We enjoyed Salt Point this last weekend. What a cool place to go to. It was about a 2.5 hour drive from Sacramento, but more than worth it!
Salt Point State Park is located in Sonoma County on Highway One 90 miles north of San Francisco and about 20 minute north of Jenner. While cruising up Hwy 1 from Jenner you may encounter the occasional cow right alongside the road, we slowed down and took a picture.
I will start our journey from Jenner. On the drive north just a few minutes up the coast is Reef Campground which is situated just south of Fort Ross SP. Typically the campground is open April 1st-Nov 30th, but due to budget cuts it is not available until June 30th.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/449/files/ReefCampgroundmap.pdf
Fort Ross is a pretty cool place to see. It's about 12 miles north of Jenner. You can definately spend a good part of a day if not all day just walking around. This park has a lot history. Fort Ross was originally a Russian settlement that was used as a base for agriculture to supply outposts in Alaska. Years later it was the home of the Call Ranch. The fort is fun for all, you can actually walk through buildings, touch cannons and see just how simple life once was. This is is a good place to go if you like taking pictures.The kids spend a lot of time running building to building. Yes!! If your up for a bit of exploring you can also hike to the old Russian cemetary as well as the old Call House and the bay where they used to build and load ships.
We like to collect patches of all of the parks and places we visit and it was a bummer to find out they don't have a patch as of yet.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=449
http://www.parks.sonoma.net/rosshist.html
Between Fort Ross and Salt Point campground there is a little store called Ocean Cove Grocery. This store is on the right hand side of the road and cannot be missed. There is plenty of parking immediately on your left. This is not a grocery store mind you, but it has ice, snacks and some "camping foods".
A little further up the road on the left side is the Fort Ross Lodge. This is a very cute place to stay for "adult time", the rooms have fireplaces and there is a pool, hot tub and sauna. If you go to their website they often have really good deals. We have stayed there on many occasions. Also there is a small grocery store directly across Hwy One that has a deli of sorts and most groceries that you may need. I believe they also sell gasoline which may come in handy.
Woodside Campground, this was my first time camping at this site and will definately go back. This campground is about 10 minutes further north on Hwy One from Fort Ross SP and is situated on the right side with plenty of sites to choose from. There are flush toilets her, but there are no coin operated showers. You can hike from the campground down to Gerstle Cove which is about .8 miles, it's a lot easier going down to the cove than coming back up just FYI. We actually showed up a few hours after the camp host arrived for the season so the fire rings hadn't been cleaned out yet. This is a must if you like to cook with the fire like we do. While he was putting together bundles off wood for sale he was kind enough to lend us his shovel so we could clean out the ring ourselves. We usually carry a small army type shovel but someone forgot to pack it (silly me). I always forget at least one item every trip. It's always a good idea to chat with the camphost when you first pull in, they usually have good insight on critters, the best sites and information on what to do and see. And typically the host works many different campgrounds, which means he could give you good suggestions on where to go next! This campground I like better than Gerstle Cove campground due to the fact that it's further up the hill in the trees. We noticed at night when the campground had quieted down you could hear the ocean, very nice. We only saw one racoon, yes I said one racoon. True!
Gerstle Cove Campground is on the left hand side about 100 yards further up Hwy One one from the Woodside campground. This campground is open more during the year than Woodside and has fewer sites. Pulling into the campgrounds there was a deer nibbling on some grass right by the Ranger kiosk. There are fewer sites here but this campground is open all year. From the campground you only have to drive about 3/4 of a mile down to the ocean where the actual reason for us going is located.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=22552
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=453
Stillwater Cove is about 16 miles north of Jenner. This is a really quaint spot. At the park entrance there is a little area for you to drop off passengers, this is a 10 minute parking spot. There is just enough room for you to turn your vehicle around to leave, (turning around recommended). There is a small spot to park along the road about 100yards south on Hwy One. At the park there are flush toilets and picnic tables here which makes it a good place to stop for a snack or even take lunch. What I like about this cove is that it is pretty small which makes it ideal for kid watching. There are all kinds of driftwood, shells and odd things to pick up on the beach which always makes good for relaxing and day dreaming. There is also the Stillwater Campground which is another Sonoma County park, we drove through the campground and it had alot of great sites. While cruising the campground we came across a peacock!
http://www.sonoma-county.org/parks/pdf/maps/stillwater_camp.pdf
Salt Point SP is so much fun. You can spend hours if not days just crawling around and over rocks along the shoreline looking for the next great find. One thing that is truly indispensable, the almighty tide table booklet!! Without picking up one of these at the ranger kiosks your chance of finding abalone shells will be slim. timing is everything. If you are just looking for shells or things in general anytime is good, but if your looking for abalone shells I suggest you start at least an hour ahead of low tide to increase your chances. Always look behind where you've just been, I quite often find shells that I have simply walked over. Working in pairs is helpful too. Abalone season begins in April which can limit availability of camp sites locally. This also can come with benefits, you may get lucky enough to get a campsite next to a diver who is willing to barter with their bbq'd abalone. There are so many little coves alone the shoreline. We have names for many of them, some of them we have made up other are from what we've been told along the way. Let's see... Boneyard Archway, Boarshead, Sand Dune and Abalone Cove to name a few. In these cove's during the day you can see mollusks, different colored starfish, mussels, rock fish, crabs, anemone, snails and many more critters. Make sure you bring a hat for when the sun comes out as well and SPF for your exposed flesh.
Kids Korner: This is where the kids chime in and tell you about what they enjoyed.
Bobbie: Fort Ross is great and I liked the cannons. At first the racoons were scary, but then it was cool to watch them. Also finding abalone shells was fun. I enjoyed the trip.
That's it for now. If you have any questions throw them my way.
Enjoy Northern California today!!
Uncle Leo
Copy and paste the URL below below for a map of the location.
Salt Point SP: http://g.co/maps/j8ty
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