• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • News
  • Lifestyle
  • Wellness
  • Cuisine
  • Product Reviews
  • Subscribe
Cannabis News and Culture Magazine

Cannabis News and Culture Magazine

Cannabis News and Culture Magazine

Emerald Media News Subscription
  • Print Magazines
  • 100+ Minority-Owned Companies to Support
  • No Pipe, No Problem
  • Blunt vs. Joint
  • The Cost of Cannabis in Each State
  • Calculating Your Edibles Dosage
  • Flintts Mouthwatering Mints

Natural Wonder: Patrick’s Point State Park

February 11, 2014 by Emerald Media Group Leave a Comment

Natural Wonder

By Benjamin Fordham

 

 

Patrick’s Point State Park near Trinidad is like a land frozen in time. Giant ferns and thick underbrush hem in large natural prairies and centuries-old Sitka spruce are buffeted by the Pacific winds. One would almost expect to see a velociraptor trotting down one of the well-manicured paths. But you won’t, it’s completely safe, even for children and the elderly.

Located approximately 30 miles north of Eureka, Patrick’s Point State Park sits on a headland that juts dramatically into the Pacific Ocean. Last year over 16,000 people stopped by the park’s visitor’s center, and according to Steve Simmons, South District Manager for the Redwood Parks Association, that number is already over 17,000 for this year. According to Simmons, people travel from all over the world to visit the 640-acre park with some families coming generation after generation.

“People love this park,” says Simmons. “It is unique. The coastal views here are hard to beat, the tide pools are amazing, and there’s excellent whale-watching.”

The park is home to abundant plant and animal life. Deer, bobcats, gray foxes and bears can all be found in the park’s forests and prairies (there are bear-proof containers for your food). Native birds include spotted owls, kingfishers, osprey, woodpeckers and the Steller’s Jay.

Head down the trail to Agate Beach and you can find sea lions, sea stars, shore crabs, chitons and sea anemones among other things. True to its name, Agate Beach is a popular site to hunt for the shiny stones. The area is also a premiere whale-watching location, with Gray whales regularly passing close to shore on their annual migration from Alaska to Mexico.

Although the park sits in the heart of redwood country, the majority of tree species are Sitka spruce, red alder, Doug fir, hemlock and pine. In the springtime the prairies are home to a colorful display of native wildflowers and the park also has over 500 species of mushroom.

“You’ve got spruce forests, the ocean, tidal pools…it’s pretty diverse,” says Simmons.

The park is also home to Sumeg Village, a recreated Yurok village that features a number of redwood plank houses, a sweat house, dance house and some dugout canoes cut from naturally fallen redwoods. The prairie it sits in was a traditional summer food-gathering area for the Yuroks. At the time European fur traders arrived in the area in the early 1800’s, Yurok tribal lands extended from the mouth of the Klamath River up to Wilson Creek near Crescent City to the north and south to the Little River near Trinidad. Built by Yurok tribal members, the village is presently used for spiritual and educational activities by the Yurok, Karuk and Hoopa tribes.

There is also a native plant garden located nearby with examples of plants used for food, medicine, basket-making and for ceremonial purposes by the Yurok. Wedding Rock, a popular place for couples to get married overlooking the Pacific Ocean, also sits within the park.

Overall the park is a fantastic mix of unspoiled nature and well-maintained trails, campsites and facilities. With well over 100 individual campsites to choose from, as well as three family campgrounds, two group camps and three group picnic areas, the park is huge. It’s usually pretty booked-up through summer and early fall but this time of year there are sites available, so take advantage. The area is truly a natural wonder, so emblematic of Humboldt County and the greater Pacific Northwest as a whole. And you can enjoy it completely (probably) free of velociraptors.

 

For more information on prices and availability, call the park at (707) 677-3570.

For information on the State Park system call (800) 777-0369 or write to California State Parks at P.O. Box 942896 Sacramento, CA 94296-0001.

Arrangements for special events should be made at least one month in advance.

Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged With: Home, humboldt

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Advertise Here

Categories

Sustainability

seaweed naturals

SeaWeed Naturals Combines the Power of Seaweed with Cannabis to Further Ocean Restoration

April 3, 2022 By Maggie Horton

fungi climate change

Research Finds Fungi Help Ease Climate Change and Benefit the Environment

March 30, 2022 By Julia Meyer

climate crisis and the pandemic

“We Can Act:” What Bending the COVID-19 Curve Teaches Us About the Climate Crisis

April 21, 2020 By Melissa Hutsell

Footer

  • Subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Press

Recent

  • Up in Smoke: An Interview with Smoke Proper, the Trailblazing Cannabis Accessory Brand
  • Priscilla Vilchis and Lil Kim Launch Aphrodisiak: A Cannabis Brand Focused on Sensuality, Social Justice, and Inclusivity
  • First Latina CEO of a Cannabis Company Partners with Music Industry Trailblazer Lil Kim to Launch Aphrodisiak Brand
  • Aphrodisiak: The New Female-Led Cannabis Brand Empowering Women and Promoting Inclusivity
  • Las Vegas Welcomes Aphrodisiak

Search

Copyright © 2023 · The Emerald™ · News & Lifestyle Magazine

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

Cannabis News and Culture Magazine
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.