page_title: Mendocino Headlands State Park
section_title: Big River Unit
hierarchical_section_title: Mendocino Headlands State Park / Big River Unit
caption_attribution_description: Big River, in the Big River Unit of Mendocino Headlands State Park, Mendocino, California.
context_page_description: Mendocino Headlands State Park is a California State Park in Mendocino, California. It consists of 347 acres of undeveloped seaside bluffs and islets surrounding the town of Mendocino, two beaches, and the much larger Big River Unit stretching for eight miles along both banks of the nearby Big River.
  The park began operation in 1974, after several years of concern and discussion from citizens about the possibility of blufftop development. The Big River Unit was added in 2002.
context_section_description: The Big River Unit of Mendocino Headlands State park consists of 7,334 acres (30 km²) of land along the banks of the Big River, south of Mendocino. It includes 1500 acres (6 km²) of wetlands and the longest undeveloped estuary in Northern California. The park was created on July 30, 2002 after a group of donors, nonprofit organizations, and agencies, led by the Mendocino Land Trust, collected over 25 million dollars to purchase the property from the Hawthorne Timber Company and conveyed it to the California State Park system. The park includes remnants of the historic Mendocino Lumber Company sawmill.
  The unit can be reached by State Route 1, south of Mendocino. Amenities are few, but include hiking paths on both sides of the river. Canoes and kayaks are available for rent from the Stanford Inn by the Sea on the south side of the river, and lead to a gentle paddle through eight miles (13 km) of forest.
  At the mouth of the river, a footpath leads north under the Highway 1 bridge to Big River beach and the town of Mendocino. Inland, north of the river, the unit abuts Mendocino Woodlands State Park; the hiking path on the north bank of the river leads from one park to the other. On the south side of the river Van Damme State Park is nearby, across the Comptche-Ukiah Road.
  There is also a "Big River State Park" in Illinois.
caption: The Big River Unit of Mendocino Headlands State Park, from the path on the north bank of the river.
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