Salt Point State Park

Salt Point State Park
Gerstle Cove

Location	Sonoma County, California, USA
Coordinates	38°35′N 123°20′W / 38.583°N 123.333°W / 38.583; -123.333Coordinates: 38°35′N 123°20′W / 38.583°N 123.333°W / 38.583; -123.333
Area	6,000 acres (2,400 ha)
Governing body	California Department of Parks and Recreation

Salt Point State Park is a state park in Sonoma County, California, United States. The park covers 6,000 acres (2,400 ha) on the coast of Northern California, with 20 miles (32 km) of hiking trails and over 6 miles (9.7 km) of a rough rocky coast line 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 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 cliff side 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 18,000 board feet (42 m³).

Wildlife

Land

Bishop pine at Salt Point

Brush and grasslands cover the ground on the marine terraces; at higher elevations (approximately 100 to 300 feet (30 to 91 m) in elevation) Douglas fir forest dominates. At slightly higher staircase levels (about 300 to 500 feet (91 to 152 m)), a mixed fir forest of bishop pine and Douglas-fir is present intermixed with second growth coast redwood, madrones and tanoak. At 1,000 feet (300 m) there is a large open prairie where animals such as elk previously grazed. In addition, at an elevation of about 550 feet (170 m) 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

tide pools

During April, kelp is not visible but it has already started to grow. By August, the water is full of dark green seaweed that will provide a habitat for a variety of rockfish and other marine organisms. The coast of Sonoma County is known for its slow-growing red abalone. It takes this abalone 10 years to reach a diameter of seven inches (178 mm). 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.

Rocks

Sandstone with tafoni

The rocks of Salt Point are sedimentary, mainly sandstone. All of these rocks are tilted, exposing older rocks. The rocks at the north end of the park's coast are younger than the rocks at of the southern end. Salt Point is named for the tafoni where the ocean water crystallizes in the honeycomb like crevices. This tafoni is caused when the salt crystals interact with the sandstone making parts of the sandstone harden while other parts soften.

Deep-sea fans

The layers of sedimentary rock show evidence of a deep-sea fan. A deep-sea fan is caused when there is dense, turbulent sediment filled water flowing down a submarine canyon. This highly dense water is called a turbidity current. Something that may cause a turbidity current are earthquakes or storms that create a submarine slide. When this sediment filled water leaves the end of the canyon it spreads out in a fan like shape. The sediment is thinner and thinner the farther away the sediment is from the submarine canyon. All of these layers of sedimentary rock are created thousands of feet below the ocean’s surface but now the layers are visible above the surface of the water. This is because the Pacific plate and the North American plate are moving against each other; since the oceanic plate is lower, it is being forced below the continental plate in a process called subduction. While the oceanic plate is being subducted, the continental plate is scraping off the top layers of the oceanic plate slowly bringing them to the surface.

Activities

The activities at Salt Point include hiking, camping, fishing, tide pooling, picnicking and scuba diving. There are over twenty miles (32 km) of hiking trails and over sixty camp sites. The hiking trails are throughout the 6,000-acre (2,400 ha) park, and many of them lead to the beach. There are only a few sandy beaches at Salt Point, some with picnic areas with benches and barbecues. Salt Point has one of the first underwater parks in California: Gerstle Cove. Gerstle Cove is protected with no fishing allowed. Only small boats and scuba divers are allowed in Gerstle Cove. Much of the marine life can be viewed while the tide is out. The tide pools provide many different organisms including sea anemones and starfish. Fishing is allowed at the park except for Gerstle Cove. The fish that are available at Salt Point are lingcod, cabezone, rockfish, and greenlings.

Activities available

Sea kayaking
Bike trails
En route campsites
Environmental campsites
Exhibits and programs
Family campsites
Fishing
Group campsites
Hike or bike campsites
Hiking trails
Horseback trails
Scuba diving
Wildlife viewing

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Salt Point State Park.

