Glass Beach, Fort Bragg
The second last stop on our road trip in June was this famous beach in Northern California.
According to Wikipedia, Glass Beach is part of the Mac Kerricher State Park, but apparently it is also part of the Noyo Headlands Park . Anyway, it is a great place to walk and explore the beauty of the Pacific coast.
Glass beach is site #3 of three city trash dump sites where all kinds of trash was dumped between 1906 and 1967. Site # 2 (1943-1949) and Glass beach are located at the end of the path that begins on the corner of Elm Street and Glass Beach Drive. Everything from cars to batteries to bottles, cans and appliances were pushed over the cliffs into the ocean — a common practice of seaside cities for centuries. Mother Nature responded to this abuse with a nice surprise in the form of smooth, colored sea glass treasure in lots of different colors.
Unfortunately the high number of visitors of the last years kept taking glass away, usually the rare colors like blue and red. You can still search for rare ruby reds (from pre-1967 auto tail lights) or sapphire gems from apothecary bottles. Snap a photo, but please leave the glass behind for others to discover!
Our girls were really tempted to take “at least one, Mama”, but we told them not to take anything and instead they started creating some sea glass art on the beach.
How to get to Glass Beach:
From Highway 1, turn west on Elm Street (Denny’s is on the corner) and drive a few blocks to Glass Beach Drive. Park at the intersection and walk down to the beach.
Check out Jo’s walk here:
And Monday Escapes here:
