Worth Getting Out of Bed For
Mendocino, the start of Northern California’s Lost Coast, is where the Pacific turns much wilder, with mists rolling poetically in over the bluffs and redwoods growing thickly up to near unfathomable heights – a place with few close neighbours. The Golden State may be a little less golden here, but there are treasures to be found deep in the woods, across the prairies and along the coastal trails; and the hotel sits at the heart of 2,200 acres of this unleashed terrain, with seven microclimates within its borders. It’s unlikely you’ll cover every inch of it during your stay, but the hotel will certainly help you try: there’s 20 miles of hiking trails along the rocky ridgeline and into the redwoods, which you can traverse on foot, by bicycle, quad bikes or on horseback, courtesy of the experts at Ricochet Ridge Ranch due south of the hotel. There are scenic viewpoints galore along the way. While you’re pausing, keep your eyes on the water – California gray whales migrate from Alaska to Baja along this route and they pass close enough here that they feed at the foot of the bluffs – the best time to catch them is on their return journey from February to April. If the weather’s right, the hotel can help with boat hire to give you a cautiously closer look. Or explore the great outdoors on a UTV tour run by Otis, a local historian and naturalist who’ll dive into the minutiae of this former logging mill and surrounds; say, pointing out great blue herons, California quail and hawks; rare nutmeg trees among the redwoods; or telling you about the hotel’s famous neighbour (apparently, John Gray of Men are From Mars, Women are from Venus fame). He’ll take you through the pastures to the top of the ridgeline, then the old-growth forest. If that’s not quite enough wilderness for you, then the Redwood National and State Parks offer 131,983 acres of conifer and redwood forest, lakes and streams and chaparral. Or, the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens are a little more manicured, but no less lovely to look at – especially so during the Festival of Lights in December. Or take to the water in a kayak or a canoe – the hotel can also help to arrange sea-cave tours.
Alternatively, settle into life on the ranch. The hotel’s spa walks on the wild side too, offering spells in sweat lodges, drum journeys with medicine songs, and vibrational therapy (alongside play-it-safe massages). Forest bathing will give you a sense of inner calm, open-air art and crochet classes will encourage your creative side, seasonal foraging sessions will intimate you with the land, while lasso lessons will awaken your inner cowboy or girl. And, you can play bocce ball or volleyball too. Further afield, ride the Skunk Train, a historic steamer that’s chugged its way through the woods to the Noyo Canyon. And search for colourful hard-to-hunt-down seaglass on Fort Bragg’s Glass Beach (if the tourists have picked it clean, never fear, the International Sea Glass Museum lies close by).
