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Salt Point State Park

Salt Point State Park on the Sonoma Coast is an area to go to experience the coastal wonders of California’s Sonoma Coast. The sounds and visions of pounding surf are often experienced at Salt Point State Park.

Sandstone and Tafoni are what Salt Point State Park is known for.

Sandstone from Salt Point was used in the construction of San Francisco’s streets and buildings during the mid 1800′s. In 1853, Samuel Duncan and Joshua Hendy built a sawmill on a ridge located above Salt Point. A couple of years later they leased the land to a San Francisco company which quarried the sandstone.

Tafoni is the Italian word for cavern. Tafoni is a natural phenomenon that is common along the sandstone near the ocean’s edge at Salt Point State Park. The sandstone is formed into a honeycomb type network carved into the rocks forming pits, knobs, ribs, and ridges. The constant impact of the waves forms the rocks into many different shapes.

The park is named for the formation of salt crystals in the cracks and crevices of the rocky coastline. The native Kashaya Pomo collected salt from this area for many years. They used abalone chisels to scrape the salt off the rocks.

This photograph at Salt Point State Park was taken in December of 2002. I had just purchased my first Nikon Digital Camera, a Nikon D100. A drive was taken up Highway 1 along the beautiful Sonoma Coast from my home in Santa Rosa, California. The surf was rough this winter day and the waves blasting into the rocks of Salt Point State Park could be seen from Highway 1. The pounding surf, the pattern of the sandstone and the color of the rocks from a late afternoon sun provided a good opportunity for a photograph.

Salt Point State Park is a beautiful destination for an afternoon of photography along the Sonoma Coast.