Qualla: Navarro River Redwoods: The Park That Won Its Beach in Court https://qualla.com/navarro-river-redwoods-state-park en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:11 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/b/n/navarro-river-redwoods-state-park-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Navarro River Redwoods: The Park That Won Its Beach in Court https://qualla.com/navarro-river-redwoods-state-park Navarro River Redwoods: The Park That Won Its Beach in Court: Introduction https://qualla.com/navarro-river-redwoods-state-park/ Photo credit David Eppstein, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1959, the King family bought a stretch of Mendocino coast that included the beach at the mouth of the Navarro River. They blocked the dirt road, ending decades of free public access. The Dietzes sued. The case climbed all the way to the California Supreme Court, where it was decided alongside Gion v. City of Santa Cruz in 1970, establishing a precedent that a century of public use creates a public right-of-way. The beach at the end of Navarro River Redwoods State Park has been open ever since -- one of those rare places where legal history, natural beauty, and the stubbornness of beachgoers converged to shape California law.

Read more: Navarro River Redwoods on Qualla

Image: David Eppstein | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/b/n/navarro-river-redwoods-state-park-wp/9qbn-navarro-river-redwoods-the-park-that-won-its-beach-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Navarro River Redwoods: The Park That Won Its Beach in Court: Eleven Miles of River and Regrowth https://qualla.com/navarro-river-redwoods-state-park/ Photo credit David Eppstein, CC BY-SA 3.0. Navarro River Redwoods State Park is not a single destination but a corridor -- 660 acres of second-growth redwood forest stretching 11 miles along both banks of the Navarro River, from the inland town of Navarro to the Pacific Ocean. The trees here are second-growth because 19th...

Read more: Navarro River Redwoods on Qualla

Image: David Eppstein | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/b/n/navarro-river-redwoods-state-park-wp/9qbn-navarro-river-redwoods-the-park-that-won-its-beach-eleven-miles-of-river-and-regrowth.mp3 0:06 2 full Navarro River Redwoods: The Park That Won Its Beach in Court: A River Full of Life https://qualla.com/navarro-river-redwoods-state-park/ Photo credit David Eppstein, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Navarro River supports an ecosystem that belies the narrow, linear shape of the park. Coho salmon and steelhead trout run the river, their populations a barometer for the health of the watershed. River otters hunt the pools. Along the banks, great blue herons stand motionless...

Read more: Navarro River Redwoods on Qualla

Image: David Eppstein | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/b/n/navarro-river-redwoods-state-park-wp/9qbn-navarro-river-redwoods-the-park-that-won-its-beach-a-river-full-of-life.mp3 0:06 3 full Navarro River Redwoods: The Park That Won Its Beach in Court: The Towns Called Navarro https://qualla.com/navarro-river-redwoods-state-park/ Photo credit David Eppstein, CC BY-SA 3.0. Confusion has followed the name Navarro along this river for over a century. A mill town sat at the river's mouth until it burned in 1902. G.C. Wendling rebuilt a new mill upstream on the North Fork, and by 1905 a town called Wendling had grown around it. In 1914, the Navarro Lum...

Read more: Navarro River Redwoods on Qualla

Image: David Eppstein | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/b/n/navarro-river-redwoods-state-park-wp/9qbn-navarro-river-redwoods-the-park-that-won-its-beach-the-towns-called-navarro.mp3 0:06 4 full Navarro River Redwoods: The Park That Won Its Beach in Court: Dietz v. King https://qualla.com/navarro-river-redwoods-state-park/ Photo credit David Eppstein, CC BY-SA 3.0. The legal battle over beach access had roots stretching back a hundred years. Since at least the mid-1800s, the public had walked freely to the beach at the Navarro's mouth. Around 1949, the hotel owners started charging a 50-cent toll on the dirt access road, though not everyone...

Read more: Navarro River Redwoods on Qualla

Image: David Eppstein | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/b/n/navarro-river-redwoods-state-park-wp/9qbn-navarro-river-redwoods-the-park-that-won-its-beach-dietz-v-king.mp3 0:06 5 full Navarro River Redwoods: The Park That Won Its Beach in Court: Preserved in Pieces https://qualla.com/navarro-river-redwoods-state-park/ Photo credit David Eppstein, CC BY-SA 3.0. The park came together gradually. Paul M. Dimmick State Park, a 12-acre site named after a superintendent at the Albion Lumber Company, was established in 1928 and now forms part of the larger park. The surrounding land was purchased by the Save the Redwoods League in 1987 on beh...

Read more: Navarro River Redwoods on Qualla

Image: David Eppstein | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/b/n/navarro-river-redwoods-state-park-wp/9qbn-navarro-river-redwoods-the-park-that-won-its-beach-preserved-in-pieces.mp3 0:06 6 full