Manchester State Park (also known as Manchester State Beach) is a
state park
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...
of
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, United States. It includes of protected beachfront on the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
in Northern California on
State Route 1, north of
Point Arena
Point Arena, formerly known as Punta Arena (Spanish language, Spanish for "Sandy Point") is a small coastal city in Mendocino County, California, Mendocino County, California, United States. Point Arena is located west of Hopland, California, H ...
. The park features sand dunes, flat grasslands and five miles of gentle, sandy beachfront. The park is noted for
steelhead
Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and N ...
and
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
fishing in the park's two streams, Brush Creek and Alder Creek, as well as the driftwood that collects in the catch basin created by the gently curved coastline. The site was established as a California state park in 1955 and takes its name from
Manchester, California
Manchester is a census-designated place in Mendocino County, California, United States. It is located north of Point Arena at an elevation of . The population was 159 at the 2020 census, down from 195 in 2010.
History
The Manchester post offi ...
, seven miles north of Point Arena.
Aside from the coastal views, Manchester State Beach consists of grazing lands with flocks of sheep, and herds of cattle.
Blue Iris
''Iris spuria'' is a species of the genus Iris, part of the subgenus '' Limniris'' and the series '' Spuriae''. It is a rhizomatous perennial plant, from Europe, Asia and Africa. It has purple or lilac flowers, and slender, elongated leaves. It ...
es,
baby blue eyes,
lupin
''Lupinus'', commonly known as lupin, lupine, or regionally bluebonnet etc., is a genus of plants in the legume family Fabaceae. The genus includes over 199 species, with centers of diversity in North and South America. Smaller centers occur ...
es,
poppies Poppies can refer to:
*Poppy, a flowering plant
*The Poppies (disambiguation) - multiple uses
*''Poppies (film)'' - Children's BBC remembrance animation
*"Poppies", a song by Patti Smith Group from their 1976 album ''Radio Ethiopia''
*"Poppies", th ...
, and
sea pink Sea pink is a common name for several plants and may refer to:
* '' Armeria'' spp.
* '' Sabatia stellaris''
{{Plant common name