Willits
Willits, the third largest town in Mendocino County, is located on Hwy 101 approximately 22 miles north of Ukiah. Willits is known as the “Heart of Mendocino County—Gateway to the Redwoods,” and was incorporated in 1888. It was founded by Hiram Willits and was settled in the 1850s by pioneering ranchers. Sam and Harry Baechtel drove a herd of cattle up from Marin County in search of permanent grazing land and found a valley that fulfilled their needs. The town was called Willitsville in 1865 and the primary industry was lumber. Today, wood products are still important to the local economy. However, many other industries such as tourism, wineries and service industries are also expanding.
In 1860, William James built the first grist mill and about the same time the Blosser brothers built a water-powered sawmill up Willits Creek. Lumber brought prosperity to the tiny settlement, with the first sawmill built in 1861. The town of Little Lake had sprung up on Baechtel land, consisting of a store, meeting house, blacksmith shop and a saloon. In 1865 Kirk Brier built a store to the north on Hiram Willits’ land, and the town of Willitsville grew around it. The town’s prosperity back in the frontier days attracted the famous stagecoach robber Black Bart, who robbed coaches on the steep Ridgewood Summit, between Willits and Ukiah.
In 1911, tracks were extended from the California Western Railway’s Skunk Train to reach Willits. The former logging train still connects Willits with Fort Bragg on the Mendocino coast and is a favorite attraction for visitors to the area. The train is famous for its four-hour tour of the scenic corridor between the two towns. The route travels through redwood forests, along rushing streams and through several tunnels. Shorter trips are also possible. Highway 20 links the two towns.
www.skunktrain.com
Willits has a population of approximately 5,000 people and features excellent retail stores, restaurants, lodging, business and service establishments. Most of the businesses line Highway 101, but a few can be found on quiet side streets. Golfers can play nine holes in the redwoods at Brooktrails Golf Course northwest of town.
Willits’ Frontier Days celebration takes place every year in July. It’s famous for its rodeo, which is the oldest continuously held rodeo in California. It first started in 1926.
www.willitsfrontierdays.com
A sense of Mendocino’s heritage can be found at the Mendocino County Museum. The museum houses mementos, historical photographs and exhibits about local Native Americans. It also has oral history interviews from Mendocino citizens, collections of Pomo and Yuki baskets and historical logging artifacts.
The museum is located at 400 East Commercial Street, (707) 459-2736.
Whether your just passing through or live in the area Willits KOA and Resort has camping, rental cabins and day use facilities for outdoor family recreation. The day use facilities include a fishing pond, petting zoo, mini golf, playground, disc golf course, hiking trails and an arcade.
For more information, call (800) 562-8542.
www.koa.com/where/ca/05257
Covelo
If your journey takes you off Highway 101 northeast on Route 162, you will be heading towards one of California’s prettiest pockets of nature. The drive will take you along the old Northwestern Pacific Railroad, along the ancient waters of the Eel River into a land that Native Americans venerate to this day. Covelo and the Round Valley, with its breathtaking mountains, the majestic Eel River, groves of conifers and valley oaks, offer a rare glimpse of the wilderness to share and remember. The air is fresh, crisp and clean and the view is literally panoramic.
The first inhabitants of Round Valley were members of the Native American Yuki tribe who resided there for thousands of years until the mid-1850s when they were forced onto a reservation, eventually together with seven other tribes. Over the past century, the area around the reservation has been populated with small settlements. Industry did pass through briefly but left the natural beauty of the landscape relatively untouched. Even the old railroad line with its turn-of-the-century designed trestles and tunnels seems a natural work of art today, more sculpture than scar.
The little town of Covelo at the south end of Round Valley (population almost 1200) is a unique cultural enclave in the middle of a natural world. It has a respected community of artists who specialize in a myriad of media: Japanese textiles, ceramics, drumming, graphic arts, photography, quilting, woodcuts, oil painting, sculpture and exquisite expressions of Native American basketry and beading. The Round Valley Community Theater presents plays all year long, including a few specially designed for children. The town is rich in music as well, with groups that perform everything from classical to bluegrass and rock.
The rich Native American presence remains proud and the local Indian Days Celebration is a unique opportunity to share their culture. Celebrating with arts, crafts and food, the three-day festival held in September at Hidden Oaks Park in Covelo has much to offer. There is a parade, rodeo, softball tournament, live entertainment, a 5-mile walk/run, traditional Indian dancers and drummers and incredible, fresh cultural food. There is also a Harvest Festival held at the Blackberry Festival Grounds in September that features organic, home-grown produce and other locally-made foods along with workshops and entertainment.
At the heart of almost every trip toward Covelo is the desire to experience nature. The Mendocino National Forest and the Yolla Bolly- Middle Eel Wilderness Area are stars in the National Parks Program and can provide you with the ultimate outdoor experience.
There are accommodations for equestrians too. Black Butte River Ranch offers a country store, RV park and campsites, cabins and equestrian facilities for boarding including nine paddocks and seven acres of pasture if you come to ride. Trail riding maps are available for the Mendocino National Forest, 34985 Etsel Ridge Road in Covelo, (707) 983-9438.
There are also hundreds of ATV and motorbike trails running throughout the Round Valley. It’s a bit of dirtbike, off-road paradise. Mountain bikers wanted!
There is much in Covelo to comfort the wanderer, the biker, the hiker, the fisherman, the family. For in-town accommodations there’s the Wagon Wheel Motel featuring 17 rooms with refrigerators, microwaves, HBO and coffee service located at 75860 Covelo Road, (707) 983-6717.
The TuckStop Diner has quality hometown cooking for dine-in or take-out with plenty of the classic daily specials we still love. They’re open Wednesday through Sunday from 7:00 am to 3:00 p.m., located at 76290 Commercial St. in Covelo, (707) 983-8141.
The North Fork Café offers Chef Danny Lopiano’s “Mostly Italian” cooking. Delicious food, great service, nice presentation, comfy and uptown, all at the same time. Open for dinner Wednesday through Saturday from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., (707) 983-8014. (They also own the classy espresso truck seen around town.)
There is also great food and a really good time waiting at the Hidden Oaks Casino and Restaurant on the Round Valley Reservation. The casino offers over 100 Vegas-style games, including progressives and electronic poker. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner every day, (707) 983-6896.
At the heart of every rural paradise is the feed store, offering everything from fishing licenses to tool rentals, household and sporting goods, hardware and farm and pet supplies. Covelo has M&M Feed & Supply, and they do have it all at 74540 Hill Road in Covelo, (707) 983-6273.
It’s a small but friendly place, located in the heart of one of California’s most beautiful wilderness areas, and it fits right in.
