Road-Trip to Mendocino CA and Humboldt National Forest

California Road Trip to Mendocino and Humboldt Redwoods State Park

Where the forest meets the sea, in a small town known as Mendocino, a quaint community of foggy ocean mist and thousands of dark green tree tops cascade in the distance.

During the month of November I took a quick and spontaneous road trip to Mendocino, CA.

We eventually made our way north into Humboldt Redwood State Park to locate and stand below towering, large redwood trees.

No definite plans and zero expectations. Only off to find something new and unique that we’ve never seen before.

Getting There

Mendocino is located about 3+ hours north from San Francisco.

The coastline is so rugged that there are limited entrances into town, resulting in less tourism than most towns in California.

This is the main appeal to Mendocino: the wildlife is abundant and the air is fresh from human pollution.

Plus traveling in the fall, the fog was strong but it gave us a calm and serene atmosphere throughout the town.

Explore the Town

The town is small, but thankfully there are plenty of restaurants and café’s to choose from.

Brunch, lunch & dinner options are very common in this little town and some more elegant than I expected. Café Beaujolais and Trillium were the two that caught my eye with the best menu and highest rating.

After exploring the streets and grabbing a bite to eat somewhere, definitely head over to the cliffs to see the ocean and look out for sea life.

Mendocino Sea Cliffs

We were immediately captivated by what we saw next after our pit stop into town and making our way to the cliffs.

I only wish I could have captured this on camera; a family of whales had entered the bay.

Breaching right before us, the unexpected sighting turned our casual adventure into a memory that we will never forget – and it was only day 1.

A reminder at how precious unexpected surprises can be.

We continued to walk along the Mendocino Headlands State Park and saw plenty of sea lions swimming in the bays and crashing waves below us.

We got back into the car and made our way about 15 minutes up north to Glass Beach.

This beautiful sea glass beach that was once a former city trash dump site and now home to thousands of beautifully colored sea glass.

However it’s important to not take any with you, and to leave behind for others to discover.

Humboldt Redwoods State Park

After a couple hours in Mendocino, we decided to make our way up Highway 1.

Our goal was to find the biggest trees we’ve ever seen so Humboldt National Forest was our next decided destination.

Upon entering the forest, it was dark and the mistiness never escaped. The rain poured sporadically and the roads increased their windiness.

We knew our trip here wasn’t going to go on for much longer but we pushed through for about an hour until we found exactly what we were hoping for.

Towering trees edged the sides of the road and so we stopped, gathered near and took way too many pictures standing like ants below these giants.

Although we had tons of fun and loved every second of this adventure, November was a tricky month to travel in.

The best time to visit the park is around summer or fall when it’s less wet.

The mistiness felt magical, but the roads were wet and dangerous for that time of year.

Plus, camping is more common in Humboldt during the summer months.

Some funny faces were spotted in the trees.

The length and mass of these trees felt like standing next to buildings. It’s difficult to grasp how tall some of these trees really were, until we looked back at the pictures.

Mendocino was full of unexpected surprises. Whales, sea glass, restaurants and stunning views to name a few. It made for a perfect, spontaneous roadtrip.

Humboldt was a complete adventure. We drove a long way to get to the trees but I wouldn’t recommend how we did it necessarily. However I still wouldn’t take it back for a second.

For more blogs on American road-trips, visit here.