Dan and Hannah Hike in Van Damme State Park on the Mendocino coast, California

We wake to our first cloudy day of fifteen that we’ve been here in sunny California. Our neighbors on Chases Pond Road are waking to a storm that began overnight and will ravage New England for the next 24 hours. Parts of Seacoast Maine are under siege with blizzard snows of 30 inches. For us, twelve inches of snow is a big storm. In the 33 years that we’ve lived on the coast of southern Maine, we’ve never had such snow.

Nolan, Will’s best man, will plow our driveway, twice.   Our neighbors, Marco and Jane, have cleared the path to our propane exhaust and cared for our cat Sadie during the snowy onslaught.

The snow is predicted to end sometime Wednesday; our twice cancelled red-eye to Boston has us now flying out of San Francisco International Airport Wednesday night to arrive Thursday morning.   We are feeling pretty good about finally getting back to New England, but we have no way of knowing how iffy things will really be.  Thursday morning there will be only one runway open at Logan Airport.

Nourished by oatmeal with Scott and Tree before they head for whale counting, we have another bonus day in Mendocino County. Traveling the Pacific Coast Highway 25 miles to the north, we set our sights on Van Damme State Park. Feeling like locals after days driving the PCH, we turn into the parking lot at Van Damme Beach.  The son of Belgian settlers, Charles Van Damme made his money as a businessman in San Francisco. Having bought 40 acres of redwood forest in the Mendocino area, upon his death in the 1930s, he left it to the State of California.

Little River along the Fern Canyon Trail

We love us some redwoods, but we are intrigued that the Fern Canyon Trail leads to a pygmy forest.  Since we are before camping season on the northern California coast, there is no one about as we take to a paved road with campsites on either side. As it was yesterday in Russian Gulch State Park, the campsites, the road, the trails are sopping wet from recent storms and the moist coastal climate here 150 miles north of San Francisco.

Blowdown across the trail

A month ago, blowdowns crossed this trail from a fierce December storm. But state crews have cleared the trail for us today. Our trail is amiably paved with deteriorating asphalt and covered with wet leaves as we step around large puddles and sogginess everywhere. Following the Little River into the mountains, we pass under a forest of redwoods and pines. Artfully constructed redwood bridges have replaced the onetime stone bridges built with care, I gather, by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s. This was a time when the federal government put men and women to work when the world-wide Depression was at its worst.

Redwoods at Van Damme

Wrapping our sweatshirts around our waists, we gently climb along the river bed. Veering right we climb and leave our beloved redwoods behind. Once at the Old Logging Fire Road after 2.5 miles of hiking, we take a spur to the aforementioned pygmy forest.

Even a VCU Ram is not impressed

We couldn’t be more disappointed. I am not sure what we expected. Walking on a carefully constructed boardwalk nature trail among dwarf trees in a swampy bog, we feel nothing.  The cypress, rhododendrons, and pine trees stand six inches to eight feet tall;  big whup!  Due to poor soil, the marshy ecosystem has stunted trees everywhere we look. Once under the Pacific Ocean, this area never reached the majesty of the soaring redwoods of coastal northern California by a long shot.

Heading back to trailhead under redwood canopy

Most appreciative of this bonus day among the redwoods though, we return by way of the Old Logging Fire Road and eventually climb back down into the Little River valley.  Our day of hiking takes nearly three hours over nine miles.

One of many redwood bridges across the Little River

Driving the two miles north to the city of Mendocino for one last chance at relaxing among the funkiness and sun, we are met by afternoon Pacific sea breezes that have a different plan for us. The fog rolls in; the temperature drops to 50 degrees, and we close up shop and head for home to Scott and Tree.

Today we have the rainforest; New England has its blizzard. Glued to the Weather Channel once more, we see Jim Cantore and Mike Seidel report from the worst of the storm. It’s going to be a doozy, but that’s manana. Today we’ll lay back in the hot tub and think of how sweet it has been for us to take a two week bite out of winter.

