MacKerricher State Park – Inglenook Ten Mile Preserve – northern stretch – aka Ten Mile Dunes

Ten Mile Beach is the long stretch of coastline at Inglenook Fen Ten Mile Dunes Preserve in MacKerricher State Park. The beach, which is actually about four miles long, starts at the north end of Main Beach and continues all the way to Ten Mile Creek just south of Seaside Beach. Between these two points is a vast dunes structure that is almost a mile wide. A rough path (an old paved “Haul Road”) used to follow the back of the beach where hikers and horseback riders could travel without damaging the dunes and protected plants and animal habitats. This crumbling old path is being removed by the state to restore the dunes habitat. This makes travel through the dunes difficult, but the beach coastal trail will remain.

There is a parking lot at the south end of the beach on Ward Avenue and one at the north end just off Highway 1 at Ten Mile River Bridge. This might be the ultimate beachcombing beach for hardy souls who brave the common cool windy conditions here. About a mile north of the Ward Ave parking lot is a wetlands area known as Sandhill Lake which makes a great bird-watching spot.