Sinkyone Wilderness State Park

About Sinkyone Wilderness State Park

Can you explore and enjoy the rugged wilderness that once characterized the entire Mendocino coast? The area is known as the Lost Coast because there are no major roads along the coast. The Sinkyone Indians lived in this area thousands of years before the first Europeans arrived, and hundreds of thousands more years after.

They occupied fixed villages along rivers and streams and spent their time on the coast collecting algae and shells, hunting seals and sea lions, and harvesting the dead whales that occasionally washed ashore. They went hunting in the summer and fed the mountains, in the summer they hunted and fed them from the mountain and returned to their villages in the winter.

Fish was an important source of food in winter, and the seasonal salmon run was particularly important. All kinds of fish were caught, from salmon and trout to tuna, mackerel, salmon, whale, pike, trout, clams, clams, crabs and other species.

The wild path turned into a cargo tank laden with bark to supply the tanneries in San Francisco. Man had little influence in the area, but human activity changed the way, the road and the flat places.

The road was dug and sorted for logging, and the open land between the sea and the hiking trail was cultivated and used as pasture for sheep and cattle.

Occasionally, what looks like a railroad wagon road or a modern jeepway is actually an abandoned railroad line. Northport Slide was built in 1875 and timber harvesting continued well into the 20th century. Usal, Needle Rock and Anderson brought different types of wood products to the market, but Northports was little more than a harbor. Timber schooners transported their cargo to a rope block system that could transport wood from the steep walls to the schooner waiting for it.

The country was so rugged that highway engineers were forced to move Highway 1 many miles inland from the coast, leaving the region sparsely populated and untouched. One of the reasons is our coastline: The area includes the Lost Coast, a wild coastline between northern Mendocino and southern Humboldt County. In the late 1960s, the great Catholic theologian Thomas Merton spoke of the founding of monastic communities and believed that the Needle Rock area would be an ideal place for life, prayer and contemplation.

The sea is an overwhelming presence here and its rhythmic sounds provide a thunderous background for our walk to the end of the mainland. The rocky cliffs of Needle Rock State Park, the largest of its kind in California, offer magnificent views of varied terrain.

The California gray whale migration runs along the coast in winter and early spring. Sea lions and seals gather at Little Jackass Cove, and the sky is full of seagulls and pelicans.

These wonderful creatures were once common here in the kingdom, but they were exterminated in the last century. The Roosevelt moose that lucky visitors see today is an exceptional example, and they are not the only ones here.

This 60 mile hike would be ideal for a week - a long backpacking adventure, and it's a relatively easy introduction to a challenging path. The Lost Coast Trail crosses the length of Sinkyone State Park, from the eastern edge of the park to the northern end of its mountain range. You can explore the section in detail here, as well as the entire route from here in a single day.

How to get there: Highway 101, exit at Garberville - Redway and continue to the entrance to Sinkyone State Park on the east side of the park.

After 12 miles drive, leave the junction at Whitethorn and turn west onto Briceland Road and continue east on Park Road to the entrance to Sinkyone State Park. The road in the park is winding, narrow, steep and a bit winding, but it is one of the most scenic roads in the park.

Maps and information are available at the Visitor Center and on the Sinkyone State Park website for more information about the park and its activities.