CALIFORNIA'S ROAD LESS TRAVELED\NORTH HIGHWAY 1 A daunting drive past dazzling natural wonders.

Byline: Susanne Hopkins Daily News Travel Editor

It's nature's little joke.

Here is this splendid vista of glittering blue water edged with meringuelike white caps, dotted with fantastically shaped rocks, framed with robin's-egg blue sky and velvety-green hills. And the only way to see it up close and personal is via this corkscrew of a road that demands I keep my eyes on it or risk plummeting into the ocean or crashing into a mountain.

Welcome to Highway 1 north of San Francisco, one of California's most spectacular drives (albeit less popular than its southern twin). For about 220 miles, from San Francisco Bay to the U.S. Highway 101 junction at Leggett, it winds past dazzling ocean views, rustic fishing villages, inviting state parks, winsome towns and through towering redwood forests.

It can take you eight hours if you don't stop anywhere or several days if you do. It demands extreme patience (30 mph is the norm, and logging trucks and looky-loos slow you down even more), adroit driving and tough decisions on whether to stop at a stellar sight or move on before fog and night descend. But the rewards of this drive are scenes of unbelievable beauty and abundant discoveries.

San Francisco Bay to Gualala

At noon on a golden January day, I set off for points north from San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. Five miles later, I veer off at the Stinson Beach/Highway 1 exit.

The road snakes along hills wearing premature coats of green. Periodically, I catch glimpses of the sapphire-blue sea.

Six miles after the turnoff, I stop at Black Vista Overlook and walk down the narrow path to the overlook situated atop a huge chunk of granite. To the north, a ribbon of asphalt curves sharply along steep bluffs. It is my first view of the road that lies ahead.

The road ambles through a portion of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which extends from San Francisco to Olema about 50 miles north. It passes Stinson Beach day park - where there's a large beach for swimming - before entering the sleepy town of Stinson Beach.

Three miles north of the town, I pass Audubon Canyon Ranch, where great blue herons and white egrets congregate each March, and Bolinas, whose claim to fame is Duxbury Reef, which features tidepooling, surfing, clamming and rock fishing (bass are good here).

I note numerous trailheads along the road, most of which lead hikers on scenic trails to the ocean, and I pass by Drakes Bay, where Sir Francis Drake is said to have anchored his Golden Hinde in 1579.

At Olema, I stop at Olema Liquor and Deli and, for $4.25, pick up a tasty turkey and chicken sausage sandwich.

"How far to Gualala?" I ask the clerk, pocketing my change.

"Never heard of it," he says.

Back in the car, I do a rough calculation - two hours to my destination. My aim is to be at a bed-and-breakfast inn in Gualala by sundown. After dark, there's only moonlight and one's car lights to illuminate the twisting highway - and I'm not brave enough to traverse such a road then.

So reluctantly, I pass Point Reyes Lighthouse (free; open 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays), which is 20 miles off Highway 1 on a point carved out by earthquakes along the San Andreas fault. Too bad; the lighthouse is worthy of a visit and the setting offers a prime spot for whale-watching. You can also tramp the Earthquake Trail, which tracks evidence of geologic activity.

I pass through Marshall (pop. 50) with its boatworks and rustic cottages built on pilings. The road winds inland, taking me through Tomales, where dogs snooze in the street, sheep graze on the hills and men shoot the breeze on the deli porch. This stretch of road is oyster country and there are several spots in Marshall and Tomales to purchase the mollusks.

At Bodega Bay, which Alfred Hitchcock immortalized in his film "The Birds," and where there's a new fire station and a Holiday Inn, you can buy an ocean-view lot for $85,000. It is here that the road pulls you back to the pounding sea and a shoreline littered with huge driftwood logs. This is the beginning of the Sonoma coastline, which is marked by 14 miles of state beach parks and steep cliffs - and plenty of opportunities for fishing, surfing, and beachcombing.

