camp wherever we wanted.
 

OTG Ben

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LIs there a gas station in Shelter Cove or is Petrolia the only gas on the route
Is there a gas station in Shelter Cove or is Petrolia the only gas on the route?

The general store in Shelter Cove has a 1-pump setup (pretty sure they have diesel too). However, we've never had issues with fuel after fueling up in Laytonville. We'd typically refuel after driving the route from south to north going back through Humboldt Redwoods and stopping in southern Humboldt in the Garberville Area typically.
 

ksuttle

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LIs there a gas station in Shelter Cove or is Petrolia the only gas on the route


The general store in Shelter Cove has a 1-pump setup (pretty sure they have diesel too). However, we've never had issues with fuel after fueling up in Laytonville. We'd typically refuel after driving the route from south to north going back through Humboldt Redwoods and stopping in southern Humboldt in the Garberville Area typically.
Thanks. We've gassed in Legget before but have never gone further north than Shelter Cove (and forgot to look for a gas station when we stopped there lol). My daughter and I are going to be taking a trip up for a college tour at Humboldt State and are planning to go past Shelter Cover. I don't think I'll need gas until Ferndale or beyond, but always good to know what's along the route.
 
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