The largest city in the region is Willits, which nestles in bucolic Little Lake Valley in the mountains of California’s Coast Range. Travelers literally cannot miss Willits; US 101, the County’s main inland artery, runs right through town. It stops being a highway long enough to become Main Street(encountering the first traffic light north of the Golden Gate Bridge) and gives the traveler a close look at this quaint western town.

 

The city is a true crossroads. California 20 branches off from 101 here for the run west to the coast, and it branches off just south of the charming commercial district. The great majority of Willits’ small-town charm lies about a quarter of a mile north of the Hwy 20 turnoff. Some advice; bypass the coast cutoff, stay on Main, and enjoy strolling the downtown and exploring two wonderful museums a bit farther north in town. The excellent Mendocino County Museum, a storehouse of memories, dreams and hard-won lessons of survival amidst the rugged beauty of California’s North Coast. Follow the intriguing story of Mendocino County from the shipwreck Frolic to a 1970s “hippie van.” Learn about the equine hero Seabiscuit and enjoy the museums collections of Pomo basketry, logging, wine making, commercial fishing and ranching artifacts. The Museum has recently added 10,000 square feet to include space for Roots of Motive Power, featuring railroad and logging exhibits.

 

Willits also boasts the Shakespeare Theater and the Willits Live Theater, both reknowned for their great entertainment! A local Art Gallery, an Irish Pub, several great bookstores and a true general merchantile store right on Main Street! 

 

Beyond Willits 

 

A town of fewer than 1500 souls in the northern reaches of the County, Laytonville is easy to overlook on a map. But this pretty little farming town hosts three renowned annual events each year, the Kate Wolfe Memorial Music Festival, the Earthdance Global Dance Festival for Peace and the Laytonville Rodeo.

 

Head north on picturesque Hwy 101 and you will come to the junction of 101 and Coast Highway and find the tiny hamlet of Leggett, known worldwide as the home of the Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree, where you can marvel at some of nature’s oldest creations, dawn to dusk year round. You can also picnic by the pond or hike the Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree park’s 250 acres of wilderness and admire some of the tallest trees on Earth.

 

North along Hwy 101, Standish-Hickey State Recreation Area permits camping, picnicking, and hiking. Visitors can also fish and swim in the South Fork of the Eel River, which flows through the park for almost two miles. The Grove Trail leads to one of the region’s few remaining virgin redwood stands. A few miles north of Standish-Hickey, the Smithe Redwoods State Reserve showcases Redwoods in the Frank and Bess Smithe Grove. Here, too, fishing and swimming are permitted in the South Fork of the Eel. The Reserve also boasts a 60-foot waterfall and an idyllic picnic area.

 

The northernmost community in Mendocino County, tiny Piercy, is famous as the site of Confusion Hill, an honest-to-goodness roadside attraction that welcomes visitors with a sign reading, “If You Came Here To Have Fun, you will! If not, you won’t!” Attractions at Confusion Hill include a half-hour mountain train ride through the woods; a “Gravity House” in which optical illusions run rampant and impossible things appear possible (balls rolling and water running uphill, for instance); a redwood shoe-house that once served as a parade float but has lived here since 1949; and a totem pole that is “the largest freestanding Redwood Chainsaw Carving in the world!”  All in all, this is a perfect stop for visitors with kids and those that are kids at heart!

 

Dos Rios and Covelo lie along California Highway 162 as it heads farther up into the mountains in the northeast corner of the County. Dos Rios, high on a ridge overlooking Round Valley, is where the Eel River splits, its Middle Fork heading east and the main Eel continuing south. This is home to the Vin de Tevis winery, which offers tastings by appointment.

From Dos Rios, you descend into the mountain-rimmed bowl of Round Valley and the small town of Covelo, which lies almost entirely within the boundaries of the Round Valley Indian Reservation )California’s largest-and where the indigenous Pomo were moved when the Mendocino Reservation, overseen by Fort Bragg on the coast, was relocated to make way for logging).

 

While Covelo’s population numbers fewer than 1,200, a disproportionate number of residents are artists. Talented locals specialize in media as varied as Japanese textiles, ceramics, photography, painting, sculpture, and Native American beading and basketmaking.

Lying along the northeastern edge of the County, spectular Mendocino National Forest stretches 65 miles long and 35 miles across, comprising almost a million acres of California’s Coast Range and spreading into a total of five counties.

 

It is a vast expanse of wooded mountains, canyons, rivers, mountain lakes, and wilderness areas offering a huge range of recreational opportunities, from camping, hiking and back-packing to fishing and hunting.  Miles of hiking trails wind through terrain which ranges in elevation from about 3,000 to more than 8,000 feet.