Glass Beach near Ft. Bragg is a curiously sad place where trash was dumped for years and now glass has been worn into small polished stones by waves. Interesting photos…
Dave Chew
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I was just at Glass Beach in Fort Bragg. It's easy to miss because there are two locations. One is to the right where most everyone goes, and the best spot is the left trail. You'll need to climb down some not too easy shallow cliffs to the glass, and yeah, it's there for sure. The other location has been picked clean pretty much.
I went there late in the day at higher tide, and was not impressed, with hardly any glass. So I took off and asked some locals what was up. They said the right side is where all the tourists go and pick up and carry off all the glass. They told me to jog hard left along the fence, and then drop down into the beach from the short cliffs.
The only problem is that when I got there the low tide was after sunset, so I couldn't and didn't try to shoot anything. So there you go--make sure the low tide is light enough to shoot images.
What about the quality of the area? Well, I really didn't much care for Fort Bragg, but it's not bad. They have an interesting marina. If you go to Fort Bragg, then stop at the town of Mendocino. It's only a few miles past FB, and it is worth seeing and eating there. Fort Bragg does have some really nice coffee shops and I'm sure if I spent more time there, it would get better photographically.
As for Glass Beach, after I went back to the local spot, I was about 2 hours away from high tide, but I did hike down and got a good look. Where I was, which is much higher than you would be at low tide, there was glass about 1-2inches thick on top of the sand. Most of it is white, then green, and specs of red, I assume from wine bottles. If you planned it right and reviewed what you had before you took your camera, one could get some interesting shots in that area. It's not an easy or pleasant place to shoot however. The climb could be dangerous if you aren't very careful. You won't die from a fall, but you could easily break a leg or arm on the way down. Once down, you are in a sort of cauldron and that is where you have to set up your equipment. Then you are working right on the ocean. Then you get to climb out with your pack. Anyway---