The park covers 6,000 acres (2,428 ha) on the coast of Northern California, with 20 miles (32 km) of hiking trails and over 6 miles (9.7 km) of a rough rocky coastline including Salt Point which protrudes into the Pacific Ocean.

The activities at Salt Point include hiking, camping, fishing, scuba diving and many others.

Due to the large amounts of sandstone, small cave-like features called tafoni can be found along the shore of Salt Point.

In 1853, Samuel Duncan and Joshua Hendy built a sawmill on a ridge located above Salt Point.

They used the sandstone to create the streets and buildings in San Francisco along with the naval facility at Mare Island.

At slightly higher staircase levels (about 300 to 500 feet (91 to 152 m)), a mixed fir forest of bishop pine and Douglas-fir is present intermixed with second growth coast redwood, madrones and tanoak.

In addition, at an elevation of about 550 feet (168 m) within Salt Point State Park is a pygmy forest including the Mendocino cypress, bishop pine and Arctostaphylos.

The reason these trees do not attain their normal height is due to the highly acidic soils with minimal nutrients and a hardpan layer close to the surface.

The native animals that roam the land include the black-tailed deer, raccoon, coyote, bobcat, gray fox, badger, striped skunk, and dozens of varieties of rodents such as squirrels, chipmunks, and the field mouse.

[2] Sport fishermen catch Lingcod, Kelp greenling, Cabezon (fish), and rockfish between the months of April and December.

Between the months of December and April, it is possible to see gray whales migrating south to Baja California for breeding.

A deep-sea fan is caused when there is dense, turbulent sediment filled water flowing down a submarine canyon.

The activities at Salt Point include hiking, camping, fishing, tide pooling, picnicking and scuba diving.