Family Camping Activities for All Ages: Games, Hiking, and Campfire Fun
The legendary heart of Joshua Tree National Park.
Mendocino National Forest is a sprawling and pristine wilderness located in Northern California, offering a unique blend of natural beauty and outdoor adventure. This expansive forest provides an ideal destination for nature lovers, off-road enthusiasts, and anyone seeking a peaceful retreat from the hustle of daily life. With its rugged terrain, dense forests, and diverse wildlife, Mendocino National Forest is a haven for exploration and recreation.
Mendocino National Forest is accessible via Highway 36, which winds through the region and offers stunning views of the surrounding landscape. The drive itself is an adventure, with numerous pullouts and points of interest that cater to motorists, especially those traveling on motorcycles who appreciate the slower pace and scenic beauty.
Visitors have praised Mendocino National Forest for its rural charm and the opportunity to explore vast stretches of undeveloped land. Many highlight the forest's unique appeal for off-road enthusiasts, noting that while it lacks many marked trails, the dirt roads provide ample avenues for exploration. One visitor described the drive along Highway 36 as a beautiful and worthwhile journey, emphasizing the forest's ability to slow down and appreciate nature.
Picnics
Hiking
Public restroom
Good for kids
Kid-friendly hikes
Dogs allowed
Mendocino National Forest is a nice large natural area that I would consider to be rural. Reaching the central area of the forest is a journey in itself due to its isolation and 90% or more of the roads in the forest boundary are dirt. Could easily spend a few days here exploring all the dirt roads and landscape, but not to many unique features or trails available in the forest for hiking, definitely plenty for the off road enthusiast and overland campers.
This is all along Highway 36 from red Bluff over to the coast. It’s about 130 miles and you cannot really drive very fast, but that’s probably a good thing. It’s a beautiful drive with lots of great turnouts and places to explore. If you’re not in a hurry this is a great drive… Especially on a motorcycle.
4x4 haven.... awesome views. Majestic trees. Beautiful, mountain ranges. Campsites are very nice. Great place to go cut down your Xmas tree. I believe tags and maps are free from National Forestry service.
The road is super dangerous, if you drive big car, you prepared drive on the rough road, maybe it is ok. But if you are not prepared, car have no enough oil, and only know follow the google map, you will feel that you lost in forest and nobody will save you. And your car is small one, 4 lights on, because the rough and steep road. Some road blocks by tree the google map leads you there, and you explore that no way to go. We even try to move those big dead trees to go through, and feel disappoint, maybe dead here. Then we decided only drive on main road, finally we came out of mountain top mountain low forests with thousands and thousands of trees, but nobody.
Did a ride on my 2005 R1200GS in February, got some great pictures and video. Ran into 6" of snow on the mountain tops.