Protected areas of California

National Park System

National Parks	Channel Islands Death Valley Joshua Tree Kings Canyon Lassen Volcanic Pinnacles Redwood Sequoia Yosemite

National Preserves	Mojave

National Monuments	Cabrillo Castle Mountains Cesar E. Chavez Devils Postpile Lava Beds Muir Woods World War II Valor in the Pacific

National Seashores	Point Reyes

National Historical Parks	Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front San Francisco Maritime

National Historic Sites	Eugene O'Neill Fort Point John Muir Manzanar

National Memorials	Port Chicago Naval Magazine

National Recreation Areas	Golden Gate Santa Monica Mountains Whiskeytown

State Parks

State Parks	Ahjumawi Lava Springs Andrew Molera Angel Island Annadel Año Nuevo Anza-Borrego Desert Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland Bidwell–Sacramento River Big Basin Redwoods Border Field Bothe-Napa Valley Burton Creek Butano Calaveras Big Trees Castle Crags Castle Rock Caswell Memorial China Camp Chino Hills Clear Lake Crystal Cove Cuyamaca Rancho D. L. Bliss Del Norte Coast Redwoods Donner Memorial Ed Z'berg Sugar Pine Point Emerald Bay The Forest of Nisene Marks Fort Ord Dunes Fremont Peak Garrapata Gaviota Great Valley Grasslands Grizzly Creek Redwoods Grover Hot Springs Hearst San Simeon Hendy Woods Henry Cowell Redwoods Henry W. Coe Humboldt Lagoons Humboldt Redwoods Jedediah Smith Redwoods Julia Pfeiffer Burns Leo Carrillo Limekiln MacKerricher Malibu Creek Manchester McArthur–Burney Falls Memorial McLaughlin Eastshore Mendocino Headlands Mendocino Woodlands Montaña de Oro Morro Bay Mount Diablo Mount San Jacinto Mount Tamalpais Navarro River Redwoods Pacheco Palomar Mountain Patrick's Point Pfeiffer Big Sur Placerita Canyon Plumas-Eureka Point Mugu Portola Redwoods Prairie Creek Redwoods Red Rock Canyon Richardson Grove Rio de Los Angeles Robert Louis Stevenson Russian Gulch Saddleback Butte Salt Point Samuel P. Taylor San Bruno Mountain Sinkyone Wilderness South Yuba River Sugarloaf Ridge Sutter Buttes Tolowa Dunes Tomales Bay Topanga Van Damme Washoe Meadows Wilder Ranch

State Natural Reserves	Antelope Valley California Poppy Armstrong Redwoods Azalea Caspar Headlands John B. Dewitt John Little Jug Handle Kruse Rhododendron Los Osos Oaks Mailliard Redwoods Mono Lake Tufa Montgomery Woods Point Lobos Smithe Redwoods Torrey Pines Tule Elk

State Marine Reserves	Albany Emeryville Crescent

State Historic Parks	Anderson Marsh Antelope Valley Indian Museum Bale Grist Mill Benicia Capitol Bidwell Mansion Bodie California Citrus California State Indian Museum Chumash Painted Cave Colonel Allensworth Columbia Cowell Ranch/John Marsh El Presidio de Santa Barbara Empire Mine Folsom Powerhouse Fort Humboldt Fort Ross Fort Tejon Governor's Mansion Hearst San Simeon Indian Grinding Rock Jack London La Purísima Mission Leland Stanford Mansion Los Angeles Los Encinos Malakoff Diggins Marconi Conference Center Marshall Gold Discovery Monterey Old Sacramento Old Town San Diego Olompali Petaluma Adobe Pigeon Point Light Station Pío Pico Point Sur Railtown 1897 San Juan Bautista San Pasqual Battlefield Santa Cruz Mission Santa Susana Pass Shasta Sonoma Sutter's Fort Tomo-Kahni Wassama Round House Watts Towers of Simon Rodia Weaverville Joss House Will Rogers William B. Ide Adobe Woodland Opera House

