RN: This trip up the entire coast of California has been really terrific. We’ve seen so many variations in bays: Monterey, San Francisco, Tomales, and, now, Humboldt. We’ve also visited dunes: Torrey Pines, Oso Flaco, and, below, you can see the Humboldt Coastal Nature Center in Manila that was founded by Friends of the Dunes. This well-kept “secret” is the gateway to over 1000 acres of pristine coastal lands that have been slowly restored by removing invasive plant species.

The structure below is a house built by the Stamps family from a do-it-yourself Earth house kit. When the owners passed away, it was converted into the Nature Center.

Dunes are formed when sand piles up through the action of wind. In a desert, there isn’t enough moisture to encourage plant growth; however, along the ocean, moisture encourages the growth of dune grass and plants. Here, in the Manila Dunes, a tsunami wiped out part of the sand and gave plants access to the water table, allowing many more species and, even trees to grow. You can see how different the dark green area below is compared to the more exposed dunes. Our hike took us from the Nature Center through the dunes and greenway to the ocean. No one else was around!

We had lunch at Cafe Marina on Woodley Island, which is very close to the mainland. From our window in the Cafe, we could see the Carson Mansion across the bay.

After lunch, we traveled north to the coast at Trinidad and took a walk towards Trinidad Point. The coastline here is gorgeous and starting to remind us of the Oregon Coast.

FE. In the Nature Center we met a well informed volunteer who informed us about much of the history of the area and introduced us to the newsletter of the Friends of the Dunes

I also noticed how in one way the area around here is similar to Cape Cod, restoring dunes, bays, wonderful beaches, lots of fishing boats. On the other hand, much along the Pacific Ocean is bigger, higher and wilder, simply awe-inspiring. Later in the afternoon we took a boat ride through the harbor and bay on the Madaket…another memory of the Cape and Islands!

From the water we spotted an egret rookery on Tulawat Island.

A pelican taking off

Lumber is still a thriving industry here

We had drinks and nibbles at a bar, and Rae found this amazing room in the adjacent hotel.