Salt Point State Park is a state park in Sonoma County, California, United States. The park covers on the coast of Northern California, with of hiking trails and over of a rough rocky coastline including Salt Point which protrudes into the Pacific Ocean. The park also features the first underwater preserves in California. The constant impact of the waves forms the rocks into many different shapes. These rocks continue underwater providing a wide variety of habitats for marine organisms. The activities at Salt Point include hiking, camping, fishing, scuba diving and many others. The weather is often cool with fog and cold winds, even during the summer.
The rocks of Salt Point are sedimentary sandstone. Due to the large amounts of sandstone, small cave-like features called tafoni can be found along the shore of Salt Point.
Cultural and natural history
This park is named for the formation of salt crystals in the cracks and crevices of the rocky coastline. The native Kashaya Pomo collected salt from this area for many years. They used abalone chisels to scrape the salt off the rocks.
In 1853, Samuel Duncan and Joshua Hendy built a sawmill on a ridge located above Salt Point. A couple of years later, they leased the land to a San Francisco company, which quarried the sandstone. They used the sandstone to create the streets and buildings in San Francisco along with the naval facility at Mare Island. It is also possible to see drill holes in the sandstone at Gerstle Cove and at the marine terrace just north of it. In 1870, Duncan sold his property to Frederick Funcke and Lewis Gerstle. They shipped 5,000 cords of wood yearly and used most of the land to graze their cattle.
Gerstle Cove
The eyebolts used to anchor ships down are still visible at Gerstle cove. This is where sandstone and wood were loaded onto cargo ships. At first, they used wire cables anchored to the cliffside to load wood and stone onto the ships. Two chutes were eventually made; the Miller chute and the Funcke & Co. chute. There was a horse-drawn railroad that lead from the Miller sawmills to where the boats were loaded. The sawmill had a daily capacity of .
Wildlife
Land
Brush and grasslands cover the ground on the marine terraces; at higher elevations (approximately in elevation) Douglas fir forest dominates. At slightly higher staircase levels (about ), a mixed fir forest of bishop pine and Douglas-fir is present intermixed with second growth coast redwood, madrones and tanoak. At there is a large open prairie where animals such as elk previously grazed. In addition, at an elevation of about within Salt Point State Park is a pygmy forest including the Mendocino cypress, bishop pine and Arctostaphylos. The reason these trees do not attain their normal height is due to the highly acidic soils with minimal nutrients and a hardpan layer close to the surface.
The native animals that roam the land include the black-tailed deer, raccoon, coyote, bobcat, gray fox, badger, striped skunk, and dozens of varieties of rodents such as squirrels, chipmunks, and the field mouse. Bears and cougars occasionally range the area, although visitors rarely see them.
The forest, grassland, and ocean shore area host a huge variety of birds, including pelicans, ospreys, woodpeckers (including the pileated woodpecker), and oystercatchers. Steller's jay and ravens are common in unattended campsites in search of food.
Marine
The ocean off Sonoma County averages 52 degrees F, with the warmest temperature recorded in 2014 at 57.2 °F and the coldest in 2007 at 50.9 °F. The coast of Sonoma County is known for its slow-growing red abalone. It takes this abalone 10 years to reach a diameter of . Harvested by divers for decades, abalone can no longer be harvested due to a long-term closure. Sport fishermen catch Lingcod, Kelp greenling, Cabezon (fish), and rockfish between the months of April and December. Between the months of December and April, it is possible to see gray whales migrating south to Baja California for breeding.
Stewarts Point State Marine Reserve & Stewarts Point State Marine Conservation Area, Salt Point State Marine Conservation Area and Gerstle Cove State Marine Reserve adjoin Salt Point State Park. Like underwater parks, these marine protected areas help conserve ocean wildlife and marine ecosystems.
Geology
The coast in this park is lined with jagged rocks and steep ocean cliffs. The rocks are shaped and formed by the continuous crashing of the waves. These rocks provide an array of tide pools while the tide is out.