Spectacular Sunset At Wright's Beach

I had the pleasure of enjoying one of the most spectacular sunsets while I was on my Highway 1 road trip at Wright’s Beach!

After a day of mostly gray foggy skies along the whole coast from Fort Bragg to Bodega Bay, the marine layer finally lifted at the perfect time to a beautiful blue sky and a magical sunset of bright orange hues. There were a few streaks of clouds hanging low over the ocean which that led to some wonderful captures as the sun dropped through them and sunk in a lovely red haze into the horizon!

For more photos, check out my Instagram post!

Wright's Beach Campground

My Highway 1 journey continued with me driving back south through Fort Bragg, down the Mendocino Coast, all the way back to Bodega Bay. I’m not a fan of driving near cliffs, but I’m working through my fears and handled the drive wonderfully. It helps that I got to drive slow through all the switchbacks as that reduces my anxiety, plus I always use the turnouts when a vehicle ends up behind me.

There’s an awesome small campground called Wright’s Beach where you basically camp right up on the beach. There’s about 9 sites that actually have beach front access but I was in the next row, claiming the last site that was available by chance when I booked it two days prior.

Even though my site wasn’t beach front, it was still lovely with trees all around, giving me some privacy from neighboring sites. It almost felt like a cool tree cave and made for some nice ambiance while Maverick & I hung out on my bed with the rear doors open.

When I arrived in the late afternoon, it was very gray with a low marine layer, but I still enjoyed my time on the beach watching the waves crash. Some kids were flying kites since the winds were perfect for it; one was a gorgeous butterfly that flew bright and high. Then around 7pm, the fog lifted to beautiful blue skies and it was absolutely stunning! I watched an incredible sunset (posting that next), and enjoyed a lovely fire while eating dinner.

The Perseid Meteor Shower was still going on, so I climbed up my van and laid on my roof rack to enjoy the show. I had a wonderful view of lights blazing through the night sky with so many stars and constellations to gaze at.

I woke up to a gorgeous sunny day, the first non-foggy one of my trip, and spent some more time on the beach enjoying the waves and blue sky before I had to leave. This is definitely a spot I want to camp at again!

For more photos from the campground and beach, check out my Instagram post!

Highway 1 North Of San Francisco

I never drove the stretch of Highway 1 north of San Francisco to Fort Bragg myself, so I decided to get away from the heatwave and enjoy the coast for a few days.

It was a bit foggy once I got to the coast, but since I dislike being too hot, the change to cooler weather was much appreciated. I stopped at a small turnout after driving through Bodega Bay to eat lunch and enjoy the ocean view.

It’s a nice feeling to take photos of my beautiful van in picturesque settings. I especially love all the Cypress trees along the coast. These trees have always struck me as beautiful since they grow in harsh conditions on cliffs and fog, plus I love how they form their canopy structure with the wind.

Did you know that there are 11 species of cypress that occur in California? Sadly 7 of these have been assigned a California Rare Plant Rank of 1B (rare, threatened, or endangered). These include Santa Cruz, Tecate, Gowen, Monterey, Piute, Pygmy, and Cuyamaca cypress varietals. One of the main reasons for this is climate change and human-induced changes to the natural fire regime. If the interval between fires is too short, trees are unable to reach reproductive age before the next fire, often causing cypress to be replaced by adjacent vegetation types. Thanks to California Native Plant Society for this info.

For more photos, check out my Instagram post!