Read an Excerpt
Lost Coast Trail: Needle Rock to Bear Harbor
- Trail Use: Day Hiking, Backpacking, Running
- Length & Time: 6.2 miles, 2–4 hours
- Vertical Feet: +575'/-750'
- Difficulty: 3
- Trail Type: Out & Back
- Start & Finish: N39° 56.569' / W123° 57.871'
- Features: Beach, Flora, Wildflowers, Wildlife, Views, Historical Interest, Secluded, Backcountry
- Facilities: Campgrounds Nearby, Restrooms, Visitor Center
While much of the time hikers spend on the 29-mile south section of the Lost Coast Trail is in the forest, this part travels through mostly open terrain, with stunning ocean scenery on the way to one of the most scenic spots on the Lost Coast: Bear Harbor. Thanks to a trailhead a long way from anywhere—requiring a final approach on a 3.5-mile, narrow, steep, and unpaved access road—you may have a good chance for some solitude.
Abundant marine wildlife potentially seen on this trip includes harbor seals, sea lions, migrating gray whales in spring, and numerous species of tidepool creatures. On land, you may see black-tailed deer or Roosevelt elk. The skies are often filled with a profusion of birds, including brown pelicans, black oystercatchers, cormorants, sandpipers, terns, gulls, ravens, and an occasional osprey or bald eagle.
The remote location and resulting potential for solitude belie the size of the human population the area once boasted in the late 1800s and early 1900s, with a dairy near Needle Rock, a wharf and narrow-gauge railroad operating out of Bear Harbor, and a lumber mill at Usal Beach. While most of the human activity is long gone, the Needle Rock Visitor Center occupies the old dairy’s ranch house.
Because it’s an inland route, tides are of no concern on this section of the Lost Coast Trail. Hikers should be aware, however, that rattlesnakes, although uncommonly seen, are present in this community, as are poison oak and ticks (particularly in spring).
Best Times
Even though the Lost Coast Trail can be hiked anytime the weather is accommodating, spring and fall are typically the best seasons. While temperatures are generally moderate during summer months, fog often drapes the Northern California coastline with an omnipresent veil. Along with typically clearer skies, spring offers the bonus of a vibrantly colorful array of wildflowers on the low bluffs above the beach from mid-April through May. The annual migration of California gray whales occurs during late winter and early spring. Fall also offers generally clear weather, with the characteristic dried grasses of the Golden State replacing the spring flowers. Ticks seem to be less pervasive in autumn as well.
Finding the Trail
Leave US 101 in Garberville at Exit 639B, and follow Redwood Drive 2.5 miles north to the small town of Redway. Drive west on Briceland Road, which becomes Mendocino County Road 435, and proceed 12.5 miles to Thorn Junction (where the road becomes Shelter Cove Road if you were to continue straight). Turn left to stay on Briceland and continue 9.75 miles, passing through the small community of Whitethorn. Continue straight on Briceland Road at an intersection with Usal Road. Beyond this intersection, the last 3.5 miles are unpaved, narrow, steep, winding, and possibly impassable during wet weather. Plan on a 1-hour drive from Garberville to the Needle Rock Visitor Center, where there is a nominal parking fee ($6 in 2022).
Trail Description
From the Needle Rock Visitor Center, follow the course of Briceland Road, a narrow dirt road that at one time provided vehicle access to Orchard Creek Camp. Due to ongoing safety issues, the road has been closed to motorized travel for several years, leaving access solely to pedestrians and equestrians. For 2.7 miles, the old road rolls up and down, crossing Flat Rock Creek and passing the promontory of High Tip. Beautiful ocean views are frequent accompaniments to the journey, as are numerous bird, seal, and sea lion sightings. The road ends at a large parking area, with Orchard Creek Camp a short walk upstream along a trickling brook.
Beyond the old parking area, singletrack trail makes a bridged crossing of Orchard Creek and then heads downstream 0.2 mile to Railroad Creek Camp, with three developed campsites tucked beneath eucalyptus trees. Continue across Railroad Creek on a bridge, and proceed another 0.2 mile downstream on pleasantly graded tread to Bear Harbor, which provides by far the most scenic of the campsites in the area, with four sites boasting fine views of the ocean. At the conclusion of your visit, retrace your steps to Needle Rock.
Point of Interest: Bear Harbor
As remote and wild as the Lost Coast seems today, the area was once the western terminus of the Bear Harbor & Eel River Railroad, as still evidenced by the rusted rails dangling over the rocks on the north side of Bear Harbor. A small wharf was completed in 1885 for shipping tanbark and railroad ties. Construction of a 10-mile railroad connecting Bear Harbor to a site near Indian Creek began in 1893. Moody, the terminus, was named for Lew Moody, who built a hotel and saloon nearby. The Southern Humboldt Lumber Company took over the railroad in 1902 for the purposes of transporting lumber. A 7.5-mile extension of the line to a mill and millpond at Andersonia (across the river from present-day Piercy) was finished in 1905. A new, larger wharf at Bear Harbor was also built.
Although logs were eventually delivered to the millpond via the railroad, a series of unfortunate events prevented the mill from producing any lumber. Harvey Anderson, the president of the lumber company, died in 1905 after being struck in the head by a timber brace pulled by a steam engine. Tax problems, right-of-way issues, and, finally, damage from the Great Earthquake of 1906 halted milling operations before they could begin. New buyers were prevented from restarting the operation, thanks to subsequent litigation and a damaging flood during the winter of 1925–26, which broke the millpond’s dam and sent logs into the Eel River.
Ultimately, the Southern Humboldt Lumber Company’s legacy was a million-dollar mill that never milled. The railroad’s locomotives were later restored and placed at Fort Humboldt State Park. Andersonia became a ghost town but was used temporarily as a construction camp during the building of US 101.
Milestones
0.0 Start at Needle Rock Visitor Center
2.7 Orchard Creek Camp
3.1 Bear Harbor
6.2 Return to Needle Rock Visitor Center
.
