Mattole Rd - The Lost Coast

Mattole Road is not for everyone.

It is long at 66 miles, remote, and notoriously bumpy goat. For some, it’s a "one-and-done" ordeal; for others, it’s a "you gotta see this!" bucket-list pilgrimage.

There is a staggering amount of history carved into this 66-mile remote back road ranging from the 1880s Victorian village of Ferndale, California’s first oil discovery in 1865 after the Civil War ended to the echoes of the catastrophic 1,000-year flood of 1964.

Along the way, you’ll pass a Cold War-era military base at Centerville (NAVFAC Centerville Beach) used to track Soviet submarines during the Cold War recently converted to a quiet, grassy overlook, the towering giants of Humboldt Redwoods State Park, and the lonely remains of the Punta Gorda Lighthouse, reached only via a low tide beach hike.

Most curiously, the road skirts the Church of Scientology’s most guarded archives inside a massive, nuclear-blast-proof underground vault near Petrolia.

To the south of Mattole Rd is the Sinkyone Wilderness State Park, a remote California State Park 99.9% of Californians have never heard of. Unless of course you’re familiar with Usal Rd, a primitive dirt logging trail that clips the edge of this remote wilderness park and flows north-south high above the ocean in some stretches connecting The Leggett Section of Highway 1 eventually reaching Shelter Cove Rd. (honorable mention for Wilder Ridge Rd to connect with Shelter Cove Rd to the south of Honeydew.)

All the pictures you'll see of Mattole Rd (including the one here) are along the ocean, yet, the stretch along the ocean is only 7-miles, of a 66-mile loop. That's 10%. What about the other 90%?

One and done? Or a destination worth doing?

That one's on you. Or maybe just on how much suspension travel you have.

https://www.pashnit.com/ca-mattole-rd-the-lost-coast