Fort Bragg: Glass Beach
In order to get to the fabled Glass Beach, one of those “places to visit before you die” featured on Tumblr, Pininterest and all those other dumb sites I pretend I am above but secretly use, I convinced my two compadres to take a five-hour detour on our drive from San Fran to Lake Tahoe.
We could have got the same effect from heading to the scummiest bit of Burleigh beach the day after a New Year’s Eve party. Instead of a pristine coast covered in sea glass, we were met with a rubbish tip of broken bottles and filthy sand, topped off by massive open drains that spewed raw sewage and radioactive waste onto the rocks.
I don’t know what joker uploaded all those pictures on the internet, but I’ll tell you one thing: they are a Photoshop wizard. Admittedly there are a few pretty patches of scattered sea glass, but they are few and far between, probably because everyone (myself included) disregards the signs prohibiting the removal of souvenirs.
Definitely one for the fuck-it list.
Based on your pictures and review, you went to the wrong beach. 🙁 There are a number of coves along the beach, and you probably went to the main/busier one that’s easier to get to (but far less desirable & pretty). If you were to go south a bit along the coast and hike down, you’d find the beach that looks like your “photoshopped” pic above. It’s covered in glass, amazing, and not many people were there when I went. Hope you find it next time!
I also suspect you went to the wrong spot. I’ve been to the beach in the X-out photo and although the colors may have been pumped up, it really does have colored glass and not sand. Perhaps you were there after a storm? Even then I can’t imagine Glass Beach being as barren as your photos show.
Man I did the exact same thing! Made my brother and his girlfriend take me there during a short stint in San-Fran. I think by the time you finish the drive up, you just want to see it and leave. There’re no indication that there’s better stuff further down. Wish I’d ventured on, but we just left, defeated by Fort Bragg.
Haha soooo depressing hey. Don’t think I’m brave enough to ever give it another crack.
You drove all that way and only went to Glass Beach? And then, because you failed to explore the beaches and coves properly, you claim its all a lie and photo-shopped? (lol, its not btw)
Boy, I’m glad tourists like you don’t stick around. This area was just ranked one of the most beautiful counties in the entire US. If you bothered to drive that crazy windy road down to Fort Bragg, you should have looked up from your garbage hunt in the sand once in a while to appreciate what a beautiful place it is.