Navarro River Redwoods State Park facts for kids
Navarro River Redwoods State Park is a beautiful state park in Mendocino County, California. It covers about 660 acres of amazing redwood forest. This park stretches for about 11 miles along both sides of the Navarro River. It goes all the way from the town of Navarro to where the river meets the Pacific Ocean. The redwoods here are "second-growth" trees. This means they grew after the original, older trees were harvested a long time ago.
Fun Things to Do at the Park
You can easily reach Navarro River Redwoods State Park by driving on California State Route 128. This road winds right through the park, following the north side of the river. There are many places to pull over and enjoy the scenery.
Day Trips and Outdoor Activities
The park is perfect for a day out! You can have a picnic with your family or friends. Short walks through the peaceful redwood forest are also very popular. If you love water, you can go fishing, swimming, kayaking, or canoeing in the Navarro River.
Camping Adventures
The park has two special places where you can camp overnight.
- Navarro Beach Campground: This campground is right on the beach, near where the river meets the ocean. It has ten campsites. Each site has picnic tables and fire grills for cooking. There are also pit toilets. Just remember, there isn't much shade here, and you'll need to bring your own drinking water.
- Paul M. Dimmick Campground: This one is further inland, nestled among the second-growth redwood trees near the river. It has 25 campsites, each with picnic tables and fire grills. You'll find pit toilets and drinking water here. Sometimes, during winter, this campground might get flooded, so check ahead!
Animals and Plants of the Park
Navarro River Redwoods State Park is home to many different kinds of animals and plants.
River and Ocean Life
The Navarro River is full of life! You might spot coho salmon and steelhead trout swimming in the water. River otters also live here. Look up to see great blue herons, kingfishers, loons, and osprey nesting along the riverbanks. If you visit the beach where the river meets the Pacific Ocean, keep an eye out for gray whales and harbor seals in the water.
Forest Animals and Trees
In the redwood forest, you might see raccoons looking for food or black-tailed deer quietly walking through the trees. The redwood trees in the park are mostly "second-growth." This means they grew after the original, very old trees were cut down in the 1800s. However, if you want to see truly ancient redwood trees, you can visit Hendy Woods State Park. It's just a few miles away, upriver on Route 128, and has two groves of these magnificent old-growth redwoods.
Park History and Old Buildings
The land near Navarro beach has some really old buildings with interesting stories.
The Story of Captain Fletcher's Inn
Back in 1851, a Scottish sailor named Charles Fletcher was the first European to settle near the Navarro River mouth. In 1860, he sold most of his land to Henry Tichenor and Robert G. Byxbee. They built a large lumber mill there in 1861. Captain Fletcher then built his inn in 1865. It was a place for sailors to stay while they waited for their ships to be loaded with lumber.
Over time, a town grew around the mill, with about 1,000 people living there. It was called Navarro. Logs were brought to the river mouth by train, then floated across to the mill. The mill closed in 1893. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and several fires, the town almost disappeared by 1921. In 1922, the road that is now Highway 128 was built, using parts of the old train path.
Captain Fletcher's Inn stayed open until the 1970s. Today, the Navarro Mill Company House and the Mill Superintendent's House are still standing. The Superintendent's House is now home to the Navarro-by-the-Sea Center, a group that helps take care of these historic buildings.
The town at the mouth of the Navarro River wasn't the only place called Navarro. After the mill at the beach burned down in 1902, a new mill was built further inland. A town called Wendling grew around this new mill in 1905. In 1914, the Navarro Lumber Company bought the Wendling Mill. At that point, the town of Wendling also became known as Navarro Mill, and later just Navarro. To avoid confusion, the town at the beach became known as Old Navarro, Navarro Ridge, or Navarro-by-the-Sea.
Protecting Public Access to the Beach
In 1970, the beach and Fletcher's Inn (then called the Navarro-by-the-Sea Hotel) were part of an important court case. Since about 1949, the hotel owners had charged a small fee to use the dirt road to the beach, but people didn't always pay it. In 1959, the King family bought the land, including the beach and the road, and tried to block public access. A group of people, the Dietzes, sued in 1966.
The California Supreme Court looked at how people had freely used the beach for a hundred years. The only time it was blocked was during World War II, when the United States Coast Guard used it. The court decided that the access road was a public right-of-way. This meant everyone had the right to use it!
Becoming a State Park
Part of what is now Navarro River Redwoods State Park was first established in 1928 as Paul M. Dimmick State Park. It was named after a man who used to be in charge at a lumber company. In 1987, the Save the Redwoods League helped the California state park system buy the surrounding land to create Navarro River Redwoods State Park. The parks department also bought Fletcher's Inn in 1996. In 1998, a group called the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed the inn as a special project to "Save America's Treasures."