State Beaches	Asilomar Bean Hollow Bolsa Chica Cardiff Carlsbad Carmel River Carpinteria Caspar Headlands Cayucos Corona del Mar Dockweiler Doheny El Capitán Emma Wood Gray Whale Cove Greenwood Half Moon Bay Huntington Leucadia Lighthouse Field Little River Malibu Lagoon Mandalay Manresa Marina McGrath Montara Monterey Moonlight Morro Strand Moss Landing Natural Bridges New Brighton Pacifica Pelican Pescadero Pismo Point Dume Point Sal Pomponio Refugio Robert H. Meyer Memorial Robert W. Crown Memorial Salinas River San Buenaventura San Clemente San Elijo San Gregorio San Onofre Santa Monica Schooner Gulch Seacliff Silver Strand Sonoma Coast South Carlsbad Sunset Thornton Torrey Pines Trinidad Twin Lakes Westport-Union Landing Will Rogers William Randolph Hearst Memorial Zmudowski

State Recreation Areas	Admiral William Standley Auburn Austin Creek Benbow Lake Benicia Bethany Reservoir Brannan Island Candlestick Point Castaic Lake Colusa-Sacramento River Folsom Lake Franks Tract George J. Hatfield Harry A. Merlo Kenneth Hahn Kings Beach Lake Del Valle Lake Oroville Lake Perris Lake Valley Martial Cottle Park McConnell Millerton Lake Picacho Providence Mountains Salton Sea San Luis Reservoir Silverwood Lake Standish-Hickey Tahoe Turlock Lake Woodson Bridge

State Vehicular Recreation Areas	Carnegie Clay Pit Heber Dunes Hollister Hills Hungry Valley Oceano Dunes Ocotillo Wells Prairie City

Other	Burleigh H. Murray Ranch California State Mining and Mineral Museum California State Capitol Museum California State Railroad Museum Castro Adobe Delta Meadows Estero Bay Hatton Canyon Indio Hills Palms Point Cabrillo Light Station Point Lobos Ranch Point Montara Light Station Reynolds Wayside Campground San Timoteo Canyon Stone Lake Verdugo Mountains Ward Creek Wildwood Canyon

National Forests and Grasslands

National Forests and Grasslands	Angeles Butte Valley NG Cleveland Eldorado Humboldt-Toiyabe Inyo Klamath Lake Tahoe Basin Lassen Los Padres Mendocino Modoc Plumas Rogue River – Siskiyou San Bernardino Sequoia Shasta–Trinity Sierra Six Rivers Stanislaus Tahoe

National Wilderness Preservation System	Agua Tibia Ansel Adams Bucks Lake Caribou Carson-Iceberg Castle Crags Cucamonga Desolation Dick Smith Dinkey Lakes Emigrant Golden Trout Hoover Inyo Mountains Ishi Jennie Lakes John Muir Kaiser Marble Mountain Mokelumne Mount Shasta Wilderness North Fork San Gabriel Sanhedrin San Jacinto San Rafael Sespe Siskiyou Snow Mountain South Fork Eel River South Sierra South Warner Thousand Lakes Trinity Alps Ventana Yolla Bolly–Middle Eel Yuki

National Monuments and Recreation Areas	Giant Sequoia National Monument San Gabriel Mountains National Monument Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Smith River National Recreation Area Shasta–Trinity National Recreation Area Sand to Snow National Monument

State Forests

Boggs Mountain Demonstration Ellen Pickett Jackson Demonstration Las Posadas LaTour Demonstration Mount Zion Mountain Home Demonstration Soquel Demonstration

