Bowling Ball Beach

Beach Bowling Ball Beach has to be the most photographed Mendocino beach; it’s certainly the most unusual. The beach gets its name from the round boulders (known as concretions) that are uncovered at low tide. The concretions are formed when the minerals in sedimentary rock precipitate together to form a concrete-like mass. Since the surrounding sediments are softer, the concretions are exposed when the cliff starts eroding. To add to the bowling ball theme, dense strata in the sedimentary rock are also exposed by erosion, forming parallel grooves that look (with a little imagination) like bowling lanes.