Attractions and Places To See in Sinkyone Wilderness State Park - Top 11

The Sinkyone Wilderness State Park Visitor Center serves as a gateway to the park's rugged landscapes and rich cultural history. Located in a remote area, the center offers information on park history, trail maps, wildlife, and the Indigenous people who have lived in this area for millennia. There are exhibits on the local ecosystem, conservation efforts, and Sinkyone heritage. Basic amenities like restrooms are available.

The Roosevelt elk (Cervus canadensis roosevelti), is the largest of the four surviving subspecies of elk in North America. They ranged from San Francisco to British Columbia. In 1848, populations began declining due to market hunting with the gold rush and settlement. Legislation passed in 1872 to restrict hunting and selling. Beginning around the 1880s, many elk were killed for their tusks (upper canine teeth). The situation got so bad that hunting became illegal in 1899. Numbers recovered somewhat and limited permit hunting of some elk species resumed in the 1960s. In 1982, 17 Roosevelt elk were translocated from Gold Bluffs Beach, Humboldt County, to King Range and separated into herds along the coast as far South as Fort Bragg. About 60 elk, cows and calves in several groups, and single males, roam from Shelter Cove south to Sinkyone Wilderness State Park. http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/prog/wildlife/watchable/areas/shelter.print.html The elk or wapiti (Cervus canadensis) is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, in the world, and one of the largest land mammals in North America and eastern Asia. This animal should not be confused with the larger moose (Alces alces), to which the name "elk" applies in the British Isles and Eurasia. Early European explorers in North America, who were familiar with the smaller red deer of Europe, thought that the larger North American animal resembled a moose, and consequently gave it the name elk, which is the common European name for moose. The word elk is related to Scandinavian elg/älg and German Elch, all of which refer to the animal known in North America as the moose. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elk Roosevelt elk grow to 3m in length and stand 1.5 m tall at the shoulder.Elk bulls generally weigh between 300–500 kg, while cows weigh 260–285 kg. Some mature bulls from Raspberry Island in Alaska have weighed nearly 1300 lb (600 kg).

Sinkyone Wilderness State Park lies on the southern portion of the Lost Coast, a 60-mile stretch of wilderness comprising the park and the King Range National Conservation Area. The visitor center is a wooden building with a small museum and ranger information near Needle Rock Beach where the Lost Coast Trail merges with Bear Harbor Road (often not drivable, call for conditions). For thousands of years before the first Europeans arrived, the Sinkyone Indians lived on this part of the coast in permanent villages beside streams and rivers, and moved out in family groups to hunt and forage in the hills during the summer. They fished, gathered seaweed and shellfish, hunted seals and sea lions, and harvested the occasional dead whale washed on shore. All kinds of fish were caught, but the seasonal salmon run was especially important. Today, the Lost Coast Trail follows the whole length of the rugged Sinkyone coastline. Gray whales pass by during the winter and early spring. Roosevelt elk roam the grasslands. Sea lions and harbor seals hang out in rocky coves. https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=429

This is the southermost of five sections hiking the entire Lost Coast Trail from North (Mattole Beach) to South (Usal): 1: https://www.komoot.de/tour/8418519 Mattole to Randall Creek 2: https://www.komoot.de/tour/8420255 Randall Creek to Horse Mtn Creek 3: https://www.komoot.de/tour/8420259 Horse Mtn Creek-Shelter Cove-Jones Beach (Sinkyone Wilderness State Park) 4: https://www.komoot.de/tour/8442837 Sinkyone Wilderness SP -Anderson Gulch 5: https://www.komoot.de/tour/8442963 Anderson Gulch to Usal (Southern End) 6: https://www.komoot.de/tour/8420215 Car shuttle back to Mattole The Lost Coast is a mostly natural and development-free area of the California North Coast in Humboldt and Mendocino Counties, which includes the King Range. It was named the "Lost Coast" after the area experienced depopulation in the 1930s. In addition, the steepness and related geo-technical challenges of the coastal mountains made this stretch of coastline too costly for state highway or county road builders to establish routes through the area, leaving it the most undeveloped and remote portion of the California coast. Note: most of the trail in this and the 3rd section going off from Shelter Cove Road all the way down south to Usal trailhead is not yet on Open Street Map (which is the base for Komoot) as of the date we hiked here in April 2016. So download this tour to your komoot app or the gpx file to your preferred GPS/app. Sinkyone Wilderness State Park lies on the southern portion of the Lost Coast, a 60-mile stretch of wilderness comprising the park and the King Range National Conservation Area. http://parks.ca.gov/?page_id=429

