Mendocino Headlands
Mendocino (Mendocino Coast) · near Mendocino / Fort Bragg · North Coast
Trail Running
At a glance
- Difficulty
- easy
- Distance
- 5 miles
- Elevation gain
- 250 ft
- Best season
- Year-round · spring wildflowers, whale-watch Dec–Apr
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No permit. Mendocino Headlands State Park — free. Trails wrap the bluffs around the village of Mendocino.
What is here
- Features
- Bluff-top trails around a historic village · Sea arches, blowholes & tide pools · Gray whale watching in season · Wildflower meadows above the surf
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Trail Running detail
- Surface
- mixed
- Intl tip
- The trails start right from the village of Mendocino — park in town and run the bluffs. Combine with Russian Gulch, Van Damme, and the Fort Bragg Coastal Trail to the north. Whale-watching season is December–April. The village's inns and restaurants make it a classic weekend getaway.
The guide
The Mendocino Headlands wrap the historic clifftop village of Mendocino in a ribbon of easy, spectacular bluff-top trail — a ne…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Mendocino Headlands — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 39.307, -123.801