Hare Creek Beach(Babcock Beach, Hare Inlet)

Located to the south of Fort Bragg, Hare Creek Beach - also known as Babcock Beach - is a large beach with light brown sand that is situated within a deep cove below oceanfront bluffs. The Hare Creek flows into the ocean on this beach and there is a gulch near the back of the beach that has a dense amount of vegetation. The shoreline around the beach is rocky. 

Hare Creek Beach does not have lifeguards or any other amenities, so plan your trip accordingly. The beach allows dogs on leash. 

Hare Creek Beach offers many fun activities including beachcombing, hiking, sunbathing, fishing, wildlife watching, swimming, surfing, kitesurfing, windsurfing, bodysurfing, boogie boarding, kayaking, canoeing, boating, jet-skiing, scuba diving, and snorkeling. The water near Hare Creek Beach offers some great and consistent surfing waves on very rare occasions, and winter is the best season to surf on the water near this beach. However, if you are planning to go into the water near Hare Creek Beach, we recommend being careful as the water here is known for its extremely dangerous waves and cold temperature.

The water near the beach is home to many marine mammals including seals, sea lions, and migrating grey whales between December and April. The water here is also home to many fishes including lingcod, cabezon, surfperches, and greenlings. In addition, the water near Hare Creek Beach has large amounts of abalone shellfish. This incredible biodiversity makes Hare Creek Beach popular among scuba divers who can explore the unique marine wildlife present here and also collect abalone. A large amount of fish present in the water near Hare Creek Beach also makes it a great fishing spot. If you like birdwatching, you can also watch many migratory birds in Hare Creek Beach, which often use this beach as a resting spot.

Getting to Hare Creek Beach is easy - the access trail to the beach starts from the southern end of the free parking lot of College of the Redwoods Mendocino Coast, which is located near 1211 Del Mar Drive. You need to walk south on this trail until you reach the area near the Pacific Coast Highway / Shoreline Highway bridge, where there is a signpost for Hare Creek Beach that indicates the way to the beach along the bluff sides surrounding it. Another access trail to Hare Creek Beach with a small free parking space is present near 18700 Cypress Road. However, this access trail to the beach generally requires traversing through Hare Creek, which can be occasionally deep and murky.

There are many attractions near Hare Creek Beach. Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens has a variety of plant collections that are home to a vivid array of flora including a marine zone garden, gardens containing dahlias and magnolias, a conifer pine forest, a kitchen garden, and a camellia garden. In addition, Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens are famous for having an incredible array of beautiful and sweet-smelling rhododendron flowers. Larry Spring Museum of Common Sense Physics is dedicated to the work of Larry Spring, who was a resident of the town of Fort Bragg who developed his own amateur understanding of scientific phenomena. Larry demonstrated his experiments using commonly available materials and constructed many erratic and interesting apparatus, models, and inventions displaying a combination of outsider art and science. If you are looking for another attraction near Hare Creek Beach, NOYO Center for Marine Science has a discovery center that offers interesting exhibits on the local biodiversity. The discovery center also has a gift shop. In addition, NOYO Center for Marine Science also has the Crow’s Nest Interpretive Center that is situated upon a bluff overlooking the ocean. This interpretive center also has interesting exhibits on natural history, an aquarium tide pool, and a deck for whale watching.

If you get hungry, there are many great restaurants near Hare Creek Beach. The upscale CAFÉ BEAUJOLAIS offers a wide array of amazing gourmet dishes. Caspar Pub House is a gastropub that serves classic British dishes including scotch eggs, fish-and-chips, and the iconic chicken tikka masala. The gastropub also hosts live music performances on Friday and Saturday nights, open mic performances on Thursdays, and a Quiz Night on Mondays. If you are looking for another good and affordable restaurant near Hare Creek Beach, the modestly priced Bernillo’s Pizzeria & Subs offers fantastic pizzas.

If you are looking for a hotel near Hare Creek Beach, there are many great nearby options. The 4-Star Brewery Gulch Inn offers many amenities including lush gardens with ponds, a common area that has a fireplace, a small library, a DVD collection featuring more than 500 movies, and board games, and complimentary local wine, beer, light dinner buffets, and breakfast. A more affordable hotel is the 3-Star Ocean View Lodge that offers incredible views of the ocean. In addition, the hotel is located conveniently close to some of the major landmarks in Mendocino County. If you are looking for another good and affordable hotel near Hare Creek Beach, the modestly priced 2-Star Seabird Lodge offers many amenities including a pool, a hot tub, and guest laundry services.