Address: 25050 CA-1, Jenner, CA 95450
Salt Point is a 6,000 State Park in Sonoma County with California’s first underwater area. Salt Point State Park is good for people who enjoy sightseeing, photography, picnicking, jogging, scuba diving, painting, and nature study. The park is famous for its coastline, strong waves, fascinating sandstone formations, colorful underwater life, and tide pools. There are a lot of different trails to choose from within Salt Point. It has 20 miles of hiking trails and over 6 miles of rocky coasts. Tafoni’s are sandstone rocks with unique honeycomb formations found in the southern Gerstle Cove area. It is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m.
Typically, the drive to Salt Point is about 2 hours and 30 minutes and 101 miles from San Francisco via US-101 North and CA-1 North. But we drove to Salt Point after our breakfast at Coast Kitchen Restaurant which is about 15 minutes away. We arrived at the main gate at around 1:00 p.m. and paid the park ranger $8 for the day-use entrance fee. The Park Ranger gave us a map and instructed us to just go straight until we hit the end of the road. We accidentally made a left towards the visitor center/south Gerstle Cove area and the road was very rough, with lots of gravel, rocks, and potholes. We even saw a few deers on our way back to the main parking of Gerstle Cove State Marine Reserve. There were a lot of parking spaces and public restrooms at Salt Point Main Trailhead. From the parking lot, we walked for at least 15 minutes towards Gerstle Cove. The trail led us on a downhill path up to the Cove’s beach area. From the cliff, the water at the Cove is clear pristine turquoise water. But as we descended down to the Cove area we had to navigate through all the large rocks all over the beach. And my wife even saw a few jellyfish floating in the clear water. The Salt Point Trail is beautiful, scenic, easy, and one of the main attractions. The trail on the Salt Point area is great for nature trips, bird watching, hiking, and walking. The trail was easy and saw a few spots great for a photo opportunity. The descent up the hill from the Cove was slightly challenging.
Overall, it was a fun, easy, short, and scenic trail that is great for all ages. There were other hiking trails available that you can explore at Salt Point State Park which is strenuous or challenging.
Tips: Watch out when you are driving inside Salt Point State Park as the roads are narrow and two-way streets. Always watch out for oncoming traffic and pay attention to cars coming in and out of the parking space. There are public restrooms and picnic tables onsite throughout the park. Stay back from bluff edges and watch out for rogue waves that can sweep you out to sea. Bring binoculars to see all the different species of birds and wildlife. Watch out for dangerous cliffs and bring a jacket or sweater as the weather can get windy.
Let me know if you have any questions, comments or what you think about Salt Point State Park after your visit in the comments below. And kindly share our family travel blog site with your friends and family. Or even include our travel blog website address when you post your pictures on social media. Have fun and stay safe. Thank you.
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