Sinkyone Wilderness State Park

If you could take just one photo: Elk wading into the sea

It's low tide, and as we sit off to the side of the beach a herd of elk comes parading out of the trees near our campsite. It's not our first encounter with them over the weekend. In fact, they seem to be regular visitors, but it is the first time we've seen them wade out into the ocean. It's not the warmest day, but they keep walking until the water is lapping their bellies. We just sit and watch. After they leave we walk the beach, mesmerized as the sun dips into the ocean, before heading back to our camp and lighting a fire. Bear Harbor is the perfect the camping spot: seclusion, but close enough to the car to bring a cooler.

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When Mendocino locals want to escape the already leisurely pace of small-town life, they hop in the car and head north—along the sweeping cliffs of Highway One, over a rugged dirt road, and to a still-untrammeled corner of Eden. On the black-sand beach of Usal in Sinkyone Wilderness State Park, one finds seals that seem not to know what a human is, pelicans wheeling on the sea breeze, whales spyhopping to get a better view of the shore, and air so fresh and clean it’s difficult to imagine humans still walk the earth. Inland are massive stands of poplar, home to mighty Roosevelt elk that have no fear of people. This is nature at its most pristine, laid bare for a true communion.

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