The Mendocino & Fort Bregg

Memories stored in our heart are for forever while those in camera needs to be seen repeatedly to remind ourselves of those moments. Memories of childhood and younger days are still so fresh as they are etched in our hearts. We have seen and lived those moments to the fullest. There were very less opportunities to capture them on camera in those days as it was very rare and costly. Further we also never felt it necessary to capture each moment in camera. They were captured through our senses and stored in the permanent memory of our heart. We can retrieve them effortlessly any moment of time with just flick of thought.

Recently during the second week of May this year Trisha (my younger daughter) and Rohan (son-in-law) planned a 4-day trip to Fort Bragg and Mendocino in California USA. My all senses soaked and captured each and every moment of our stay there. It was unbelievable that there can be any place as beautiful and natural as Mendocino. All visual & sensory memories are permanently stored in my heart drive in addition to cloud. In all we were eight persons including Rohan’s family. Drive from San Jose to Mendocino was very beautiful and scenic particularly once we pass through San Francisco. Rolling mountains, meticulously designed and constructed bridges over wide rivers, beautiful lakes & water bodies dotting the green landscape all along serpentine mountainous roads were marvelous and kind of trailer of our destination. Trisha, Rohan, Milin (Rohan’s brother) & Radhika (Milin's wife) were the main drivers of two cars. Most of the time I was sitting on the back seat and enjoying the visual treat unfolding each moment while also chit chatting with Dr Amit (Rohan’s father). We stopped at two places in route at Starbucks for freshly brewed coffee. It was around 5 hrs. drive. Our Airbnb was facing the Pacific Ocean and located at a hill rock around 100 ft above pacific. It was very spacious and beautifully decorated. Enjoying sun set at pacific while sitting on the wooden chair on the edge of the hill rock in front of our Airbnb was an amazing experience. Weather was little cold with very high wind, particularly on seashore.

Mendocino is a very small and sparsely populated coastal town in Mendocino County, California, United States. The name comes from Cape Mendocino named by early Spanish navigators in honor of Antonio de Mendoza, Viceroy of New Spain. The town's scenic location on a headland surrounded by the Pacific Ocean has made it extremely popular as an artists' colony and with vacationers. It is located ten miles (16 km) south of Fort Bragg   at an elevation of 154 feet (47 m). Its population was 932 at the 2020 census. Historically Prior to 1850, a Pomo settlement named Buldam was located near Mendocino on the north bank of the Big River. In 1850, the ship Frolic was wrecked a few miles north of Mendocino, at Point Cabrillo, and the investigation of the wreck by the agents of Henry Meiggs sparked the development of the timber industry in the area. Mendocino itself was founded in 1852 as a logging community. It became the Mendocino Lumber Company, the first post office opened in 1858. Many of the town's early settlers were New Englanders, as was true of many older Northern California logging towns. Mendocino coast has amazing views and contrasting scenery. The rugged nature of the coast was beautiful and dramatic. This is truly a hidden gem, great cliffs, fog, and quiet mark this coast. It was quite cold, chilly, and foggy even in the month of May particularly during mornings and evenings. We had to wear thick jackets with scarf/cap. Fort Bragg is also a city along the North Coast of California along in Mendocino County. The city is twenty-four miles (39 km) west of Willits at an elevation of 85 feet (26 m). Its population was 6,983 at the 2020 census. Fort Bragg was founded in 1857 prior to the American Civil War as a military garrison rather than a fortification. It comes before Mendocino while coming from San Jose.

After reaching our destination in Mendocino we spent rest of the evening in settling down and getting acquainted with the surroundings. Airbnb was itself so comfortable with beautiful views that one could spent days staying there only. At night after homemade dinner, we played card games. Incidentally at home we hardly play card games or any game for that matter. Each day thereafter we spent exploring various important and interesting places in the vicinity of Mendocino and Fort Bregg. Rohan & Trisha had already done their research in identifying various places which may be of interest to all of us. Details of some of the places which we visited and enjoyed are described below in subsequent paras of this blog.

On one of the bright sunny days, we spent some time at Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden. It is located on forty-seven acres of land in Fort Bragg between California's Highway One and the Pacific Ocean. The garden property includes canyons, wetlands, coastal bluffs, and a closed-cone pine forest. The Gardens comprise plant collections suited to its mild coastal Mediterranean climate and acidic soils including Native forests and bluff plants, Heaths and Heathers, Rhododendrons, Camellias, Fuchsias, Dahlias, Magnolias, Maples, Succulents, Begonias, and Conifers. Trails through the botanical garden also took us to the pacific seashore. Feelings of seeing butterflies, birds, vibrant colors of flora & fauna and experience of fresh breeze grazing though our skin were simply unforgettable.

