Click through the gallery for a perfect day trip in an around Sea Ranch.
Approaching from the south on Highway 1, you’ll find the Stewarts Point Store on the right, just a few miles before you get to Sea Ranch. Twofish Baking Company, inside the store, is famous for its sticky buns. But you have to get there early — they often sell out by 10 a.m. If you’re looking for vacation reading material, there’s a rack of vintage pulp fiction by the door. And don’t miss the Bigfoot photo-op at a neighboring ranch by the parking lot. (Photo by Kent Porter)
Cinnamon rolls at Twofish Baking Company inside the Stewarts Point Store. (Courtesy photo)
Vintage pulp fiction at the Stewarts Point Store. (Photo by John Beck)
Up the road just 5.7 miles lies the sprawling 5,220-acre Sea Ranch, where vacation rentals abound and walking the bluffs is one of the all-time favorite pastimes. Public access to beaches is easily taken for granted today, but it was once the focus of fierce legal wrangling in the 1970s, when it was the crux of a hard-fought environmental battle that led to the formation of the California Coastal Commission. (Photo by Chris Hardy)
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Courtyard of Condominium One in Sea Ranch. (Photo by Chris Hardy)
Corner unit in Condominium One in Sea Ranch. (Photo by Chris Hardy)
A Sea Ranch living room. (Photo by Chris Hardy)
View from the Sea Ranch. (Photo by Chris Hardy)
Maintained by Sonoma County Regional Parks, beautiful, secluded beaches such as Walk On, Pebble, Shell, Stengel, and Black Point, and Gualala Point Regional Park to the north offer the same access to tide pools available to any Sea Ranch resident. (Photo by Chris Hardy)
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On the left at Sea Walk Drive, Sea Ranch Lodge’s Black Point Grill is undergoing a rebirth under new chef Rebecca Stewart, who spikes her fresh-seafood cioppino with red chile sauce, topped off with a Dungeness crab crostini. (Photo by Chris Hardy)
The Sea Ranch Lodge. (Photo by Chris Hardy)
For a quick breakfast or lunch break in Sea Ranch without all the trappings of the lodge, head to the Ranch Café. A mile up Highway 1, take a right on Annapolis Road (where a flock of sheep are often grazing on the corner). Up the hill on the right is the closest thing you’ll find to a strip mall in Sea Ranch. Next door to a yoga and massage center and real estate agency, Ranch Café owner Devon King (a recent Sonoma State University economics grad) bakes fresh breads daily and serves up heaping plates of biscuits and gravy.
Up the road, past Marghi Hagen’s turkey farm, turn right in an unmarked parking lot (across from the turn for Bosun’s Reach street) to check out one of the most photographed spectacles in the region: The Sea Ranch Chapel — part hobbit house, part meditation sanctuary. Built from local materials, the nondenominational chapel was designed by architect James Hubbell in 1985. The door is open from sunrise to sunset every day, and visitors can go inside for a quiet retreat, entombed in stained-glass wonder.
It’s hard to write about Sea Ranch without including its northerly neighbor, Gualala. Think of it as “Mendonoma,” as the locals call it – twin towns divided by the Gualala River. Heading north on Highway 1, after crossing the Gualala River, take your first right on Old State Highway and follow the signs about a mile down the road on your right to the Gualala Arts Center. A recent touring exhibit featured art made by prison inmates around the country — including an Alfred Hitchcock portrait partially painted in coffee, somehow fitting less than 50 miles from “The Birds” film set in Bodega Bay. (Courtesy photo)
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The first thing you’ll notice as you drive down the main drag in Gualala, pop. 2,093, is a beautiful void of corporate fast-food chains. That leaves more room for places like Trinks Café, a wonderful eatery with locally sourced veggies and organic meats. Try the smoked salmon BLT – yes, finally a sandwich that marries pig with fish – topped off with hibiscus tea. (Photo by John Beck)
Gualala Point Regional Park: The last Sonoma County Regional Park going north on Highway 1 before you get to Mendocino County features a sprawling set of coastal trails and a perfect spot for beachcombing and watching river otters near the mouth of the Gualala River. It’s also a chance to enter Sea Ranch from the north, along the 3-mile Bluff Top Trail leading to Walk On Beach. 42401 Highway 1. (Courtesy photo)
Fort Ross Historic State Park: About 20 miles before you get to Sea Ranch from the south on Highway 1, take a left at the entrance to this once bustling, former Russian-American Company settlement, circa 1812-1841. It’s a great break in the winding journey for a picnic and a rare chance to tour restorations of original Russian buildings and reconstructed replicas of windmills and churches, harkening back to the height of the Russian fur trade and exploration along the North Coast. $8 parking fee, 19005 Highway 1. (Photo by Christopher Chung)
Russian dancers demonstrate ethnic dancing during the Fort Ross State Park's Bicentennial celebration, Saturday July 28, 2012. (Photo by Kent Porter)
Phillips Gulch and Stengel Beach: The Sonoma Coast is characterized by steep bluffs fronting beaches or coves. Small ravines that traverse the coastal forest and grasslands transport water seasonally. The water spills directly over the cliffs, creating lovely beach waterfalls. Two of the best ones are Phillips Gulch at Salt Point State Park and Stengel Beach (pictured) at The Sea Ranch. (Photo by Chris Hardy)
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March 2019
The words Sea Ranch conjure up images of weathered wood, cabins and barns purposely designed to not call attention to themselves, blending like old farm buildings into the coastal meadows.
More than half century after the first of its structures went up, Sea Ranch stewards are still committed to maintaining the coastal enclave’s original design ethos of “living lightly on the land,” as defined by its celebrated designer, landscape architect Lawrence Halprin.
Halprin’s vision inspired a revolutionary new approach to environmentally sensitive land-use planning and architecture, but Sea Ranch was also the catalyst for pitched battles over public access to its 10 miles of ragged bluffs and beaches.
Local activists led a fight for public trails to the coast. While their efforts failed locally, they led to a 1972 ballot initiative that created the powerful California Coastal Commission and in 1976, the state Coastal Act to protect the entire shoreline and ensure the public can share in its beauty.
Click through the gallery for a perfect day in and around Sea Ranch.
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