Del Norte County is located at the far northwest corner of the U.S. state of California, along the Pacific Ocean adjacent to the Oregon border. The county seat and only incorporated city is Crescent City. Del Norte was settled and colonized by Azorean Portuguese settlers and dairy farmers. The rural county is notable for forests containing giant Coast Redwoods, with some attaining heights over 350 feet. This northernmost county on the California coast also has scores of unique plants and flowers, dozens of species of coastal birds and fish, rocky primitive beaches and sea stacks, pristine rivers and historic lighthouses.
The county has a total area of 1,230 square miles. The 
mountainous terrain associated with the Coastal Range 
and the Klamath Mountains dominates Del Norte County's 
geography. Elevation ranges from sea level to over 6,400 
feet. Although much of the county is made up of steep terrain, there are small patches of flat terrain along the coast and in isolated mountainvalleys. There are 37 miles 
of coastline in the county, forming a coastal zone that covers approximately 51,000 acres (80 square miles). A broad coastal plain can be found in the northwest portion 
of the county with the western edge of the Klamath 
Mountains as its easterly boundary. Rising abruptly from 
the coastal plain, the Klamath Mountains extend north into Oregon and are situated between the Cascade Range to 
the east and the Coast Range to the north.