The Glass Beach in Fort Bragg
Where is the Glass Beach?
Fort Bragg is a small city in Mendocino County Coast in Northen California that houses the famous Glass Beach, yeah a beach made almost entirely of glass. There’s some rocks and seaweed here and there, but no one goes for that. That’s why it’s called Glass Beach anyway!
Fort Braggs History
Funny thing is that the Glass Beach in Fort Bragg was once one of three dumpsites called “The Dumps” where people could dump anything, glass bottles, appliances, and even cars.
The residents of Fort Bragg would actually burn the piles in order for the garbage heap to become a more manageable size.
The first location for “The Dumps” became an official water dump site from 1906 until 1943. Once site one was full they moved to site two and this continued for several more years until they moved to site three and where it ceased dump operations in 1967 and fast forward to 2002 the Glass Beach was added on to be part of the MacKerricher State Park which is about 3 miles north from the south entrance of the beach.
If you visit the location today you can still see non biodegradable materials that are left over on the 38 acre beach including tires, mufflers, other scrap metals, and the glass that creates the “sand” on the beach (pictured above). There are beautiful brown bottles from all those root beers and greens from those lemon lime sodas, and clear glass from… car windows? I originally thought the beach would have jagged glass scattered all over, but turns out from all the waves the glass edges have been buffed and polished and become smooth like gems. They shine against the afternoon sun and you almost forget that it used to be a giant trash pile.
The “Waterfall”
Oh! I almost forgot to mention the “waterfall” (pictured above). I quote waterfall because technically it is a waterfall, but try to resist the urge of standing under the grotto that looks like something that can be found in the Playboy Mansion. Just remember before getting to close that the waterfall is coming from a pipe. (I got a picture of it’s “good side”. XD Below you’ll see a photo of where the waterfall is coming from. Does that make it a waterfall? OR is just run off from the city? Not exactly sure. Either way, it’s beatiful and a must see if you get the right angle (it is located at the south entrance of the beach). I know it may seem tempting but refrain from taking glass from the beach in order to preserve the beauty.
There is also a pretty small parking lot at the south end that can accommodate about 40 cars with a few handicap spots. They offer RV camping parking near the McKerricher State Park entrance and open bright and early at 6am and close the lot at 10pm.
