Exploring Mendocino County: Bowling Ball Beach

The first rule of Bowling Ball Beach is that it is not ADA-compliant. The second rule of Bowling Ball Beach is that even if you consider yourself quite able-bodied, you still won’t have an easy time reaching this beach.

Before heading out to this spot a few miles south of downtown Point Arena on the Mendocino County coast, you should know that there will never be a sign indicating that you’re close. Your best clue will be the line of cars parked along Highway 1 directly across from Schooner Gulch Road.

Once you’ve managed to park, either in the turnout or along Schooner Gulch Road (on a recent weekday afternoon near low tide both areas were packed with vehicles), you should also know that there are two trailheads. Only one of them is the right one, and it doesn’t have a sign telling you, “This is the way to Bowling Ball Beach.”

Even more frustrating, the trailhead with the interpretive sign that shows you the large rocks is NOT the trail you should take. Rather, it is the trailhead with hardly any signage to the north that you need to follow to find the boulders.

But I, like most other people I talked to while first visiting this beach, did not take the right trail at first. I headed down the trail beyond the sign with the rocks and found myself on Schooner Gulch Beach. Thinking a path heading off to the north was the trail to Bowling Ball Beach, I headed up to a bluff where I could see what looked like lots of large, round rocks, but there was no way to get down to the sand.

“Are you familiar with this area?” I asked a woman walking with her young daughter as we headed back toward the line of parked cars, both of us wearing masks on our faces and standing well apart.

“Not really,” she said, then asked, “Are you looking for Bowling Ball Beach? Because that’s what I was looking for.”

I said, “I understand ‘the northern trail’ is the one we want. I guess I didn’t find it.”

I headed back out to the cars, looking more carefully this time for the “northern trail,” and did indeed find another trailhead with no signs except for the generic male and female figures indicating bathrooms. I turned to tell the woman that I likely found the right trail, but she never emerged from the trees while I waited.

After a short walk through a meadow, I reached the edge of the bluffs and some wooden stairs that snake down to the sand, ending abruptly at an enormous pile of driftwood logs. Seeing the bowling ball rocks in the distance, I edged along the driftwood pile to the sand, then walked the half mile or so to the large rocks.

I’m not sure how exciting the actual rocks were; I think they would be far more exciting if I had just stumbled upon them. I can say I have never seen anything else quite like them, and finally finding them was certainly a satisfying experience.

And unlike the small glass rocks at Glass Beach in Fort Bragg, at least you know the Bowling Ball rocks cannot easily be carried away by previous visitors before you have a chance to see them.

But for anyone not intrigued enough by the rocks to brave the crowds and rugged terrain, I suggest driving a few miles north on Highway 1 to the Pelican Bluffs, located just south of Highway 1. There you’ll find an actual parking lot, and a pleasant, mostly flat path leading north from the lot that takes you to a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean.

For more on that walk, read this previous story.