Usal Beach Camping Field Trip
Monday & Tuesday, September 22-23, 2025
RSVP: Please email, text, or call Matt Franks to reserve your spot on this trip by September 18 at the latest: membership@mendocinocoastaudubon.org or 707-499-0678. Please also contact Matt with any questions you have about the trip!
Description: Join us for our first ever MCAS field trip to Usal Beach on the Lost Coast! Many birders consider this area to be one of the most productive “vagrant traps” in Northern California. Considering how few birders visit this area because of how difficult it is to get here, it is truly impressive how many rare species—notably warblers, sparrows, vireos, and flycatchers—have been found here during fall migration.
This is an overnight camping trip in Sinkyone Wilderness State Park, which has first-come, first-serve camping. The long, slow dirt road to the campground has recently been graded (August 2025), so most normal-clearance cars will do just fine (besides getting dirty)! You’ll need to bring all your own camping gear and food, including water and a headlamp or portable lantern: there is a pit toilet but no water and only a few picnic tables.
You can plan to arrive at the Usal Beach Campground anytime after 4pm on Monday, September 22. When you get to the campground, take a left immediately after the bridge and head toward the beach—we will camp under the alder trees on the edge of the meadow. Look for my dark gray Toyota Tacoma if you can’t find us. If you would like to arrive early on Tuesday morning instead of camping, you can meet us at the same spot by 8:00am.
On Tuesday morning we will bird the campground, where we can expect to see migrating warblers such as Black-throated Gray, Yellow, MacGillivray’s, Chestnut-sided, and Hermit. Black-and-white, Tennessee, Nashville, Bay-breasted, and Palm Warblers have also been spotted here in recent years, along with Northern Waterthrush, American Redstart, and White-eyed Vireo. Resident and rare flycatchers have also been seen here, including Olive-Sided, Willow, Hammond’s, and Ash-throated. In the large meadow and marshy area, we will look for wetland and grassland birds: rare Black-throated, Clay-colored, and Brewer’s Sparrows have been seen recently in the area. We will also scan for shorebirds, cliff dwellers, and seabirds from the beach and overlooks.
Trip Leader: Matt Franks
Accessibility: Not ADA accessible.
Directions: On Highway 1 look for MM 90.88 and turn onto Usal Road (County Road 431), a dirt road that ascends a fairly steep hillside. This turnoff is about 30 miles north of Ft. Bragg, or if traveling on Highway 101, about 15 miles west of Leggett. From Highway 1 to the Usal Campground is about a 6-mile drive that will take 25 minutes or more. The complete trip from Ft. Bragg to Usal will take at least 1 hour and 15 minutes. When you get to the campground, take a left immediately after the bridge and head toward the beach—we will camp under the alder trees on the edge of the meadow.