The Lost Coast is a mostly natural and undeveloped area of the

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

North Coast North Coast or Northcoast may refer to : Antigua and Barbuda * Major Division of North Coast, an urban area and major division in the parish of Saint John * North Coast, Barbuda, an administrative district of Barbuda Australia * New South Wa ...

Humboldt Humboldt may refer to: People * Alexander von Humboldt, German natural scientist, brother of Wilhelm von Humboldt * Wilhelm von Humboldt, German linguist, philosopher, and diplomat, brother of Alexander von Humboldt Fictional characters * Hu ...

and Mendocino counties, which includes the King Range. It was named the "Lost Coast" after the area experienced depopulation in the 1930s. In addition, the steepness and related geotechnical challenges of the coastal mountains made this stretch of coastline too costly for state highway or county road builders to establish routes through the area, leaving it the most undeveloped and remote portion of the California coast. Without any major highways, communities in the Lost Coast region such as Petrolia, Shelter Cove, and Whitethorn are somewhat isolated from the rest of California. The region lies roughly between Rockport and Ferndale. At the south end, State Route 1, which runs very close along the coast for most of its length, turns inland at Rockport before merging with

U.S. Route 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a major north–south highway that traverses the states of California, Oregon, and Washington on the West Coast of the United States. It is part of the United States Numbered Highway Syst ...

at Leggett. At the north end, State Route 211 begins its journey at Ferndale, heading towards Highway 101 in

Fernbridge Fernbridge is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community at an elevation of in Humboldt County, California, Humboldt County, California, named for a historic bridge, west-northwest of Fortuna, California, Fortuna. The Fernbridge (bridg ...

. Section 511 of the California Streets and Highways Code still says that "Route 211 is from Route 1 near Rockport to Route 101 near Fernbridge", but it is unlikely that the portion of Route 1 south of Ferndale will be built. Most of the region's coastline is now part of either

Sinkyone Wilderness State Park Sinkyone Wilderness State Park is a state park in Mendocino County, California. The wilderness area borders the Pacific Ocean to the west and the King Range National Conservation Area to the north. The nearest settlement is the unincorporate ...

or King Range National Conservation Area.

Geology and climate

The Lost Coast consists of undivided

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

marine

metasedimentary In geology, metasedimentary rock is a type of metamorphic rock. Such a rock was first formed through the deposition and solidification of sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occu ...

and

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...

s of the North American Plate steeply

uplifted ''Uplifted'' is the second studio album by Nigerian singer Flavour N'abania. It was released on July 20, 2010, by Obaino Music and 2nite Entertainment. The album features guest appearances from Jah Dey, Oloye, Stormrex, Waga Gee, Asem, Stone, M-Ja ...

by Mendocino triple junction interactions with the Pacific Plate and

Gorda Plate The Gorda plate, located beneath the Pacific Ocean off the coast of northern California, is one of the northern remnants of the Farallon plate. It is sometimes referred to (by, for example, publications from the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program) ...

. The Lost Coast includes

Tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

marine sedimentary formations north of the

Mattole River The Mattole River is a river on the north coast of California, that flows northerly, then westerly into the Pacific Ocean. The vast majority of its course is through southern Humboldt County, though a short section of the river flows through n ...

and a portion of the

Franciscan Assemblage The Franciscan Complex or Franciscan Assemblage is a geologic term for a late Mesozoic terrane of heterogeneous rocks found throughout the California Coast Ranges, and particularly on the San Francisco Peninsula. It was named by geologist A ...

called Point Delgada at Shelter Cove. The steepness of uplift has created a coastal ridge forming a drainage divide parallel to the coast. The drainage pattern between

Usal Creek Usal Creek is the southernmost drainage basin unbridged by California State Route 1 on California's Lost Coast. The unpaved county road following the westernmost ridge line south from the King Range crosses Usal Creek near the Pacific coast, b ...

and the Mattole River is a series of short streams with steep channel gradients. Like the surrounding coast, the Lost Coast experiences a

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...

and a

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The t ...

. The wet season ranges from October to April. The King Range mountains collect significant moisture from storms coming from the Pacific Ocean, making it one of the wettest sections of the California coastline. Local weather stations typically record over annually of rainfall, and during wet years, over can fall along the Lost Coast. Snow can blanket the higher peaks after storms, but melts quickly. From May to September, the mountain areas are mostly warm and dry with temperatures reaching – in mid-summer, but the weather is still highly variable, with some days of fog and light rain.

Humboldt County

Much of the land in the area is owned by the federal government, and in 1970, more than were designated the King Range National Conservation Area. Because of the rugged and remote location, the small towns of Shelter Cove, Whitethorn and Petrolia are popular with those looking for quiet respite. The area is known for its

black sand Black sand is sand that is black in color. One type of black sand is a heavy, glossy, partly magnetic mixture of usually fine sands containing minerals such as magnetite, found as part of a placer deposit. Another type of black sand, found on ...

beaches, which get their color from dark colored sandstone called

greywacke Greywacke or graywacke ( ) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness (6–7 on Mohs scale), dark color, and Sorting (sediment), poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or sand-size Lith ...

and an older compressed

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

produced by tectonic activity of one continental and two oceanic plates meeting just offshore.Lost Coast Black Sands information sign at Black Sands beach head parking lot, northernmost set of two information panels near Shelter Cove, California, published by the Bureau of Land Management – Kings Range National Conservation Area, seen September 3, 2012

Mendocino County

Early European settlers of this area began harvesting bark of the

tanoak ''Notholithocarpus densiflorus'', commonly known as the tanoak or tanbark-oak, is a broadleaf tree in the family Fagaceae, and the type species of the genus ''Notholithocarpus''. It is a hardwood tree that is native to the far western United Sta ...

tree for tanning hides into

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning (leather), tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffal ...

. Bark collectors formed the small community of Kenny around springs at the headwaters of the north fork of

. A wharf was built at Bear Harbor in 1884 for loading bark onto ships. The Bear Harbor and Eel River Railroad incorporated in 1896 to connect the wharf to a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

being built on the

South Fork Eel River The South Fork Eel River is the largest tributary of the Eel River (California), Eel River in north-central California in the United States. The river flows north from Laytonville, California, Laytonville to Dyerville, California, Dyerville/Foun ...

at Andersonia, California. The location of the railroad shops was named Moody for the proprietor (Louis Alton Moody) of a nearby hotel and saloon. The community of Andersonia, Anderson Gulch, and the Anderson Cliffs of the Lost Coast are named for sawmill owner Henry Neff Anderson, who was killed in a construction accident in 1905. Sawmill and railroad operation languished after Anderson's death, and the facilities were dismantled in 1921. Usal Redwood Company built a sawmill and wharf at the mouth of

in 1889. The company town of Usal was built around the mill and a railroad for transporting logs extended three miles up Usal Creek. A fire in 1902 destroyed the sawmill, schoolhouse, warehouse, and county bridge over Usal Creek. The railroad was dismantled; but a few structures, including a hotel, survived until destroyed by fire in 1969. Steep terrain and unfavorable coastal mooring conditions delayed timber harvesting of Jackass Creek drainage until internal combustion machinery was available for transport. The company town of

Wheeler, California Wheeler was a company town in Mendocino County, California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Ari ...

, was built for logging operations from 1948 to 1959.

began acquisition of Lost Coast property in 1975.Sinkyone Wilderness State Park Preliminary Impact Plan and Draft EIR
California Department of Parks and Recreation, June 2006. Lost Coast backpacking

Transportation

The geology of the Lost Coast makes it difficult to establish routes through the area. State Route 1, California's Pacific Coast Highway, was originally planned to continue up the coast through the region. In 1984, admitting that such construction was not feasible, Caltrans re-routed the northern segment of Highway 1 from Rockport to Leggett and renumbered the portion that was built from Ferndale to Fernbridge as State Route 211. Without major highways or county thoroughfares in the area, the secluded communities within the Lost Coast are only accessible by land via small mountain roads.

Mattole Road Mattole Road is a county road in Humboldt County, California. It originates at Ferndale, passes through Capetown and crosses the Bear River, then reaches the Pacific coastline at Cape Mendocino and follows the beach for , passes through Pe ...

runs south from Ferndale to Petrolia, while Shelter Cove Rd. and Briceland Thorn Rd. form the main route connecting Shelter Cove with US 101 to the east.

Shelter Cove Airport Shelter Cove Airport is a public airport located in Shelter Cove, serving Humboldt County, California, USA. This general aviation airport covers 50 acres and has one runway. The proximity to the ocean and on-field restaurant make the Shelter ...

in Shelter Cove is a small public airport with one runway, making it possible to fly in when weather permits. Communities immediately on the coast are also accessible by boat.

References

External links

GearJunkie – Video on Lost Coast trekReport with information about the popular 25 mile Lost Coast Trail
{{California Regions of California Geography of Humboldt County, California Geography of Mendocino County, California Beaches of Northern California Regions of the West Coast of the United States