Ten Mile Haul Road Trail

The huge redwood trees on the northern California coast provided the main source of jobs and revenue for the city of Fort Bragg from the late 1800s until the Georgia Pacific mill shut down in 2002. All that's left of the mill is a large plot of contaminated and fenced off land where the mill once stood and an old railroad bed that has been turned into a wonderful walking/biking trail. The railroad was built in 1916 for log trains running from the Ten Mile River log camps to the Fort Bragg mill. The railroad bed was later converted to a private road and used by oversized log trucks from the 1940s to the 1980s.

When the mill was operating coastal access for people living in Fort Bragg was blocked by the mill's property. After the mill closed the whole town was involved in deciding how to utilize the mill property. One thing most people agree on was setting aside the coastal bluff as a public space. The Ten Mile Haul Road, part of MacKerricher State Park, goes south from the park and joins the city managed Noyo Point Road trail. Together they make about six miles of wide, smooth, and mostly level trail with sweeping views of the ocean.

We started the trail at MacKerricher State Park where access is not ideal due to a washed out section so I recommend the parking lot 100' north of the Pudding Creek Trestle as a better access point. From this point you can go north on the Haul Road Trail or south on the Noyo Point trail. The trails are accessible but there is hill at Virgin Creek Beach where the trail dips down.We did not do the entire trail but turned around shortly after the trestle.

The parking lot is large enough for any RV. Trail  39.46148, -123.80668