Cabrillo Nature Preserve

 

The Lighthouse Inn at Point Cabrillo and the Point Cabrillo Light Station are bordered on three sides by a 270-acre Nature Preserve, with the majestic Pacific Ocean and headlands serving as the western-most boundary. The Preserve provides the Inn's guests and Light Station's visitors with many opportunities to view the diversity of coastal, headlands, and inter-tidal wildlife that abounds along the Light Station's shore front and across the five, uplifted, coastal terraces that form the Preserve.

 

The Nature Preserve (just four miles north of Mendocino) features 3.5-miles of bluff top and coastal headland trails that are home to more than 50 species of birds, ranging from unusual shore birds (Black Oyster Catchers) to exciting coastal raptors (Northern Harriers and Kites). While hiking the Preserve's trails, guests may also view pods of Gray Whales (during their seasonal migration) or an occasional pod of Humpback Whales or Orcas cruising just off the Preserve's headlands.

 

The Preserve is also host to multiple herd of coastal deer, many of whom dine on the Inn's lawns and gardens for their daily nourishment, and afford guests an up-close sightings of does, with new-born fawns (during season), and forked-horn and fully-antlered bucks that are very people-tolerant.

 

Another important feature of the Preserve is the 1850 Frolic shipwreck site located in Pottery Cove, approximately ¼ miles (on Preserve trails) from the Inn and Lighthouse. This cove has been designated as an underwater State Park, and the story and numerous artifacts of this historical Gold Rush Era shipwreck are available for viewing in the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse.

 

From the Inn, the Preserve trails can also be taken to the Kearns Brothers Farmhouse Visitor Center, where numerous Pomo Indian artifacts and Pine Grove (an early Mendocino community) stories and pictures are available to the public (daily during summer months, and weekends only during winter months).