Home > Blogs > Point Cabrillo Light Station

If you’ve been reading our blogs for any length of time, you will probably have seen the name of the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse or Light Station pop up now and again. Why? Simply because we love it! In clear weather or under drizzly skies; as a stand-alone stroll in the middle of a busy day or as a small part of an overall itinerary of meandering exploration, it never fails to bring at least a little bit of a smile to our faces with its combination of cheery historical buildings and stunning views of the cliff-lined Mendocino coast. So the other day, when we saw the magnificent way the waves were crashing along the coastline and we realized we had a bit of a break in our day to steal away from the paperwork on our desks, we grabbed our sneakers and made a beeline for good ol’ Point Cabrillo.

We pulled into the parking lot just inside the gate to the Point Cabrillo Light Station State Historic Park and breathed in deep as we stepped out of the car. The huge cypress trees flanking the restored farmhouse-turned-visitor-center (currently closed, due to COVID) cast cool shade over the vehicles sprinkled around the small lot, and we could smell the salty air of the ocean wafting up on the fresh sea breeze. We contemplated the two paths down to the light house for a moment before choosing the paved road on the south end of the parking lot over the narrow dirt path on the north end, because today had a more leisurely kind of feel to it.

We savored the easy half-mile stroll down the gentle slope of pavement, our eyes drinking in the views laid out before us. There were broad sweeps of coastal prairie on either side of our path, the browning grasses tossing their heads in the wind, with native bushes and cypress trees here and there providing shelter for the talkative songbirds intent on providing the soundtrack of the hour. The ocean stretched out to the horizon in a turbid sheet of steely gray and blue, its surface clouded somewhat by all the mist its heavy waves were exhaling out along the rocks. The bright red roofs of the Light Station’s different buildings came peeking into view between the weathered boughs of the venerable cypress grove below, cheery splashes of color in a palette of muted browns and winter-darkened greens.

The great outdoors was enough for us today though. We paused to admire the picturesque lighthouse, which is pretty small compared to the Point Arena Lighthouse about 45 minutes south of Mendocino. We measured the cadence of the rotund sweep of the stunning Fresnel Lens up top, which was crafted by the Chance Brothers in England over a century ago and continues to shine forth to this day as an active duty Aid to Navigation. The ever-rolling thunder of the waves tugged at our attention, and we had to wander on past the lighthouse to the edge of the cliffs – there below us was a veritable boiling caldron of waves and foam magnificently dashing itself against the immovable shoulders and elbows of stone that lined the base of the cliffs. Rocky ledges just below the surface kicked up huge sprays farther out, and twisting lines of rollers waged ponderous battle with all that lay in their path. Point Cabrillo is often a great spot to catch sight of the yearly migration of the grey whales just off the coast, but that day all we could watch was the drama of the sea at our feet. It was magnificent.

Take your own stroll on out to the Point Cabrillo Light Station any day of the year, from 11:00am-4:00pm. Roughly 4.5 miles from the inn, it will take you about 10 minutes to get there, including a stop at the only stoplight in town and taking your time to stretch as you step out of the car in the parking lot. In other words, it’s really pretty close, so you have no good excuse not to go!

If you have mobility issues and have a handicapped placard, you can park near the bottom of the hill either in front or behind the 1st Assistant Lightkeeper’s House (now the museum). And as another very important note, you should know that there is a public restroom available in a charming restored storage building behind that little museum… very handy fact to know in certain situations!

Historical tidbit of the day: Follow the dirt trail past the lighthouse to the north, and you come around to Frolic Cove, where the clipper brig Frolic foundered and wrecked in July of 1850, ultimately bringing the wave of loggers that founded modern day Mendocino.

~ Words & pictures by Laura Hockett