A short ride north of Fort Bragg brings you to the tiny enclave of Cleone, which in Greek means gracious and beautiful.

During the settlement of the Mendocino Coast, Laguna as Cleone was once called, was a stop on the Humboldt Trail. Duncan MacKerricher, the original settler for whom the State Park is named, came here from Quebec in 1867. He first purchased 300 acres of land on the old Rancho de Laguna Indian Reservation for $375 and then added to these holdings.

Today Cleone is the entrance to MacKerricher State Park, an oceanfront camping, hiking and horseback riding mecca for North Coast visitors. Ward Avenue Beach is a wide, sandy expanse of rolling breakers and long vistas to the north and south.