Oceanfront Bluff Home - Whale Watching, Redwoods, Wood Stove & Pet Friendly

Only 20 miles south of Oregon, Crescent City is one of California’s best kept secrets. The northernmost lighthouse in the state — the 1856 Battery Point Lighthouse — sits on a tiny granite island only reachable on foot at low tide. Walk the causeway, climb the spiral staircase, crawl through a trap door, and you’re rewarded with a 360-degree view that stops you cold.

A few miles offshore sits St. George Reef Lighthouse, built after the 1865 wreck of the Brother Jonathan — rumored to have gone down carrying 1.5 tons of gold coins and bullion, much of which was never recovered. See it from the bluffs at Point St. George; its original Fresnel lens is on display at the Del Norte County Museum.

Wander the waterfront and take in the fact that this entire city was rebuilt after a devastating 1964 tsunami — the warning signs around town are a striking reminder. Stop by Ocean World to watch sea lions play catch with visitors, or visit the Northcoast Marine Mammal Center where injured seals and sea lions recover before being released. Call ahead for feeding time.

Pebble Beach Drive is right around the corner from Sunset Sanctuary — one of the best places on the coast to hunt for agates and semi-precious gemstones.

Drive inland 30 minutes and you’re in another world — the ancient old-growth redwoods of Jedediah Smith State Park. The Grove of Titans contains trees so massive they weren’t fully documented until 1998. Howland Hill Road winds through the heart of the forest and is the kind of drive that makes you pull over every hundred yards just to stare.

And yes — this is Bigfoot Country. The forest here is dense enough that you start to understand why. Keep your eyes on the tree line. The locals have stories.

Sunset Sanctuary sits at the edge of one of the most extraordinary ecosystems on earth. Just outside your door, a spectacular network of parks protects nearly half of the world’s coast redwoods — the tallest living things on the planet, some reaching over 350 feet. But the redwoods are just the beginning.

Roosevelt elk — genuinely massive animals — graze in open prairies along the parkway. Wild beaches stretch for miles with barely a footprint in sight, framed by weathered driftwood and rivers tumbling into the sea. Gray whales migrate past seasonally. Pilot whales cruise these waters year-round. On a clear morning from the deck, you might spot both.

Three state parks — Jedediah Smith, Del Norte Coast, and Prairie Creek Redwoods — work alongside Redwood National Park to protect this remarkable region, offering hiking, kayaking, tide pooling, wildlife watching, and some of the most humbling scenery in North America.

There are places that remind you how small you are in the best possible way. This is one of them. Sunset Sanctuary puts you right at the threshold.