Jenner marks the last escape inland to Highway 101; I continue on for 13 miles to Fort Ross ($5 vehicle fee; open daily 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; [phone]), which the Russian-American Co. settled in 1812 to raise food for their Alaska outposts.

Now a state historic park, Fort Ross is a complex of reconstructed buildings situated on the headlands overlooking the ocean. I study the visitor center's small, but interesting, displays on the American Indians who once inhabited the area and learn how the sea otters were virtually wiped out by zealous hunters.

The fort, an enclosed stockade, is a quarter-mile walk away. There, I find the Russian Orthodox chapel with its onion-shaped dome, the officers' quarters and blockhouses with their unusual seven and eight sides.

Only one structure, the Rotchev House, is original, park ranger Bill Walton says. It was built about 1835, just six years before the Russians left, and is one of only three Russian-American Co. buildings in the world. The two others are in Sitka, Alaska.

It's moving toward sundown as I head for Gualala, passing Salt Point State Park and and the Kruse Rhododendron Preserve (open during daylight hours; free; [phone]), where the prime season is April to June. Finally, five hours and 130 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge, I pull into the parking lot of the Old Milano Inn in Gualala, just as the setting sun splashes its coral rays on the blue Pacific.

Gualala to Mendocino

By 10 a.m., I say farewell to the old logging town of Gualala and head north. It being January, many of the small businesses here and all along the coast are shuttered for the month, some even into February. No point in hanging around and it's too cold to search for driftwood at Gualala Point County Park.

My journey takes me past Anchor Bay, a hamlet with a general store, office supply, inn and a Chinese restaurant. Rocks were found here that geologists say originated in Santa Barbara hundreds of miles south. They were carried north by the movement of the San Andreas Fault over millions of years.

I'm headed to the Point Arena Lighthouse 13 winding miles away. It's a pretty drive that takes me into wooded canopies of pine and eucalyptus and past anumber of b&bs. The ocean's only a glance away.

The lighthouse ($2 adults, 50 cents children; 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily; 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. summer weekends and holidays; [phone]) is two miles out of the town of Point Arena and two more miles down Lighthouse Road. It's a worthy detour.

Built in 1870, the lighthouse has since been a beacon for sailors - with one major interruption. In 1906, the lighthouse was "broken clear through in sections" by the San Francisco Earthquake, according to a state report on display at the tiny museum in the old fog-signal building. Today's 115-foot tower is a reconstruction of the original, but it does contain the original Fresnel lens. I climb the 145 twisting stairs and walk cautiously around the 10-foot-tall lens with its 666 prisms. No longer in use (two automated beacons signal sailors nowadays), the light could once be seen for 20 miles.

From atop the tower, I can look down into the Devil's Punchbowl, a large crater at the point of the cliff whose depths are constantly replenished by the massive waves.

The setting affords endless vistas of ocean. If you're in the mood for solitude, you can even stay in one of three, 1,400-square-foot houses, for $90 to $120 per night (information: [phone]).

Fields of bright yellow mustard and bucolic scenes of grazing cows greet me as I continue north, crossing the Garcia River plain where whistling swans vacation in the winter. I don't see any swans, but I do spy a snowy white egret.

In the village of Manchester, a resident has trimmed his tree into odd geometric shapes, prompting several of us tourists to stop and take pictures. And farther along Highway 1, Manchester State Park (call [phone]) opens its beaches and grassy dunes to visitors.

I ramble through the fishing village of Albion and delight in glimpses of llamas at a nearby farm. At Little River, kayakers are paddling steadily below the bridge.

Van Damme State Park, which is on Little River, rims the highway, with beaches on the west side where abalone, sea stars and anemones are plentiful, and forests of fern and redwoods, hiking and biking trails on the east side.

