One Of America's Best Counties To Retire Is A West Coast Gem With Ocean Views, Outdoor Fun, And Gorgeous Beaches

Bracing coastal walks, dramatic shoreline scenery that's all rock stacks and wave-bashed bluffs, winelands, ancient redwood forests — how does all that sound for a recipe for a good retirement? Well, there could be a corner of California that's got you covered on all those counts and more, because The Golden State's Mendocino County was recently named among the top places to retire in the West by finance and investing website The Motley Fool.

The platform weighed up counties between the Pacific Ocean and Colorado, ranking each for everything from affordability to quality of life. Salt-washed Mendocino emerged in an alluring eighth place, just after Santa Fe County down in New Mexico and before Cali's own Tuolumne County, the home of fabled Yosemite National Park. But who needs Yosemite when you've got all that Mendocino can muster? This is a place where you can hike salt-splattered clifftops at the Mendocino Headlands one day, discover beaches of glinting sea glass the next, and wrap up your week strolling through primeval forests that contain some of the biggest trees in the world.

All that's backed up by some pretty tempting metrics related to the more practical things you need to consider when choosing where to retire. For starters, The Motley Fool scored Mendocino County highly for healthcare provision, something underlined further by a local life expectancy that's higher than the national average. Secondly, Mendocino gets points for its climate, particularly summers, which tend to be milder here than in other parts of the Golden State. And, on top of all that, it's relatively easy to access, what with San Francisco International Airport (SFO) offering oodles of long- and short-haul arrivals just three hours to the south.

Unlike many of the counties that made The Motley Fool's list of the best in the West for retirees, Mendocino is a true West Coaster. That's to say that the county is home to 129 miles of Pacific Ocean shoreline. And it's not just any old shoreline, either. The coast here is famously awesome; a land of wildflower-tufted bluffs, amazing rock formations, and gasp-worthy beaches.

Josh from the local travel-photography blog California Through My Lens recommends heading to the Mendocino Headlands State Park for an intro to the Mendocino coast as a whole. He picks out the Bluff Trail for its montage of driftwood-strewn bays, which emerge as you hike the winding path past ocean islets and beside the mouth of the Big River. At its northern extremity, meanwhile, Mendocino offers up the ultra-remote Sinkyone Wilderness State Park, where backpackers can get a taste of the Lost Coast on long-distance hiking paths that oscillate between wooded hills and rare pockets of coast redwoods.

Then there are the beaches. To pick out just two of many, many options, the underrated little artsy town of Fort Bragg is a gateway to Glass Beach, named for its abundance of smooth, sea-glass pebbles. Head there to beachcomb and explore rock pools filled with curious sea critters. Then, the New England-style beach town of Mendocino, namesake of the county as a whole, hosts the estuary sands of Big River Beach, where you'll find ocean views out front and paddling opportunities up the waterway behind.

Consider this: The population density of Mendocino County is just 26 people per square mile, compared to more than 780 for San Diego County, and more than 2,460 for Los Angeles County. The upshot? This isn't a busy place, nor is it built up, for Mendocino is one of the wildest parts of the state. It's a fine retirement pick if you're looking for a great escape to nature.

Take the eastern fringes of the county, where the vast Mendocino National Forest, along with all its biodiversity and quiet hiking trails, encompasses a huge region of nearly one million acres, spilling into several neighboring counties as it goes. If you want real out-there vibes, this one's a doozy — it's the sole forest reserve in the state that's not carved up by a major highway! Mendocino County claims a part of the forest's Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness area, too, which encircles ultra-remote runs of the Eel River, amazing wildflower meadows, and fantastic horse-packing routes alike.

Further south, deeper into the midriff of Mendocino, you can also get lost within the old-growth redwoods of the Hendy Woods State Park. Because it's inland, you don't get the same fog seen at other iconic redwoods locations in Cali here, which means you can really appreciate the sheer size of the specimens as you wander the 1.4-mile loop through the Big Hendy grove. There's camping on site as well — two separate areas hidden in woodlands of laurel and oak.