Daily Archives: May 8, 2014

May 8, 2014 Manchester and Fort Bragg, California

­Our three day stay at Manchester was quiet and relaxing. We spent some time working on the blog because it takes time for Bill to sort through all the pictures and decide which ones to include in each posting. He then edits them and all this takes time. I usually do most of the writing of the blog posts and rely on his pictures to refresh my memory. In Manchester our cell phone and internet reception was very poor so we were not able to do much planning or research for future travels.

Manchester, with a population of 462, was similar to Bodega Bay in that it also did not have any franchise restaurants or large stores. We did stop in at the local small country market which did include a tiny Ace Hardware in the back corner.

We spent our last afternoon in Manchester doing some geocaching and continued to find beautiful panoramic views and the Point Arena Lighthouse. IMG_0289

 

 

 

 

 

After Manchester our next stop was thirty-five miles north to Fort Bragg. As you can tell we try not to travel far on move days and we are taking our time heading north to give Mother Nature plenty of time to warm up. Our travel day was overcast with just enough rain to keep on the windshield wipers. One thing I have noticed in our travels is so many states have cities with the same name, and Fort Bragg is another example. Fort Bragg, CA was established in the 1850’s as a military outpost to maintain order for the Mendocino Indian Reservation. Today Fort Bragg is no longer a military fort and has a population of around 7,000. One exciting thing about reaching Fort Bragg was there was a Safeway where I did some much needed grocery shopping. Not since our last days in Mexico has the pantry and freezer been so empty!

We dry camped at MacKerricher State Park which is a beautiful park but we had no cell phone service or satellite TV due to heavy tree cover. We quickly set up camp and grab the umbrellas and rain jackets and headed down to the beach to a small cove where the ranger told us some seals had recently given birth. We were expecting to see many seals and we were a little disappointed to see just a few mother seals and pups on the rocks. IMG_0307 IMG_0309 IMG_0310 IMG_0314 IMG_0317 IMG_0321Since the weather

was cold and windy with showers, we didn’t stay long. I am always in awe of the great shots like these that Bill gets. The camera makes it look like we were much closer to the seals than we really were. The rangers warn people not to go near the seals because they are easily frightened and will desert their pups if frightened away.

The highlight of our stay in Fort Bragg was biking on the paved Ten Mile Coastal Trail. We were able to bike to the trail from our campsite and ride along the coast.

IMG_0333 It isn’t often that we get to bike that close to the beautiful Pacific Ocean! IMG_0324 IMG_0325 IMG_0329This trail was formerly a railroad track which was turned into a logging road and is now a walking/biking trail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our last day in Fort Bragg we walked on the beautiful boardwalkIMG_0339 IMG_0341 in MacKerricher

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and came upon a mother seal and her pup just as they climbed out of the water and onto a rock to rest.  IMG_0348 IMG_0352

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We left MacKerricher State Park and drove about twenty miles up the coast to a very small state park, Westport-Union Landing State Beach Park, where we dry camped about two hundred feet from the ocean atop a forty foot cliff. This is basically just a pull off the side of the road and camp where you want, and on this day there were two other campers in the park. It was very windy when we first arrived and a gorgeous day. We had spectacular views of the coastline and beach. On one side we saw the magnificent Pacific and on the other side we saw cattle grazing on the steep hillside. The park did have a campground host and he showed us some nests made by swallows. He said the swallows built this in less than two weeks and they had to do it one mouthful of mud at a time. Isn’t nature amazing!  IMG_0336 IMG_0338