North Coast

The North Coast follows the Pacific shore of northern California from the Sonoma County wine country up through Mendocino, Humboldt, and Del Norte counties to the Oregon line. The terrain runs dramatic — sheer coastal cliffs, redwood forest reaching down to the water, salmon and steelhead rivers cutting west to the sea, and the wettest stretch of California climate behind the coast range. Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, and Del Norte counties cover the region. Anchor cities include Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Sebastopol, and Bodega Bay in Sonoma; Mendocino, Fort Bragg, and Ukiah in Mendocino; Eureka, Arcata, Ferndale, and Garberville in Humboldt; Crescent City in Del Norte. Redwood National and State Parks protect the tallest trees on Earth in Humboldt and Del Norte; Point Reyes National Seashore sits at the southern end; Russian Gulch and MacKerricher state parks dot the Mendocino coast. Most trips here are scenic-driving and wine: Highway 1 from Bodega Bay through Mendocino, the redwood loop through Humboldt, the Russian River wine region, the rugged Lost Coast. The climate is cooler and grayer than southern California — fog through summer mornings, longer rainy stretches in winter.