Things To Do

Located west of Highway 1 in the heart of Elk, Greenwood State Beach is prized for picnicking, beachcombing, nature viewing, and gentle walks.

The beach has an amazing history as the site of early Greenwood/Elk’s largest sawmill, which you can learn about at the Visitor Center/Museum just north of the parking lot. There you can get a glimpse of what life was like in this lumber town during the late 1800s and much more.

Greenwood State Beach provides short walks along a grassy bluff accented by a few cypress trees, or down a gentle trail to a driftwood-strewn sandy beach in a protected cove at the mouth of Greenwood Creek. The half-mile trail descends from a roadside parking lot and forks. The right fork leads to a picnic area with an expansive view. The left (main trail) continues downhill to another picnic and view site, then reaches the pebbly shores of the sheltered beach. Just offshore lay several sea stacks – giant arches and jutting rock formations. The one to the left is Gunderson Rock. To the right is Wharf Rock, with the flat top where a ship-loading wharf was once anchored, and Casket Rock.

Features: Family-friendly. Dogs on leashes permitted. Fishing access. Tide pools. Pit toilets. Picnic tables. No overnight camping.

Navarro Beach, part of the Navarro River Redwoods State Park, is located at the end of an eleven-mile-long “redwood tunnel to the sea” where Highway 128 meets Highway 1.  It offers easy access to picnicking, primitive camping, beachcombing, and hiking on a short but dramatic trail climbing along an abandoned section of the coast highway.

Navarro Beach was once the scene of much haggling between State Parks and a homeless camp.  An era of free, unlimited camping ended in 1994 when characters such as Diver Dave, Spider, and Mayor of the Beach, Robert Jarrell, were evicted from their old trailers, buses and tents, along with an Indian who lived out on the point in a tepee.

A ¾-mile entry road is located on the south side of the Navarro River Bridge.  The road leads past the few buildings that remain from a nineteenth century logging town called Navarro, which thrived there from the 1860’s to the early 1900s, to a gravel parking lot.  The beach is a broad, flat sandy beach at the mouth of the Navarro River, which spreads out into a broad lagoon before spilling into the Pacific Ocean.  High bluffs surround it.  Offshore are several sea stacks, including the Arch of Navarro.  Harbor seals can often be seen in the mouth of the river feasting on spawning salmon and steelhead.

Features:  Ten primitive campsites, available on a first-come, first-serve basis.  Free day use.  Pit toilets.  No running water.  Family-friendly.  Dogs on leashes permitted.  Fishing and surfing access.

For more information on these and other area beaches, visit California State Parks or call (707) 937-5804.