Just over three hours from San Francisco, Fort Bragg is a town defined by its serenity. There’s the towering redwoods, and a winding trail along the coast. There are residents casting lines off their boats into the otherwise calm waters. And then there’s Glass Beach.
Instead of the usual sand you find leading up to the lapping waves of the ocean, Glass Beach boasts a seemingly endless expanse of sea glass. Rounded from the salty waters it came from, the ice on Glass Beach creates a kaleidoscope of greens, yellows, and oranges between the rocky cliffs the ocean loves to so fondly splash against.
While Glass Beach may seem like it fits in with the artist galleries in nearby Fort Bragg, the beach actually has a very unsavory past that doesn’t mesh well with Fort Bragg's whimsical tales of lumberjacks and fishermen.
Fort Bragg’s trashy secret...
From 1949 to 1967, Glass Beach was actually known as “Site 3,” an official water dump site for Fort Bragg residents. It’s where the town would drop off discarded glass, appliances, and even vehicles when the previous two sites filled up.
The California State Water Resources Control Board closed the area in 1967, starting various cleanup programs to correct what Fort Bragg had done to the site. Over the span of several decades, metal and other scrap were sold or used as art, leaving biodegradable items to naturally degrade into the land and sea. That left the bottles and other glass trash, which spent years tumbling in the waves that continuously splashed against the shoreline. Soon, the glass and pottery had become smooth, some even jewelry-quality.
The glass shards that have been formed into colorful and eye-catching pieces to lie at Glass Beach.
There are actually three Glass Beach sites in Fort Bragg, including the third and final one. The act of dumping garbage into these locations began in 1906. Recently, in 1998, the private owner of Glass Beach worked with the California Integrated Waste Management Board for another cleanup, in hopes of selling the property to the state. The California Department of Parks and Recreation purchased the 38-acre property, making Glass Beach an official part of the MacKerricher State Park in 2002.
Now, they’re open once again to the public and are accessible at the end of a path that begins on the corner of Elm Street and Glass Beach Drive. It’s a short climb down the cliffs, accessible by foot.
Tourist Attraction
Over the years, visitors haven’t only marveled at Glass Beach’s unique shoreline, but taken pieces of the glass for themselves. It was hard to resist the “rare ruby reds” scattered amongst the yellow and green glass, especially for car buffs that knew it came from a pre-1967 car taillight. Another favorite was the sapphire-colored gemstones formed from apothecary bottles.
San Francisco resident Jennifer O. admits to taking one of the rare red shards. But she urged other visitors to not take entire bags of glass with them.
“It's amazing - and ironic - that what was once the ugly legacy of a Northern California town dumping its trash off the ocean cliffs is now its biggest tourist draw. Yes, the sea glass is literally disposals, but it means a lot more to the people of Fort Bragg whose businesses are supported by visitors coming to see famous Glass Beach,” she said.
The very things that once made Glass Beach an undesirable dumping site have now become the things people seek out the most while visiting Fort Bragg. The waterfront restaurants serving various shellfish are great. The high-end farmers markets are also worth a gander. But where’s Fort Bragg’s dumping site? How do we get there?
Head south from the southernmost part of MacKerricher State Marin Conservation Area. There is a wide path to the beach from the parking area on Glass Beach Road a couple blocks west of Highway 1 down West Elm Street. Check your map for exact details.
Glass Beach has become so popular, in fact, that thousands of tourists visit the beach each year. Yet due to the status of the beach today, guests are asked to not collect the sea glass. It has become a problem with people taking too much during a single visit. Over years and years of people taking some of the sea glass for themselves, much of the collection has been pillaged. This has led to many recent initiatives to replenish the beaches with more discarded glass.
He continued: “The beach is breathtakingly beautiful and when all the glass is eventually gone, it should remain as it is and always has been. Like a painting type of beautiful. One of the most gorgeous beach fronts in California for sure.”
Visitors looking to, well, just wander and look at Glass Beach and its unique shoreline have a lot of RV options nearby. This includes the Fort Bragg Leisure Time RV Park, which has 70 total sites. It’s a remote location perfect for those who want to experience the nature of California’s expansive northern coast.
Additionally, right in Fort Bragg, is Pomo RV Park & Campground. Located a few minutes from the beautiful Mendocino Coast, Pomo offers something for every camper, from large full hook up sites to a beautiful lush meadow for tents sites.