Fort Bragg

History

Nestled between the chaotic peaks and valleys formed during ~200 million years of one tectonic plate demanding another give way, and sandwiched between the planet's largest ocean and largest temperate rainforest lies Fort Bragg. 15,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, the first indigenous inhabitants, the Hokan, found it and called it home, amazed at the scale of nearly everything they saw. The trees averaged nearly 200 feet in height and 15 feet in diameter, the result of being among the oldest living things anywhere and an extremely mild climate with average annual rainfall over 100 inches. Among them lived elk almost as big as a moose, Olympic black bears, cougars and timber wolves in practically boundless number, fed by the lush, verdant terrain and the fish found teeming in the rivers as much as in the mighty Pacific. Millenia passed like this, so long that the Hokan as well became so abundant that they gave rise to three great Native American nations, the Yuki, Pomo, and Wintun. It was they who saw the first Europeans weigh anchor just off the coast in 1542, representatives of the Spanish Empire. After the Spaniards came the English, then the Russians, and eventually the Americans, but the landscape remained a testament to a grandeur almost always reserved for legends. Valiant efforts were made to exploit each natural resource many times, but the difficulty of transporting goods and people over endless rugged hills and rivers always won out. That's how it earned the nickname The Lost Coast, a place forgotten through the Gold Rush, the Industrial Revolution, and the rise of Silicon Valley, still wild and ready to bewitch all who brave the journey there.
Fort Bragg is the largest town on the Lost Coast, a position of honor nearly guaranteed by the grace of having the largest natural harbor for over 100 miles in either direction. On today's maps it is seen to lie within the borders of Mendocino County, named for Antonio de Mendoza, the Viceroy of New Spain who had sent that ship full of Spaniards sailing north up the California coast in 1542.

By car or motorcycle

Two state highways, California Routes 1 and 20, are the sole safe conduits for vehicle travel to the area. Route 1 serves as Fort Bragg's Main Street and widens to two lanes in each direction with a center turn lane while it's within the city limits. Route 20 carries the vast majority of locals and visitors in and out of the area and is almost always referred to as the "Willits Road" by locals rather than its official number. Many long-time residents are quick to remind anyone who will listen that in "their day" it was still a winding dirt road unfit for use by anything but pickup trucks. The addition of the paved road surface was done in stages as CalTrans funds became available starting in 1958 and was completed in 1964, shortly thereafter being added to the state highway system as the final leg of the "Ukiah-Tahoe Highway" as Route 20 was then known.
Factoring in the other state highways that merge into or intersect one of them, there are a total of five potential routes by which to visit if you're travelling by automobile or motorcycle. All are entirely two-lane state highways devoid of artificial illumination with posted speeds of 55 MPH, average quality pavement the entire way, and lead to an eventual junction with U.S. Highway 101. If you're not coming from somewhere with obvious access to U.S. 101 any route planning should begin with determining how you'll first reach that thoroughfare. Listed with starting points from north to south the five routes to Fort Bragg are:

By bus

• Mendocino Transit Authority: The only provider of public transit in Mendocino County, . Service within Fort Bragg and between F.B./Willits/Ukiah is quite affordable and reliable, if not especially frequent.

• MTA also offers bus service to and from Santa Rosa daily for just $23 one way. MTA Route 65 CC Rider

Amtrak Thruway Bus Service: Stops four times a day in Willits at the Skunk Train depot parking lot en route northbound to McKinleyville/the Arcata airport and southbound to the Amtrak rail station in Martinez. You can easily walk from the depot to the junction of CA Routes 1 and 20 where a covered MTA bus stop is located to complete the trip to Fort Bragg. Fares vary but average ~$30 one way in either direction.

• Bus 6314 (Southbound): Willits stop at 8:25AM, arrives in Martinez at 11:55AM
• Bus 6318 (Southbound): Willits stop at 12:50PM, arrives in Martinez at 6:05PM
• Bus 6311 (Northbound): Willits stop at 2:30PM, arrives in McKinleyville at 5:25PM
• Bus 6313 (Northbound): Willits stop at 5:10PM, arrives in McKinleyville at 8:15PM

By boat

The Noyo River leads to one of the very few harbors between San Francisco and Eureka.

By bicycle

Fort Bragg is on the Pacific Coast Bicycle Route.

Public Transit

• Bus #5: The BraggAbout: Bus service within the city limits by Mendocino Transit Authority, . Runs hourly costing $1.50 per ride, making a loop through the busiest parts of town.
• Bus #60: The Coaster: Coastal bus service also by MTA, . Runs three times daily up and down the coast from Fort Bragg to Albion through Mendocino and Little River, costing $3-$4 per ride.
• Dial-A-Ride: Curb to curb/taxi service by MTA, direct dispatch. Mon-Fri: 8AM-6PM, Sat: 10AM-5PM, no Sunday service. $6/ride within Fort Bragg, price goes up quick if you need to get any meaningful distance out of town.

Rentals

Flora

Beaches

History

Lodging

Camping

Fort Bragg is a relatively safe city. Just be aware and take normal precautions as you would in any urban area. Dial 9-1-1 to contact a dispatcher for an emergency.

• Mendocino Coast District Hospital

  phone: +1-707-961-1234
  address: 700 River Dr
  25 bed critical access rural hospital with 24-hour emergency room, modest surgical suite, maternity ward and an endless rotation of out-of-area physicians and staff. Those in poor health are urged to have contingency plans in place for managing their care without reliance on local providers.

Healthy pets

Fort Bragg is generally a very safe place to bring your pet to experience. The climate is too cool to support the more notorious threats such as rattlesnakes, scorpions and the like. If you take Fido out and about with you, however, you do need to keep him from sampling the local flora unsupervised, as both ivy and azaleas/rhododendrons are thoroughly ubiquitous throughout both the natural landscape and local gardens and are known to cause potentially severe distress to dogs who ingest them. Furthermore the proximity of wild animals (bears, mountain lions, possums, raccoons, foxes, and many more) to all of the human-inhabited parts of the area produces an indomitable population of common fleas and ticks looking for their next meal. As of 2019, many residents find that the fleas/ticks are quite impervious to the more common over-the-counter treatments such as fipronil (Frontline), imidacloprid (Advantage/Advantix) and permethrin (BioSpot), requiring prescription treatments to gain any leverage over. If your dog is prone to sensitive skin or does not tolerate fleas/ticks well, you may want to reconsider his accompanying you.
Fort Bragg has four veterinary clinics, all of which are relatively "full-service" considering the nearest proper veterinary hospital is over two hours away in Santa Rosa. Three of the four have a memorandum of understanding that arranges for the staff of one to handle all of the emergency calls that come in during the weekend regardless of who regularly sees the pet. The fourth, Covington Creek, has a single veterinarian who takes their own weekend emergency calls and usually arranges for a visiting veterinarian to come to the area and do so in the event they need to travel out of the area.