It also sports the intriguing Pygmy Forest Discovery Trail, just four miles up Airport Road. A wheelchair-accessible redwood walkway leads into this woodland of stunted trees. Firs that are decades (some say centuries) old are only two feet tall, thanks to the acidic soil and the combination of geology and climate. Even those that have managed to grow taller are afflicted with uneven branches and sparse vegetation. I have the feeling I am Gulliver in a Liliputian forest.

I'm a still musing about that curiousity when, 3-1/2 hours and 42 miles after leaving Gualala, I see the New-England style structures of Mendocino lined up on the bluff. It is here I'll spend the night.

Mendocino to Leggett

Leaving Mendocino is not easy - it's serene here, and beautiful. A walk along the cliffside trails of Mendocino Headlands State Park beckons, but I must move on. I console myself with the promise of a stop at the Mendocino Botanical Gardens, just north of town. So, by 10 a.m., I'm clipping along at 55 mph on this mostly straight stretch of road. And, while the sea is still in evidence, I can see I'm gradually moving into big-tree country.

Reluctantly, I bypass Jughandle State Reserve, where the Ecological Staircase Trail - a series of nature-carved terraces - rises high above the ocean. Energetic hikers can explore five terraces ranging from the latest seacliff terrace to the oldest one inland, each about 100 feet higher and 100,000 years older than the next. Stunted trees, sand dunes and redwoods meld to form an unusual landscape.

About seven miles north of Mendocino, I come to the gardens (open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. March through October, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. November to February; $5 general, $4 seniors, $3 juniors and students; [phone]). It's three miles of lush trails marching to the wild and rocky sea. There are huge camellias in bloom and some early rhododendrons, a heather garden, fuschias that have been battered by a recent storm, a rose garden that in spring must be spectacular and giant calla lilies. I tramp through forests of Monterey cypress, pine and eucalyptus. The only sounds I hear after the buzz of Highway 1 disappears are the chirps of birds and the gurgle of the two creeks flowing through the gardens.

From under a green canopy, I come out onto the open clifftop and a view of the ocean. Waves crash against the rocks, gulls cry. I watch for whales, to no avail.

After 45 minutes, I set off once again, stopping briefly at colorful, pungent Noyo Harbor, where fishermen are just starting to come in with their catches. It's one of the major fishing harbors along the Northern California coast, as evidenced by the seagulls that line the dock and the seals that bark below.

A few miles north, I arrive in Fort Bragg, the Mendocino coast's largest city with just over 6,000 people. You can find fast-food restaurants here - the first since San Francisco - and you can also hop aboard the California Western Railroad's Skunk Train ($26 adults, $12 children 5-11 for full-day trips, $21 adults, $10 children for half-way or one-way trips; 100 Laurel St. Depot; [phone]). The Skunk Train, powered by an old steam engine, travels through great stands of sequoias to Northspur (a half-day trip) or inland to Willits (full day). It's only running full-day trips this day, so I can't go.

Instead, I cross the street to the Guest House (10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily; 343 N. Main St.; $1 donation; [phone]), an 1892 Victorian constructed for friends and customers of Union Lumber Co. Now, the redwood structure is a modest museum filled with photos and artifacts relating to the area'slumber industry and the city of Fort Bragg. One of the more unusual features: a hollowed-out log that was once used as a water pipe (such pipes were prevalent in the city until the 1960s).

Train engines and railroad memorabilia accent the Fort Bragg Depot & Museum, a complex of gift shops and eateries on Main and Laurel streets near the Skunk Train Depot and the Guest House. I scrutinize steam donkeys - steam engines designed to pull logs that replaced donkey power - and locomotives before continuing on my way to Glass Beach.

Located at the northern end of the city on the west side of Elm Street, Glass Beach is a real curiousity. Decades ago, folks backed their trucks up to the shore and dumped their garbage. Over the years, shards of broken bottles and glass have been tossed against the rocks and pounded by the relentless surf until they're smooth and uniform. Now, millions of pieces of glass - amber, green, milky white and, occasionally, deep blue - carpet the beach.