National Wildlife Refuges

State Wildlife Areas

Wildlife Areas	Antelope Valley Ash Creek Bass Hill Battle Creek Big Lagoon Big Sandy Biscar Butte Valley Buttermilk Country Cache Creek Camp Cady Cantara/Ney Springs Cedar Roughs Cinder Flats Collins Eddy Colusa Bypass Coon Hollow Cottonwood Creek Crescent City Marsh Crocker Meadows Daugherty Hill Decker Island Doyle Dutch Flat Eastlker River Eel River Elk Creek Wetlands Elk River Fay Slough Feather River Fitzhugh Creek Fremont Weir Grass Lake Gray Lodge Green Creek Grizzly Island Hallelujah Junction Heenan Lake Hill Slough Hollenbeck Canyon Honey Lake Hope Valley Horseshoe Ranch Imperial Indian Valley Kelso Peak and Old Dad Mountains Kinsman Flat Knoxville Laguna Lake Berryessa Lake Earl Lake Sonoma Little Panoche Reservoir Los Banos Lower Sherman Island Mad River Slough Marble Mountains Mendota Merrill's Landing Miner Slough Monache Meadows Morro Bay Moss Landing Mouth of Cottonwood Creek Napa-Sonoma Marshes North Grasslands O'Neill Forebay Oroville Petaluma Marsh Pickel Meadow Pine Creek Point Edith Putah Creek Rector Reservoir Red Lake Rhode Island Sacramento River San Felipe Valley San Jacinto San Luis Obispo San Luis Reservoir San Pablo Bay Santa Rosa Shasta Valley Silver Creek Slinkard/Little Antelope Smithneck Creek South Fork Spenceville Surprise Valley Sutter Bypass Tehama Truckee River Upper Butte Basin Volta Warner Valley Waukell Creek West Hilmar Westlker River White Slough Willow Creek Yolo Bypass

Ecological Reserves	Albany Mudflats Alkali Sink Allensworth Atascadero Creek Marsh Bair Island Baldwin Lake Batiquitos Lagoon Blue Sky Boden Canyon Boggs Lake Bolsa Chica Bonny Doon Buena Vista Lagoon Butler Slough Butte Creek Canyon Butte Creek House Buttonwillow By Day Creek Calhoun Cut Canebrake Carlsbad Highlands Carmel Bay Carrizo Canyon Carrizo Plains China Point Clover Creek Coachella Valley Coal Canyon Corte Madera Marsh Crestridge Dairy Mart Ponds Dales Lake Del Mar Landing Eden Landing Elkhorn Slough Estelle Mountain Fall River Mills Fish Slough Fremont Valley Goleta Slough Indian Joe Spring Kaweah Kerman King Clone Laguna Laurel Loch Lomond Vernal Pool Lokern Magnesia Spring Marin Islands Mattole River McGinty Mountain Morro Dunes Morro Rock Napa River North Table Mountain Oasis Spring Panoche Hills Peytonia Slough Pine Hill Piute Creek Pleasant Valley Rancho Jamul Redwood Shores River Springs Lakes Saline Valley San Dieguito Lagoon San Elijo Lagoon San Felipe Creek San Joaquin River Santa Rosa Plateau Springville Stone Corral Sycamore Canyon Sycuan Peak Thomes Creek Tomales Bay Upper Newport Bay Watsonville Slough West Mojave Desert Woodbridge Yaudanchi

Marine Protected Areas	Abalone Cove Albany Mudflats Anacapa Anacapa Año Nuevo Asilomar Atascadero Beach Bair Island Batiquitos Lagoon Big Creek Big Creek Big Sycamore Canyon Bodega Bolsa Chica Cambria Cardiff and San Elijo Carmel Bay Carmel Pinnacles Carrington Point Catalina Marine Science Center Corte Madera Marsh Crystal Cove Dana Point Del Mar Landing Doheny Doheny Duxbury Reef Edward F. Ricketts Elkhorn Slough Elkhorn Slough Encinitas Estero de Limantour Fagan Marsh Farallon Islands Farnsworth Bank Fort Ross Gerstle Cove Goleta Slough Greyhound Rock Gull Island Harris Point Heisler Park Hopkins Irvine Coast James V. Fitzgerald Judith Rock Julia Pfeiffer Burns La Jolla Laguna Beach Lovers Cove (Catalina Island) Lovers Point MacKerricher Manchester and Arena Rock Marin Islands Mia J. Tegner Moro Cojo Slough Morro Bay Morro Bay Morro Beach Natural Bridges Niguel Pacific Grove Marine Gardens Painted Cave Peytonia Slough Piedras Blancas Piedras Blancas Pismo Pismo-Oceano Beach Point Buchon Point Buchon Point Cabrillo Point Fermin Point Lobos Point Reyes Headlands Point Sur Point Sur Portuguese Ledge Punta Gorda Redwood Shores Refugio Richardson Rock Robert E. Badham Robert W. Crown Russian Gulch Russian River Salt Point San Diego-Scripps San Dieguito Lagoon San Elijo Lagoon Santa Barbara Island Scorpion Skunk Point Sonoma Coast Soquel Canyon South Laguna Beach South Point Swami’s Tomales Bay Upper Newport Bay Van Damme Vandenberg White Rock (Cambria)

