[1] It is located on California State Route 1 north of the village of Caspar, five miles (8 km) equidistant between the towns of Mendocino and Fort Bragg.

[2] The reserve encompasses five marine terraces along the Pacific coast, cut by wave action over millennia as the sea level fluctuated and the land underwent tectonic uplift.

"[1] While marine terraces formed along much of the California coast, erosion has rendered them indistinct except in rare places like Jug Handle State Natural Reserve.

[5] California State Route 1 now crosses the creek on a concrete open-spandrel deck arch bridge, built in 1938.

[7] Conservationist John Olmsted worked extensively with pedologist Hans Jenny and local activists to preserve the farmhouse and the bluffs between 1968 and 1972, ending in a landmark lawsuit, Burger v. Mendocino Board of Supervisors, involving the Pacific Holiday Lodge corporation, who had planned a motel on the bluffs overlooking the beach.