Sue-Meg State Park
- Visitor center
- Picnic
- Accessible Restrooms
- Accessible Parking
Features
- Visitor center
- Picnic
- Accessible Restrooms
- Accessible Parking
Information
- Website:
- parks.ca.gov
- Address:
- 4150 Patricks Point Dr., Trinidad, CA,
- Region:
- North Coast
- Phone:
- Info: (707) 677-3570
- Hours:
- Day use: Sunrise-sunset
Visitor center: Call park - Dogs:
- In restricted areas
Not allowed on trails or beach only permitted in the campground and day-use area. - Last Visited:
- July 2023
A highlight of the park is a replica of a Yurok village, known as Sumêg. Built in 1990 by local Yuroks using traditional construction techniques, it consists of a dance pit, changing houses, sweat house, and family houses. All can be viewed from a moderately accessible trail.
Several miles of interconnected trails wind throughout the park, but most are inaccessible to wheelchair riders due to steep, rough terrain; a section of the Rim Trail is accessible and the paved road that meanders through forests, meadows, and campgrounds has little traffic and offers a great way to explore the park.
Trails and Pathways
- Trail:
- Sumeg Trail
- Trailhead Location:
- Adjacent to the visitor center
- Trail Length:
- Less than .5 mile
- Typical Width:
- 4 ft. & above
- Typical Grade:
- Gentle
- Typical Terrain:
- Moderately Firm
About a hundred feet beyond the canoe is a spur trail to Ceremonial Rock, which, given its name, I should have guessed would be inaccessible—the terrain quickly becomes steep and rough, and there's a step up to a bridge. Another hundred feet past the spur is a trail to the native plant garden, where you can see plants used by the Yurok for medicines, baskets, and ceremonial purposes. I found this tree-lined trail manageable in a motorized wheelchair, but it took some careful navigating. It was a bit overgrown and untended, but may be better maintained during the park's busier months.
The forest's cool, damp air was filled with birdsong and rays of sunlight, and an abundance of blooming white trillium lightened the landscape as well, but a few hundred yards beyond the native plant garden, when I reached the open meadow of Sumêg Village, my spirit soared in the welcome warmth of the sun. Here you can continue on the wide trail as it skirts the village structures, or cross a grassy meadow as I did, to get a closer view of the structures—this route is quite bumpy and may be challenging in a manual wheelchair. The main path leads to the cook shelter, where you can get close to one of the changing houses–used as changing rooms by the Brush Dancers of various tribes, including Yurok, Karuk, and Hoopa–and the dance pit. The people of Sumêg regarded their houses as living beings and the redwood they were made from as a spirit, and their first loyalty was not to a tribe or village, but to their home.
We tried to return to the visitor center on other trails but found all of them extremely bumpy with tree roots, so returned the way we came. It is possible to drive to the Sumêg Village instead of taking the trail.
- Trail:
- Rim Trail
- Trailhead Location:
- Wedding Rock parking lot
- Trail Length:
- 1-2 total miles
- Typical Width:
- 4 ft. & above
- Typical Grade:
- Gentle
- Typical Terrain:
- Moderately Firm
The Rim Trail is 2-miles but only .85 mile is accessible from the Wedding Rock parking lot. This blufftop trail offers a few expansive views of the ocean but mostly travels through forests of Sitka spruce, red alder, Douglas-fir, and western hemlock. After a few feet from start the ocean comes into view and at .07 is a short trail to benches at an overlook. You might see migrating gray whales, sea lions, or seals playing in the waves or lounging on the rocks below. The trail then continues on a gentle continuous uphill climb through shade until .5-miles where you'll cross the road to continue on to Ceremonial Rock another .1-mile. If you continue another .2-miles the trees thin out and you can reach the Red Alder campground. I turned back here but, instead of retracing my route back at the road crossing, I followed it back to our vehicle for a total of 1.7 miles.
Accessibility Features
- Accessible Parking:
- Yes – designated accessible parking, van accessible, firm, level or slope no greater than 2%;
At visitor center, Patrick's Point, Palmer's Point, Mussel Rocks, Lookout Rock, Campfire Center, and Sumêg Village; the last is on a slight slope and has no access aisle.
- Accessible Restroom:
- Yes – Adjacent to the visitor center, near the parking lot at Sumêg Village, and at Mussel Rocks overlook, Lookout Rock, and the Campfire Center; a portable unit is at Palmer's Point.
- Camping:
- Yes
- Accessible Picnic Table:
- Yes – firm & stable path to tables, firm & stable surface, 27" or greater knee clearance
- Accessible Visitor Center:
- Yes – A stop at the visitor center, just inside the park entrance, will greatly enhance your visit to this park. You will learn about the Yurok, who inhabit coastal Humboldt County and have traditionally come to Patricks Point in the summer to fish and hunt. Displays include Indian baskets and tools, birds of the forest, and animal specimens, including a gray whale skull, gray fox, and brown bear. Interactive exhibits invite you to guess which animal made which tracks and to feel animal bones and other specimens.
- Other Things of Interest:
- Nearby Trinidad State Beach in picturesque, historic Trinidad has an accessible day-use picnic area on a bluff overlooking the beach. On my visit the restrooms were locked, so I was unable to assess their accessibility.
- Good to Know:
- Four rustic cabins are at the Agate Cabin Area. Each sleeps six and because all are accessible they are open to anyone to reserve. The restroom building across the road from the cabins is not accessible. The nearest wheelchair accessible restroom building is located adjacent to campsite 91 (approximately 200-300 yards from the cabins via the campground road). A wheelchair accessible portable toilet is near the cabins. Campsites numbers 91, 92, and 94 in the Agate campround and 65, 68, and 69 in Abolone are accessible.
