Nicole and I have been doing a lot of exploring, since I’m down in the San Diego vicinity for the summer and it’s not an area we’d normally have a lot of time to see. On the plus side, we’ve been able to visit a ton of cool places that I’m sure we’ll be posting about soon. On the other hand, I’m exhausted. This recuperation time gotten me thinking about the last year, and some of the great places I visited for the first time. One of the places that come to mind is Glass Beach in Fort Bragg, CA.
Early in the 20th century, probably even though they knew better, the residents of Fort Bragg decided hey, let’s get rid of our trash by tossing it into the ocean! Yea! Obviously, this was dumb. By 1967, the area had been closed, and there were various cleanups efforts afterwards to try to fix their mistakes.
There is definitely a bright side to this. Decades and decades of glass being pounded by waves has created a beautiful mosaic of small, smooth, colored glass pebbles. It is nuts, and it is awesome.
I was on a road trip last December with two good friends of mine and we were interested in checking out some breweries in Northern California. Naturally, we decided to visit North Coast located in… dun, dun, dun, Fort Bragg! That night was spent visiting the brewery, and having some fun with the locals at the nearby dive. Good times were had, and we felt its effects in the morning. I had already heard of Glass Beach, and decided this might be a nice way to ease into the next day.
We had breakfast at America’s favorite breakfast spot, Denny’s (just kidding), where we were able to ask the kind waitress where we might find this “Glass Beach.” She said it was just down the road, we’d have to park along the street, walk a bit to the beach, and then walk south along the treacherous cliffs to find the part that hadn’t been ransacked when it was first opened to the public. We had street shoes on, so we were totally equipped. We paid, thanked her, and made our way down the road to the entrance to the beach.
They had no idea what to expect, and I only had a slight inclination. We made good time to the beach, and noticed small glass pebbles interspersed here and there. Kind of cool, but not really. Oh well. However, the waitress has said to walk south a bit along the coast. So we climbed up and down the path and suddenly came upon the beach and were greatly rewarded. Holy cow, it was amazing! The beach was completely covered in the glass, and the tide kept running water over then, making their colors more vibrant, and the pebbles shimmering. We explored and took pictures, feeling really good about this unexpected turn.
The rest of our trip was one for the ages, and Glass Beach definitely added to it. I can’t wait to go back again and explore.
-J
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| Dive bar from the night before |
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| Denny's: Breakfast of Champions |
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| The coast at MacKerricher State Park |
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| Glass Beach! Glass everywhere! |
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| This is a classic Jose picture made awesome by the glass |
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| Nice close up of the makeup of the beach |
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| There was so much of it |
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| Another closeup of it |
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| Super stoked to have visited Glass Beach |
Information:
Fort Bragg's Glass Beach site http://www.fortbragg.com/explore/glass-beach/
Directions: From Hw 1, turn west on Elm Street (Denny’s is on the corner) and drive a few blocks to Glass Beach Drive (may appear as Old Haul Drive in older maps). Park at this intersection and walk down to the beach. Once there, head south for a few minutes until you see it.
No Fee.
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/Ql8n
