Mendocino:
Mendocino National Forest is not quite as popular as other parks and forests nearby such as Mount Tam or Lassen. Due to the lack of interest, there isn’t a lot of information on its campsites and it’s trails.
The benefits, on the other hand, of camping at Mendocino is that you do not need a permit and camping is free. It is very unlikely to be crowded and dogs are allowed.
This forest is located north of Napa so quite a drive around six hours from San Francisco. You are only required to have a campfire permit in case of a stove or campfire usage. Bear canisters are not required, but good to have, as there are bears in the area.
My friends and I decided to venture into the forest following the descriptions that someone had posted on AllTrails about a nice 7 mile hike (14 miles round trip) from Deafy Glade to Snow Mountain. I decided to bring my dog Jasper who is about 15 pounds and a Chihuahua mix. This proved to be a very bad idea.
We drove to Mendocino Friday night and camped in a OHV campground as the entrance to the forest had a handful of them, all with plenty of room and walk-in available. There were bathrooms, running water, and fire pits. The drive in and out can be a little bumpy.
Next morning we started our hike with all our camping gear but due to lack of signage and our lack of preparation for the case that the forest lacked signage we walked for what seems to be million miles instead of 7 miles.
We almost gave up in the middle because some of us were tired and frustrated and also because my dog was pouting. Because Jasper refused to walk we had to take turns carrying the dog in our arms, which only tired us faster. We were following a very rough guide that described the environment that we were to expect, and for a group of novice backpackers that was a challenge. Had we seen and downloaded this handy guide that this post was supposed to be (but now seems pointless) we would have not felt lost.
The trail is covered at points, but often is directly under the burning sun (which was the case when we went in June) with few trees and a lot of bushes. Not much wildlife to be seen or heard but a lot of lizards.
In the end we did find this mysterious tree arch that our guide post had mentioned and got to our destination campground. This campground, though promised some amenities, had nothing but a few fire rings. Maybe this wasn’t even the right campground -who really knows. But the stream was full and running just a 10 min walk away, which we appreciated.
