Tag Archives: Salal Trail

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The Salal Trail is rather hard to find. The trailhead is in Gualala Point Regional Park. After you pass the pay station, turn into the parking area on the left and park in the right side. To your left you will see the beginning of the trail.

Beginning of Salal Trail by Jeanne Jackson (Medium)

You amble down a path between Highway One and the golf course. The trail then heads west. Rick and I, along with friends C'Anna and David Bergman-Hill and our new rescue golden retriever, Sunny, recently enjoyed the trail.

We found summer wildflowers in bloom. Here David has photographed C'Anna and me finding Wight's Paintbrush.

C'Anna Bergman-Hill and Jeanne Jackson find Wight's Paintbrush by David Bergman-Hill

Here's a close-up of this native wildflower, photo by Craig Tooley.

Wight's Paintbrush by Craig Tooley

We came to the waterfall and even in the drought there is a slight trickle. When the winter rains come, the waterfall is glorious. Here's are two photos I took a few years ago. It's really a magical place.

View of waterfall on Salal Trail by Jeanne Jackson (Medium) Waterfall on the Salal Trail by Jeanne Jackson (Medium)

Finally, at the end of the trail, you come to a small beach, which is where Rick and Sunny are. This photo was taken by C'Anna.

Rick and Sunny at the end of the Salal Trail by C'Anna Bergman-Hill

We feel very fortunate Salal Trail is a public access trail. There is no other quite like it!
Thanks to C'Anna, David, and Craig for allowing me to share their photos with you here. To see much more of Craig's nature photography, here is his website: www.ruffimage.com.

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The Salal Trail waterfall is very beautiful. When winter rains really get it going, it is something to behold. Paul Kozal photographed it a few weeks ago after the wonderful storms we had.

Salal Trail Waterfall by Paul Kozal

Of course Paul is a professional photographer and able to take a photo like this. I, on the other hand, am not a professional. But I did get two nice photos of the waterfall several years ago.

View of waterfall on Salal Trail by Jeanne Jackson (Medium) Waterfall on the Salal Trail by Jeanne Jackson (Medium)

The Salal Trail is a public access trail that begins at Gualala Point Regional Park. After the pay station, turn into the parking area on the left and look for this trailhead sign.

Beginning of Salal Trail by Jeanne Jackson (Medium)

It is a wonderful trail that eventually ends at a small beach.

Thanks to Paul for allowing me to share his photo with you here. To see much more of Paul's photography, here is his website: http://paulkozal.com/

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The Salal Trail is a public access trail that starts at Gualala Point Regional Park. Once you pass the pay station, park at the first parking area on the left. The trail head is to the left. The trail goes between Highway One and The Sea Ranch Golf Links. It then turns west, meandering through some lovely trees and bushes. The trail eventually brings you to a very special waterfall. Robert Scarola hiked the trail just after one of the big February rain storms. This is what he found.

It's a magical place to visit when the creek is full. The trail eventually ends at a small beach, a perfect end to a wonderful trail.

Thanks to Robert for allowing me to share his photo with you here.

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Roberta wrote, “I saw these interesting clouds off the Bluff Trail near Salal Beach [on The Sea Ranch]. I just found out from a fascinating TED talk by Gavin Pretor-Pinney that they’re Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds.”

Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds are also called billow clouds. Park Aide Roberta saw some from the Salal Trail on The Sea Ranch.

Roberta learned more about these clouds from a TED talk by Gavin Pretor-Pinney. Here's the link to that talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/gavin_pretor_pinney_cloudy_with_a_chance_of_joy.html

I sent this photo to Ken Holmes and he wrote, "It is produced as the speaker, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, explains by wind shear (or varying speed) that flows within and above these stable-type clouds."

Thanks to Roberta for allowing me to share her photo with you here. Cloud watching is a Coast tradition!

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The last time we had a white fawn on the Mendonoma Coast was 2009. A white fawn, with its normal colored twin, was born somewhere near the Salal Trail. They can often be seen near the 9th hole of the golf course. Roland Coombs got some wonderful shots of this special fawn.

 Here it is with its sibling.

 And below you will see the fawns racing across the golf course.

 And here you can see the white fawn is starting to color up. It is considered a towhead, not an albino.

Thanks to Rolly for allowing me to share his photos with you here.