Dark Gulch Beach
Albion, CA
Dark Gulch Beach sits along the Mendocino Coast's Heritage Trail, reached from a trailhead at Highway 1's milepost 45. Stairs and a boardwalk drop down through the gulch to a rocky shore with real tide pools, a quieter stop between the bigger named parks to the north and south.
A genuinely quiet tide pool stop between the more famous parks nearby, though it's a small beach without much to draw a special trip on its own.
How we score beachesBring water shoes if tide pooling is the plan, the rocky shore here isn't the soft sand you'd want bare feet for.
Free parking is available at the milepost 45 trailhead.
Stairs, a path, and a boardwalk lead down through the gulch to the beach.
Summer mornings run foggy before clearing, typical of the Mendocino coast, with water staying cold year round.
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