Train Journey in India is quite common. We are doing it since childhood. Memories of Childhood days journeys in trains with steam engine are still alive in our mind. We never imagined that we would do a train ride in this Mendocino trip. The California Western Railroad (CWR) popularly called the Skunk Train, is a rail freight and heritage railroad transport railway in Mendocino County, California, running from the railroad's headquarters in the coastal town of Fort Bragg to the interchange with the Northwestern Pacific Railroad at Willits. The CWR runs steam- and diesel-powered trains and rail motor cars through Redwood forests along Pudding Creek and the Noyo River. Along the way, the tracks cross some thirty single bridges and trestles and pass through two deep mountain tunnels. The railroad was originally built by the Fort Bragg Redwood Company as the Fort Bragg Railroad in 1885 to carry coast redwood logs from the dense forests at Glenela (Glen Blair) to a newly built lumber mill located 6.6 miles to the west at coastal Fort Bragg. Chinese tunnel builders completed 1,184-foot Tunnel No. 1 from Pudding Creek to the Noyo River in 1893. Rails had been extended up the Noyo River to Alpine by 1904 when passenger service began with a stagecoach connection to the inland town of Willits. In 1905, the railroad was renamed the California Western Railroad & Navigation Company and shipped lumber on a fleet of steam schooners, first with wooden hulls and later with steel, until shipboard transportation of lumber ended in 1940. This train has steam engine with old style seats. It also has a snack bar. It is a guided tour and train takes deep into redwood forests through tunnels. There is an open carriage also where one can stand and enjoy the nature. It was an amazing experience enjoying historical train ride with family.

Visit to Pennyroyal Farms in Anderson Valley was another high point of this trip which was so different from India and its memories will last forever. Anderson Valley is about ten miles from the coast and nestled in the Coast Range of rugged mountain and old-growth stands. The oak-laden hills of the valley provide ideal pinot growing plots and bucolic views. Pennyroyal Farm is a goat and sheep dairy, and vineyard located at the entrance to Anderson Valley. Here wines and cheeses are made entirely from what is grown in regenerative farm. We were told that it is done maximizing the symbiotic relationship of diversified crops and animal husbandry while utilizing a mix of traditional and modern techniques. The guide (actual farm worker) took us to various clean well-kept barn which had goats, sheep, and other animals. There were separate barns/clusters for babies and pregnant sheep/goats. It was very interesting for me to note their systems since we also run a Gaushala having around 1500 cows in NOIDA. I was highly impressed with cleanliness and well laid down systems. Most of the operations including milking was automated and very hygienic. Farm itself was very big in the backdrop of lush green rolling mountains. Since goats and sheep have a natural reproductive cycle: they are all bred in the fall, which give them at least two months off from milking in late winter. This time off allows them to prepare for birthing in the spring and keeps them healthy for the start of the next lactation period. I had lot of lessons to learn. We also saw how Cheese is made. Most of the Cheese is made either out of pure goat milk or with the mixture of sheep milk. We tasted cream cheese as well as semi hard “blue” one which they served with various types of wines for tasting. It was indeed an unforgettable and very different experience on a beautiful sunny day.

We have heard about glass beaches many times and I was particularly very curious to know what it means and how actually it looks like. Glass Beach is adjacent to McKerracher State Park near Fort Bragg, California. It has been named since it was abundant with sea glass created from years of dumping garbage into an area of coastline near the northern part of the town although these days sea glasses are much less.  Over the next several decades, what was biodegradable in the dump sites simply degraded and all the metal and other items were eventually removed and sold as scrap or used in art. The pounding waves broke down the glass and pottery and tumbled those pieces into the small, smooth, colored pieces that often-become jewelry-quality, which cover Glass beach. Reaching to the glass beach was about 15 minutes’ walk after car park. Sea coast was very vast with blue water waves colliding with stones and rocks as they reach to beach. We took out our shoes to reach to the water. It was too cold. We collected some colored glass pebbles although it is discouraged. These pebbles were mostly angular, round, and flattish. One can only wonder how nature works.

Mendocino is famous for its water towers. The towers were built at the end of the 19th century, and they provided the town with water. As we drive into Mendocino, we notice many of the beautifully restored old redwood water towers 25 to 60 feet tall, some pristine, some weathered. Water towers recall Mendocino’s heyday, from the 1850s to the 1930s, as a redwood logging and mill town. The town lacked a municipal water system, so families and business owners dug separate wells. Windmills pumped water from the wells to tanks on top of the towers, where it was gravity-fed through pipes to homes and businesses. Mendocino’s water still comes from individual wells, but electric pumps have replaced windmills and most water is stored in ground-level tanks. It was amazing to note that how advanced and intuitive it was considering the time it evolved.

Pacific offered a majestic view from our place as we were staying just adjacent to Pacific Ocean at a height of about one hundred feet overlooking sea. It was exquisite experience witnessing the pacific changing colors with daytime and at night. Rhythmic sound of waves was very melodious which we could hear all the time. Sipping my favorite coffee in the morning and in the evening and enjoying the beautiful mountains on one side and vastness of pacific on the other side were my best moments. This trip gave both the families perfect setting and opportunity to know each other. All memories are duly stored in our heart drive.

 Thanks Trisha & Rohan for planning this unforgettable trip to Mendocino & Fort Bragg.

[MANOJ MITTAL, NOIDA, 22 August 2024]