The Skunk Train

Located in Northern California’s Mendocino County there is a skunk running through the redwood forest, but this isn’t any skunk, it’s the world famous Skunk Train. The California redwoods, pristine coastline, and award winning vineyards are all a part of the landscape of what makes Mendocino County such an amazing place and home to this 131-year-old train.

Regardless of your departure point it’s the occasional whistles as your train chugs through tunnels, over bridges and past open meadows, the train follows the coastal "Redwood Route" as it has since 1885. It is the towering trees, a glimpse of a deer drinking from the Noyo River, an isolated fisherman's cabin peeking from the forest, and the notion that you have left the rest of the world behind that draw people to the Skunk Train.

The Noyo River Canyon
Departing from Fort Bragg, the first few miles run alongside the Pudding Creek estuary, where common wildlife sightings include blue heron, egrets, osprey, ducks, and the occasional lounging turtle. After passing through Tunnel No. 1, the Skunk Train snakes its way along the Noyo River, zig-zagging through the redwood-thick Noyo River Canyon.

Coastal Range and Redwoods
Departing from Willits and traveling to Northspur, your train will climb the Eastern slope of the California Coast Range, cutting through it at Tunnel No. 2 (Summit) before descending into the Noyo River Canyon. This is the mountainous part of our railroad line, in which 8.5 miles of track cover a straight-line distance of less than one mile.


Come see the Skunk in its natural habitat.