Dan and Hannah Hike the Mendocino Headlands in northern California

With New England bracing for a monster snowstorm, we have delayed our flight home to Boston by twenty-four hours.  The Universe is smiling down on us as we are staying with friends Tree and Scott, who graciously welcome us for an additional night at their place on the northern coast of California. Nolan, our son Will’s best man, has offered to plow our driveway.  Our village is coming together on this late January weekend.

Taking advantage of the opportunity that the snow gods have given us, we drive 25 miles north to the Mendocino Headlands this late Sunday morning. The Pacific Coast Highway from Point Arena to Mendocino is classic hairpins and sparkling morning sunshine off the warm waters of the Pacific.  Enjoy the ride on the video below.

Moody’s coffee shop and bakery in Mendocino.  The place to chill with Internet access.

Surrounded on three sides by bluffs and cliffs, Mendocino is just off the beaten path (the Pacific Coast Highway); we park easily on Main Street. Mendocino is the mama bear of climates; not too hot and not too cold. Summers have frequent fog and highs in the upper sixties. Their winters are in the 50s with no frost or snow. A popular home to bed and breakfasts, art shops, and funky neighborhood restaurants, Mendocino is New England on the West Coast.

Along the bluff trail looking back to town

Home to transplanted New Englanders in the 19^th century, Mendocino has many Victorian-style homes. Mendocino served as the fictional town of Cabot Cove, Maine for the hit TV series, Murder, She Wrote.

Mendocino water tank

Famous for its water towers, Mendocino used windmills to power these towers built at the end of the 19th century. All one needed was a windmill tall enough to catch coastal breezes to power the pumps and a tank positioned high enough to provide adequate water pressure. Today, most of the windmills have disappeared, but less than a dozen of these towers are still standing, ranging from completely restored to the precarious.

Catchment tank

One year ago, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors declared a Local Emergency and Imminent Threat of Disaster due to drought conditions. Dealing with the drought that all California is experiencing, Mendocino is offering 5000 to 50,000 gallon catchment tanks for landowners and organizations. Drought-stricken California, which just had its driest January ever, will smash another dismal record next month: the hottest February.  In March, Governor Jerry Brown will require mandatory water conservation after a winter with 6% of the normal snow pack in the Sierras.

On the Mendocino Headlands bluff trail

From Main Street, hikers can walk just a few hundred feet to the Mendocino Headlands bluff trail. Some 50 or 60 feet above the shoreline, the bluff trails are serpentine paths through the heather and brush. On this sunny Sunday morning, we have many other hiker/walkers for company. Though fog does not come in today, it will tomorrow and drop temperatures fifteen degrees.

Looking out to the Pacific

This three mile bluff trail within an arm’s reach of town lies above rich abalone grounds. This is not a trail on which I would take our preschool grandsons, Owen and Max. Though not perilous for adults, the trail is two to three feet from sheer cliffs dropping sixty feet or more to the beach below. As with most bluff trails, there is little elevation gain so it’s a “walk in the park” along the ocean for us today.

In addition to other wildlife, there are VCU Rams on the trail

The trail winds to the north of town with cliff side views. We return to town along Lansing Street. The early afternoon has me sitting behind the Methodist Church on a bench just taking in the sunshine in this lazy funky town.  Good weather on vacation makes me think, I could live here.

Our front yard on Chases Pond Road

The coming blizzard is now predicted to be 12+ inches. Virgin America Airlines has changed our red-eye from Monday night to Tuesday night for no charge. The Fox Rent-a-Car company is not so forgiving.   Though I mention that our flight has been cancelled, they are charging us a $29 penalty for bringing the rental car to the San Francisco Airport a day late.

Their inflexibility is countered by Tree and Scott’s embrace.  Another fine meal awaits; this time adult macaroni and cheese with penne pasta, ground turkey, and mixed vegetables.  They and their outside Jacuzzi warm us through and through as evening temperatures dip into the low 50s.

Cradled in the arms of our amigos on the northern California coast, we are indeed the lucky ones. Let it snow. New England can wait.