MendocinoFun.com

Picnics can be group affairs or romantic getaways. At Big River Beach in Mendocino, on the east side of Highway 1, you can have both. You can plop down on the warm sandy beach with a blanket for two or have a group picnic with a fire. Part of the experience is wondering at the River’s edge or walking under the Highway 1 bridge and dipping your toes into the chilly water (52-54 degrees) where the river meets the sea. With binoculars you can view nesting birds in the pines and redwoods on the opposite shore or watch as canoers and kayakers make their way up the river. This day, I came up on a different kind of entertainment: a group of art students from the Mendocino Art Center painting painting the landscape with pastels.

“I was teaching a class on what to do with all those wild pastel colors in your box,” explained local artist and gallery owner Suzi Long, owner of “The World of Suzi Long” on Ford Street near Kasten in Mendocino Village.

Driftwood fires and barbecues are allowed on Big River Beach, a part of Mendocino Headlands State Park. Is there any wonder why this is one of our picnic favorites?

Location: drive on Highway 1 a couple of hundred yards south of Mendocino Village and make a left at the north end of the Big River bridge. The road takes you to a parking area along the beach and river.

Supplies: Harvest Market on Lansing or Corners of the Mouth market, Mendocino Deli and Lu’s Kitchen on Ukiah.

The Mendocino Bay Overlook, four acres of bluff owned by the Mendocino Land Trust and open to the public, is a great picnic spot that you’ll likely have all to yourself. To get there, you drive to the end of Main Street in Mendocino, make a right on Highway 1, travel south across the Big River bridge and make the first right at Road 500B and then a quick left on a two lane road. The parking area for the overlook is just 50 yards down the street on the right.

Dawn’s Early Light

I got up before dawn recently to capture a photo of the bay, Big River Beach and the morning light falling on the the Village from the overlook vantage point. There are few other spots on the Mendocino Coast with so much atmosphere. Waves crashing on the rocks. People strolling on the sandy beach below. Surfers. Kayakers. And the historic village of Mendocino on the opposite cliffs.

It may to be breezy, so bring a sweater or jacket and hat.

There’s picnic food at the Mendocino Deli, Harvest Market, Lu’s Kitchen or Corners of the Mouth in Mendocino.

Even if you come just to snap a photograph or share a personal moment with a significant other, I’m sure you’ll agree it’s a special place. And one of our new “favorites.”