Trinidad / Moonstone Beach
Trinidad (Humboldt County) · near Trinidad / Eureka · North Coast
Surfing
At a glance
- Skill level
- intermediate
- Best season
- Fall and winter · Remote, cold, uncrowded far-north surf
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
Surfing detail
- Break types
- beach · reef
- Swell
- NW and W · 2–10ft · Beach and reef options around the head
- Tide
- Works across tides depending on spot
- Wind
- Morning offshore best · Often stormy
- Crowd
- Remote and lightly surfed. A small, welcoming local crew. Genuine wilderness surf.
- Board
- Shortboard or fish · Longboard on mellow Moonstone days
- Wetsuit
- 5/4mm hooded with boots and gloves · Water 48–56°F — genuinely frigid
- Intl tip
- Trinidad is one of the most charming small towns on the entire California coast — a tiny fishing harbor beneath forested bluffs. The redwood parks (Redwood National and State Parks, in the hiking guide) are all around. This is a destination for surfers who want wilderness over warmth.
The guide
Trinidad and neighboring Moonstone Beach represent the far-north wilderness surf of Humboldt County — a good range of waves in …
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Trinidad / Moonstone Beach — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 41.059, -124.143