The Mendocino National Forest straddles the eastern spur of the Coastal Mountain Range in northwestern California, just a three hour drive north of San Francisco and Sacramento. Some 65 miles long and 35 miles across, the Forest’s 913,306 federally owned acres of mountains and canyons offer a variety of recreational opportunities camping, hiking, backpacking, boating, fishing, hunting, nature study, photography and off-highway vehicle travel. The only one of California’s 18 national Forests not crossed by a paved road or highway, the Mendocino National Forest is especially attractive to people seeking an outdoor experience of tranquility and solitude. The Forest, however, is a working Forest as well as a recreation land and resource activities such as logging and mining do occur on both National Forest lands and private holdings within the Forest.
Elevations in the Forest range from 750 feet in the Grindstone Creek Canyon in the Sacramento Valley foothills on the Forest’s eastern edge to the 8092 feet of South Yolla Bolly Mountain in the northern part of the Forest. The average elevation is about 4000 feet.
History & Culture
Thousands of years before pioneer explorers from the eastern United States entered the area, five Native American peoples lived off its bounty - the Yuki, Nomlaki Wintu, Patwin Wintu, Eastern Pomo and Northeastern Pomo. Archaeological artifacts and records from more than 1,800 sites have told us a number of things about the distant past of these peoples, but we have much more to learn. Between 1850 and 1900, many small sawmills operated within what are now the Forest Boundaries. Mining also played a role in the history of the area. Copper City and Pacific City, now just place names on the map, were mining communities before the turn of the century. Most mining activity was limited to exploration for copper in the late 1800’s, completely disappearing before 1900. During World War II, responding to the needs of the war industry, miners re-entered the Forest to do exploratory digging for manganese and chrome.
The minerals that attracted most people, however, were the ones dissolved in waters of the Forest’s gurgling, steaming hot springs. During the early 1900’s, visitors would travel many miles to soak up the supposed health benefits of baths in several resorts and spas. You can see remains of three resort hotels, mineral baths and a bottling plant for mineral water at Bartlett Flats. Fouts Springs, Hough Springs and Allen Springs also boasted popular resort facilities, although little evidence of their buildings remains.
First set aside as a “forest reserve” by President Roosevelt in 1907, it was originally named the Stony Creek Reserve, followed by the Stony Creek National Forest and later the California National Forest. This designation proved to be confusing with relation to the state itself and President Herbert Hoover renamed it the Mendocino National Forest on July 12, 1932. Mendocino takes its name from Mendocino County which was named for Cape Mendocino in Humboldt County. In 1542 explorer Roderiques de Cabrillo named the cape in honor of Don Antonio de Mendoza, first viceroy of New Spain.
Traveler Facts
Contact Information
Mendocino National Forest
825 N. Humboldt Ave.
Willows, CA 95988
Phone: 530-934-3316
