I have driven hundreds of thousands of miles and I’d say the Trinidad Scenic Drive is one of the most beautiful drives on the California Coast.

Neighbor to Agate Campground at Sue-meg State Park where we’d slept the night before, Luffenholtz Beach hosts a boardwalk lookout where you’re surrounded by the beautiful bouldered Pacific coastline. We only spent about 20 minutes here, doing the Point trail out to the look out and then back to the car after taking bazillions of photos. Next time we’re here (there will be a next time), who knows how long we’ll get lost down on the beach.

The name ‘Tepona’ comes from the language of the Yurok people whose land this beach is within.

“The narrow Tepona Point trail traverses marine terrace sands that were deposited in a beach-like setting about 40,000 years ago. Tectonic uplift has since raised those beach sands to their present location high above the rocky beach. The sandy loam soils are now rapidly eroding, but still harbor several dune plants from long ago…”

The itttttyyy bitty boardwalk viewpoint way out there. It reminded me of Muir Beach Overlook near San Francisco. I love spots like this, they totally give a Rose in the Titanic moment.

As a lifelong resident of flat-beached Maryland, it’s such a novelty to come out here to the rocky coastline. I’d never been to Oregon before, and I noticed the closer we got, the rockier it became (and the more excited I became to cross the border).

It was around 7:30AM and the sound of the wind plus the crashing waves on both sides made a soul-soothing soundtrack.

The overlook seems like it’s relatively brand new and the work that must’ve gone into it is much appreciated. I was so glad that we had it all to ourselves.

The parking area is super tiny and the road leading to it is *maybe* 1.5 lanes wide on a good day, so I can imagine that in mid-summer it’s super congested and hard to find a spot.

After huffing the ocean air for as long as we could, we headed back up the sandy razorback trail and to the car… and on our way to the much-fabled Moonstone Beach.

Learn more about Luffenholtz Beach:
https://www.trinidadcoastallandtrust.org/luffenholtz-beach-and-tepona-point.html

About the Tepona Point Public Access Improvement Project:
https://www.trinidadcoastallandtrust.org/tepona-point-project