A mere glimpse of Mendocino’s gorgeously sculpted coastline is all it takes to turn urban angst into rural revelation. The scenery is so intoxicating you can yappily spend a week along the Highway 1 corridor without venturing beyond sight or sound of the sea. Visitors on a short leash, time-wise, will find plenty to occupy themselves and their pups along the 13 miles of coastline between diminutive Little River, to the south, and Fort Bragg, the county’s “big city” (population 7,500), just up Highway 1 to the north. Distances are short, so it’s easy to cruise from place to place and get back to base camp before dinner.
Read more.Moseying through Mendocino county
Photo by Pt. Arena Lighthouse.
Happy dog in Gualala If you haven’t been to Mendocino County in a while, consider following coastal Highway 1 through a scenic wonderland touched by many trails where you and your dog can sniff out your own discoveries.
Read more.Make it Mendocino
Dog-friendly vacation rentals in Mendocino County are as abundant as scenery is beautiful, so you and your four-legged pals should have no trouble snagging a retreat for a week or a long weekend.
Read more.Surf’s up!
Photo by Surf and Sand Lodge.
Mendocino’s inland charms
Photo by Underwood Park.
Drive north on Highway 1 from Fort Bragg, and you’ll soon leave the coast and turn inland. It’s about an hour to Leggett, where the road merges with Highway 101 and the Redwood Coast begins. Leggett is home to one of the North State's most enduring roadside attractions, the Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree, a centuries-old coast redwood that was transformed into a tourist stop in the 1930's, when a 6-foot-wide tunnel was bored through it. Visitors ever since have been driving their cars into the opening and snapping photos with kids and dogs waving hands and paws out the windows.
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