Bureau of Land Management National Landscape Conservation System

National Monuments	Berryessa Snow Mountain California Coastal Carrizo Plain Fort Ord Mojave Trails Sand to Snow Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains

National Conservation Areas	California Desert King Range

Wilderness Areas	Argus Range Big Maria Mountains Bigelow Cholla Garden Bighorn Mountain Black Mountain Bright Star Bristol Mountains Cadiz Dunes Carrizo Gorge Chemehuevi Mountains Chimney Peak Chuckwalla Mountains Chumash Cleghorn Lakes Clipper Mountain Coso Range Coyote Mountains Darwin Falls Dead Mountains Dick Smith El Paso Mountains Fish Creek Mountains Funeral Mountains Golden Valley Grass Valley Headwaters Forest Reserve Hollow Hills Ibex Indian Pass Inyo Mountains Jacumba Kelso Dunes Kiavah Kingston Range Little Chuckwalla Mountains Little Picacho Machesna Mountain Matilija Malpais Mesa Manly Peak Mecca Hills Mesquite Newberry Mountains Nopah Range North Algodones Dunes North Mesquite Mountains Old Woman Mountains Orocopia Mountains Otay Mountain Owens Peak Pahrump Valley Palen/McCoy Palo Verde Mountains Picacho Peak Piper Mountain Piute Mountains Red Buttes Resting Spring Range Rice Valley Riverside Mountains Rodman Mountains Sacatar Trail Saddle Peak Hills San Gorgonio Santa Lucia Santa Rosa Sawtooth Mountains Sespe Sheephole Valley South Nopah Range Stateline Stepladder Mountains Surprise Canyon Sylvania Mountains Trilobite Turtle Mountains Whipple Mountains

National Marine Sanctuaries

Channel Islands Cordell Bank Greater Farallones Monterey Bay

National Estuarine Research Reserves

Elkhorn Slough San Francisco Bay Tijuana River Estuary

University of California Natural Reserve System

Angelo Coast Range Reserve
Año Nuevo Island
Blue Oak Ranch Reserve
Bodega Marine
Box Springs
Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center
Burns Piñon Ridge
Carpinteria Salt Marsh
Chickering American River
Coal Oil Point
Dawson Los Monos Canyon
Eagle Lake Field Station
Elliott Chaparral
Emerson Oaks
Fort Ord
Hastings
James San Jacinto Mountains
Jenny Pygmy Forest
Jepson Prairie
Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh
Kenneth S. Norris Rancho Marino
Landels-Hill Big Creek
McLaughlin
Motte Rimrock
Quail Ridge
Sagehen Creek Field Station
San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh
Santa Cruz Island
Scripps Coastal
Sedgwick
Stebbins Cold Canyon
Steele Burnand Anza-Borrego
Stunt Ranch Santa Monica Mountains
Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center
Valentine Eastern Sierra
Younger Lagoon

Heritage registers: World Heritage Sites; World Network of Biosphere Reserves; National Register of Historic Places; National Historic Landmarks; National Natural Landmarks; California Historical Landmarks; California Points of Historical Interest; California Register of Historical Resources

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