Table Bluff County Park

Hang gliders launch off this headland. Updrafts along the bluff south of Humboldt Bay make it a regional soaring site, and watching them work the ridge is a reason to stop even if you never leave the overlook.

Getting here takes three turns most people miss. From Highway 101 you take Hookton Road west, then Table Bluff Road up over the bluff to the park, then South Jetty Road down onto the South Spit. That spit is about 4.5 miles of dune and marsh separating Humboldt Bay from the Pacific, running north to the south jetty at the bay mouth. Pullouts line South Jetty Road, each a short walk to sand.

Table Bluff isn't one of the county's fee parks. Day-use fees are charged at A.W. Way, Big Lagoon, Freshwater and Van Duzen, and Table Bluff isn't on that list. The county publishes very little else about this particular park. Acreage isn't broken out, and posted hours are set at each park rather than online, so read the sign at the entrance.

Below the bluff, different rules apply. The Bureau of Land Management runs the South Spit, and the adjoining Mike Thompson Wildlife Area covers 598 acres. Western snowy plover nest there, and the plover restoration area at the north end closes to the public from March through September. Dogs must be leashed on the ocean side of South Jetty Road from March 1 to September 15. The spit is day use only.

Horseback riding works well on the ocean side, with room for trailers. Shorebirds and waders are thick on the spit, and ravens, foxes and raccoons turn up regularly.

The Wiyot Tribe's Table Bluff Reservation sits nearby. It's a separate place from the park, not part of it.