Caspar Beach
A contemplative stroll by the sea
Sunset - Perfect time to go for a stroll along Caspar Beach
I slowly blinked awake. The sound of the gently rolling waves on the shore tumbled softly through my car where I had parked just off of Caspar Beach. I had been planning on meeting a friend here for a walk after work, but they had had something come up and couldn’t make it. I still came on my own, wanting to reacquaint myself with this little beach I hadn’t been to in a while. I had fond memories of happy moments there – birthday bonfires, a polar bear plunge, quiet meanderings – moments that came welling warmly up through my mind as I rubbed the inadvertent nap I had just taken from my eyes. That nap had sort of snuck up on me when I parked at the beach earlier. The sound of the waves and the perfect temperature to which the evening sun had warmed my car had just combined to create a little napping heaven, and I couldn’t resist laying back my seat and closing my eyes…
Ah, ice plant, how lovely you are in the golden evening glow!
So here I found myself stepping out of my car onto the sand just off the shoulder on a tight curve of Point Cabrillo Drive. I stretched and breathed in deep the salty scent that filled the breeze. With sunset only half an hour away now, the light had that shimmering golden glow that whispers the day is slowing to a peaceful close. I set out across the rocky sand to the southern end of the cove, still waking up from my nap as I shoved my hands into my pockets and picked my way around the smoldering remains of someone’s recent bonfire. An adventurous loan kayaker bobbed in the gentle swells a little way off shore. I turned and started north along the waterline, letting my mind release all the thoughts that had been swirling through it earlier and focusing on the rhythmic purling hiss of the water flowing back down the beach to the sea, on the intriguing varieties of seaweed and algae that the currents had gathered in decorative clumps on the shore, on the soft touch of salty mist on my face.
Old remnants of possibly a pier or bridge spanning the creek.
At the northern end of the beach, I turned inland and trailed along the little creek that was gurgling along the bottom of the cliffs. On the steep cliffside above me, the bright yellow of scotch broom and the deeper orange of monkey flower was interspersed with the rich purple of wild irises here and there and dusty green wild succulents poking out from between tenacious bushes and tall native grasses. The creek spread out in a leisurely fashion as it turned a bend, with the waters reflecting back the sway of the eucalyptus trees on their bank in the deepening evening light. A pair of mallards drifted silently upstream, and every now and again tiny silvery fish threw themselves up out of the water to catch the little insects hovering just above the creek. I paused to admire some yellow flowers growing in the sand back here and then looked out toward the sinking sun. A couple was standing with their faces to the sea nearer the waves, framed in the rich orange glow as they stood side by side with their toes in the sand in quiet mutual appreciation of the moment.
I smiled. I was not the only one.
Go find the lovely little yellow flowers speckling the dunes at the very back of the beach.
While not a long walk – you may get in about a mile if you go from one end to the other and explore up the creek as far as you can – Caspar Beach is great if you just want a quiet spot to clear your mind and reconnect to the world around you. You can also add it into a larger day: Start with Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, visit Caspar Headlands State Reserve, walk the Caspar Uplands Trail (post on that coming next week!), and end with an easy stroll along the beach before heading back to the inn for a nap, or into Mendocino for an afternoon coffee and snack at Goodlife Café & Bakery.
Caspar Beach is easy to find and fairly easy to access. On Point Cabrillo Drive roughly ten minutes north of the inn, you can access it by taking the turnoff for Russian Gulch State Park and heading north. The beach will be at almost the northern end of the drive, which is a few miles long. Point Cabrillo Lighthouse is on this same drive. If you are coming from the north, follow the signs just south of the hamlet of Caspar.
Final moments of sunset beyond the cove
Words and pictures by Laura Hockett