Skip to content
Van Damme State Park, Little River, CA

Photo: David Eppstein, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

Sports & Outdoors

Van Damme State Park

A Mendocino Coast state park with a beach, a fern-lined canyon trail system, and a pygmy forest of dwarfed cypress and pine.

Little River, CA

About Van Damme State Park

Van Damme State Park sits a few miles south of Mendocino along Highway 1 and includes a sandy beach, two campgrounds, and the Fern Canyon trail network following Little River. Visitors can hike, bike, kayak, and explore a pygmy forest where stunted conifers grow on nutrient-poor soil, with a wheelchair-accessible boardwalk. The park also preserves historical resources tied to the redwood lumber industry and a former Civilian Conservation Corps recreation hall that now serves as a visitor center.

  • #beach
  • #redwoods
  • #pygmy forest
  • #hiking
  • #kayaking

What's around here?

The closest stops to Van Damme State Park, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

  • Sports & Outdoors

    Mendocino Headlands State Park

    No admission fee

    Coastal bluffs, trails, and beaches wrapped around the village of Mendocino, with a historic visitor center.

    2.7 mi awayMore like this

  • Sports & Outdoors

    Russian Gulch State Park

    Under $25

    Coastal park near Mendocino with a redwood canyon, a 36-foot waterfall, and sea headlands.

    4.1 mi awayMore like this

  • Sports & Outdoors

    Mendocino Woodlands State Park

    Check prices

    A forested group camp and environmental center in the redwoods northeast of Mendocino, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

    5.2 mi awayMore like this

  • Sightseeing

    Point Cabrillo Light Station State Historic Park

    Check prices

    A coastal state historic park on a Pacific headland, centered on a restored lighthouse and three original lightkeepers' houses.

    5.7 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing

  • Sports & Outdoors

    Caspar Headlands State Beach

    Check prices

    Largely undeveloped ocean beach on the Mendocino coast, popular for spotting whales and for fishing.

    6.7 mi awayMore like this

  • Tours
    Iconic

    Skunk Train

    $50+

    Historic excursion railroad running through redwood forest and along the Noyo River canyon from Fort Bragg.

    Transit: reachable by public transit

    12 mi awaySwitch it up: Tours