Beyond The Golden Gate: California's North Coast

North of the Golden Gate Bridge the legendary coastal route, Highway 1, takes a left turn from growing population corridors to enter the unique world of California's North Coast. A landscape of dramatic headlands and rocky, jagged shorelines carved by surf and rivers, the coast is home to rolling woodlands, bucolic wine country, sleeping fishing villages, and artistic communities strong on preserving a slower pace in life.

The North Coast's wet climate nurtures a great arboreal forest-notably the coast redwood, Sequoia sempervirens-that has served the timber industry for the last century, and is now the forefront of environmental concern in the region. The five coastal counties north of San Francisco-Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, and Del Norte-beckon both visitors and residents with spectacular scenery, backroad adventure, and the enveloping mystery of primeval forest.