This is the 4th of five sections hiking the entire Lost Coast Trail from North (Mattole Beach) to South (Usal). The Lost Coast is a mostly natural and development-free area of the California North Coast in Humboldt and Mendocino Counties, which includes the King Range. It was named the "Lost Coast" after the area experienced depopulation in the 1930s. In addition, the steepness and related geo-technical challenges of the coastal mountains made this stretch of coastline too costly for state highway or county road builders to establish routes through the area, leaving it the most undeveloped and remote portion of the California coast. Without any major highways, communities in the Lost Coast region such as Petrolia, Shelter Cove, and Whitethorn are isolated from the rest of California. State Route 1, California's Pacific Coast Highway, was originally planned to continue up the coast through the region. In 1984, admitting that such construction was not feasible, Caltrans re-routed the northern segment of Highway 1 from Rockport to Leggett and renumbered the portion that was built from Ferndale to Fernbridge as State Route 211. Without any major highways or county thoroughfares in the area, the secluded communities within the Lost Coast are only accessible by land via small mountain roads. Mattole Road runs south from Ferndale to Petrolia, while Shelter Cove and Briceland Thorn Roads form the main route connecting Shelter Cove with US 101 to the east. Note: most of the trail in this and the 3rd section going off from Shelter Cove Road all the way down south to Usal trailhead is not yet on Open Street Map (which is the base for Komoot) as of the date we hiked here in April 2016. So make sure to download this tour to your komoot app or the gpx file to your preferred GPS/app. Sinkyone Wilderness State Park lies on the southern portion of the Lost Coast, a 60-mile stretch of wilderness comprising the park and the King Range National Conservation Area.For thousands of years before the first Europeans arrived, the Sinkyone Indians lived on this part of the coast. They occupied permanent villages beside streams and rivers, and moved out in family groups to hunt and forage in the hills during the summer. They fished, gathered seaweed and shellfish, hunted seals and sea lions, and harvested the occasional dead whale washed on shore. All kinds of fish were caught, but the seasonal salmon run was especially important.Today, the Lost Coast Trail follows the whole length of the rugged Sinkyone coastline. Gray whales pass by during the winter and early spring. Roosevelt elk roam the grasslands. Sea lions and harbor seals hang out in rocky coves. It’s an arresting landscape, with canyons, arches, tide pools, sea stacks, seasonal wildflowers, waterfalls, and dark sand beaches. On a sunny day, the sea looks turquoise, giving the park tropical feeling.Some aspects of the Sinkyone keep crowds away. Its trails are steep and its campgrounds are primitive. There’s no potable water, and you have to haul out your own trash. When wet, the park’s twisting dirt roads are impassable for passenger cars. More than a few visitors have had to stay an extra day or two because a mudslide or fallen tree closed their route home. “The Sinkyone lets you go when it wants to let you go,” a park ranger says. In other words, it’s a real wilderness. parks.ca.gov/?page_id=429

This section combines the beach-level northern Lost Coast Trail (most people only do the northern part) with the beautiful Wilderness of the southern Lost Coast Trail. So it combines the Kings Range National Conservation Area with the Sinkyone Wilderness State Park. Note that the trailhead and most of the trail in this and the next two sections going off from Shelter Cove Road all the way down south to Usal trailhead is not even yet on Open Street Map (which is the base for Komoot) as of the date we hiked here in April 2016. So make sure to download this tour to your komoot app or the gpx file to your preferred GPS/app. Sinkyone Wilderness State Park lies on the southern portion of the Lost Coast, a 60-mile stretch of wilderness comprising the park and the King Range National Conservation Area. For thousands of years before the first Europeans arrived, the Sinkyone Indians lived on this part of the coast. They occupied permanent villages beside streams and rivers, and moved out in family groups to hunt and forage in the hills during the summer. They fished, gathered seaweed and shellfish, hunted seals and sea lions, and harvested the occasional dead whale washed on shore. All kinds of fish were caught, but the seasonal salmon run was especially important. Today, the Lost Coast Trail follows the whole length of the rugged Sinkyone coastline. Gray whales pass by during the winter and early spring. Roosevelt elk roam the grasslands. Sea lions and harbor seals hang out in rocky coves. It’s an arresting landscape, with canyons, arches, tide pools, sea stacks, seasonal wildflowers, waterfalls, and dark sand beaches. On a sunny day, the sea looks turquoise, giving the park tropical feeling. Some aspects of the Sinkyone keep crowds away. Its trails are steep and its campgrounds are primitive. There’s no potable water, and you have to haul out your own trash. When wet, the park’s twisting dirt roads are impassable for passenger cars. More than a few visitors have had to stay an extra day or two because a mudslide or fallen tree closed their route home. “The Sinkyone lets you go when it wants to let you go,” a park ranger says. In other words, it’s a real wilderness. http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=429