Lots of people are scouring the shore this day, hunting for a unique piece of beauty. A rusty shopping cart, a tennis shoe and a plastic bottle sit just out of reach of low tide. Perhaps someone left them there hoping they too would be transformed into things of beauty. But there's only so much Mother Nature can do.

So far, I have traveled 210 miles and seen no whales. But today, I spot some spouting. I watch for a time, but the massive mammals never surface.

Back in the car, I start out on the last leg of my trip. The road takes me past MacKerricher State Park, which has campsites for recreational vehicles and, at Laguna Point, a wooden boardwalk where visitors can watch for whales and make friends with the harbor seals that live here. I drive through the tiny burg of Cleone and, just after Ten Mile Bridge, I enter big trees country.

A canopy of redwood trees gives way to rolling hills and ranchland dotted with Holstein cows as I meander past the little towns of Westport and Rockport and the Mendocino coast line becomes more rugged and wild.

It disappears as Highway 1 veers inland at Hardy Creek. Now, it's 22 miles of spiraling road through great stands of redwoods where logging trucks rule and the average speed falls to less than 30 miles per hour.

Twenty-six miles out of Fort Bragg, I come to the Louisiana Pacific Demonstration Forest. It's a free, 400-yard walk through a stand of old-growth redwood, where ferns and shamrocks grow large and lush, as well. Vandals have destroyed some of the display, according to a letter from LP officials posted at the entrance, but you can still see a redwood burl, an old logging stump and logs deemed good only for steam-donkey fuel.

It is my last stop on Highway 1. Seventy miles and about four hours after leaving Mendocino, I reach Leggett, the junction of Highway 1 and Highway 101. The ocean with its wild and rocky shore, the raffish fishing villages and astounding views are long gone. But, oh, the indelible images they provided . . .

ON LOCATION

While I started my trip along Highway 1 at Stinson Beach, you can cross over from Highway 101 at several places north of there, including Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Geyserville and Ukiah. Crossing over will save you some time, but you'll miss some fine scenery and interesting sights by doing so.

Wherever you start your trip, here are some do's and don'ts for traveling along the northern portion of Highway 1:

Figure out how long you want to spend traveling the highway, what you want to see and where you want to stay before you leave. Allow yourself plenty of time - a place 20 miles away can take an hour or more to reach because of the road and stops in between.

Make reservations for campsites and inns.

Take advantage of any restroom facilities you come across. They're few and far between on this road.

Make sure your car is in good shape before embarking on this trip. There are few places to get it fixed if it breaks down.

Fill up with gas before leaving San Francisco - and take advantage of the few gas pumps you'll see along the way. Be prepared: It's wildly expensive. I paid $1.54 and up for regular gas.

Take along water and snacks or picnic makings. There are many scenic spots to stop for a light meal, but not many restaurants in some areas.

Avoid driving in the dark or when it is foggy.

Take music tapes along. Radio doesn't reach some of the spots along the highway at all.

For more information about Highway 1 and some of its towns, contact the Fort-Bragg Mendocino Coast Chamber of Commerce, [phone].

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Photo (1-2--color) Visitors can climb up 145 steps to the top of Point Arena Lighthouse, above. Right, Fort Ross offers a look into Russian life along the coast in the early 1800s. (3-4--color) Above, the coast along Northern California's Highway 1 is beautiful, rocky and wild. Left, Fort Bragg's Guest House is a museum dedicated to logging and lumber exhibits. (5) Travelers can walk through a stand of old-growth redwoods and lush ferns in Louisiana Pacific Demonstration Forest. (6--color--no caption) Pacific Ocean (7) Visitors look for prize bits of colored glass pounded smooth by the surf at Glass Beach in Fort Bragg. Susanne Hopkins/Daily News (8) Cool glades, burbling streams and a variety of plants, trees and flowers mark the walk to the sea at Mendocino Botanical Gardens. Box ON LOCATION (see text) Map (color) North Highway 1