Van Damme State Park is a public beach consisting of about of land in

Mendocino County, California Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish language, Spanish for "of Antonio de Mendoza, Mendoza) is a County (United States), county located on the North Coast (California), North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United Sta ...

, near the town of

Little River Little River may refer to several places: Australia Streams New South Wales *Little River (Dubbo), source in the Dubbo region, a tributary of the Macquarie River * Little River (Oberon), source in the Oberon Shire, a tributary of Coxs River (Haw ...

on State Route 1. It was named for Charles F. Van Damme (1881–1934), who was born in the area and purchased the land that is now the park with profits from a San Francisco ferry business. On his death, the property became part of the California state park system.

Description

The greater part of the park lies on the inland side of State Route 1 and includes ten miles of hiking trails along the

and campsites rated by the ''

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...

'' as one of the ten best on the West Coast. On the ocean side of the highway, a free parking lot provides access to Little River Beach at the mouth of the Little River, also part of the park. The waters offshore from the beach form the Van Damme State Marine Conservation Area. The beach also serves as the launch site for kayak tours of the sea caves in the area. Another part of the park, Spring Ranch, consists of of blufftop meadows on the ocean side of Route 1 north of Little River and a restored set of barns dating from 1860. It was purchased by the state in 1996. Inland, a boardwalked nature trail leads through a

pygmy forest In anthropology, pygmy peoples are ethnic groups whose average height is unusually short. The term pygmyism is used to describe the phenotype of endemic short stature (as opposed to disproportionate dwarfism occurring in isolated cases in a po ...

, where poor soil has created a marshy ecosystem of stunted cypress and pine trees and rhododendrons. There are two pygmy forested areas within Van Damme State Park. On the north border of the park is a parcel named in honor of Charlotte M. Hoak.

References

External links

Official Van Damme State Park website

Charlotte M. Hoak Pygmy Forest
State parks of California Parks in Mendocino County, California Beaches of Mendocino County, California Protected areas established in 1934 Beaches of Northern California 1934 establishments in California {{MendocinoCountyCA-geo-stub