Hendy and Stornetta Public Lands

The last two days that my friends were here visiting from Philly we went to a couple of local landmarks. First we visited Hendy Woods, then the Stornetta Public Lands the following day.

We took in Hendy Woods on a beautiful if slightly warm day. We parked down by the Big Hendy Grove and wandered through, hiking up to the two Hermit Huts, then back down and around the Upper Loop and eventually back to the car. I had been up to the Hermit Huts earlier this year with some other friends, while it was still wet and cool. It was nice to see that someone had finally cut the trees that had been across the path and we didn’t all have to clamber over them to get to the Huts. I am not sure when the last time I was on the Upper Loop path - I think it has been closed for a while. This is where the big trees really are and it was gorgeous. The girls really loved all of the goose pens and everyone climbed on the fallen logs and we took tons of photos.

The following day we decided to head to the South Coast. We started with a visit to Bowling Ball Beach, somewhere I had never heard of before a few weeks ago. We had such great weather - it was actually warm! There were children running all over the beach and into and out of the ocean even.

From the beach we headed back into Point Arena where we got some lunch at the Chowder House, then went up City Hall where we parked and headed out on the trail at the Stornetta Public Lands. I have wanted to get here since it opened. I was not disappointed! Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. We hiked for about two and a half miles, originally aiming for the lighthouse, but we checked the time and realized we had to turn around in order to make it home in time for dinner. We saw seals on the rocks sunning themselves, a gozzard and a snake, and, yes truly, a whale! There were many types of grasses blowing in the wind and it was like a moving painting. I am looking forward to another visit.