MacKerricher State Park offers miles of magnificent rocky coastline, beaches, dunes, bluffs and headlands that give way to forests, seasonal streams, grasslands, and a lake. Some of California’s richest tidepools form during low tide along the shore near Laguna Point, where offshore rocks attract black oystercatchers and provide a rookery for harbor seals.
The park encompasses nearly 2300 acres, over 450 of which are designated “underwater park,” preserving some of the best and most unique of California’s natural underwater ecosystems. Inglenook Fen, the last remaining coastal fen in California, supports salamanders, rare insects and shorebirds. Waterfowl and wading birds frequent Lake Cleone and Mill Creek; in fact, more than 100 bird species have been observed in MacKerricher State Park. A convenient boardwalk wanders past Lake Cleone, and another, the wheelchair-accessible Laguna Point Boardwalk along the beach, provides sweeping vistas of the coast and five overlook platforms for whale and harbor seal watching. The historic Haul Road runs through much of the park and is great for hiking and bicycling. Most of it is wheelchair-accessible as well. The park also offers opportunities for camping, horseback riding, fishing and abalone-diving, although some of the campgrounds are closed in the winter. Glass Beach, at the southern end of the park, is noted for brightly colored, wave-polished glass pebbles, remnants of broken glass dumped there between 1906 and 1967 (see page 34).
MORE INFO: 707-964-8898
Camping Reservations: 1-800-444-7275
