Trinidad (Spanish for "Trinity"; Yurok: Chuerey) is a seaside city in Humboldt County, located on the Pacific Ocean 8 miles (13 km) north of the Arcata-Eureka Airport and 15 miles (24 km) north of the college town of Arcata.

The Yurok people established the village of Tsurai on bluffs overlooking Trinidad Bay in prehistoric times.

[8] The first European sighting of Trinidad Harbor was in 1595 by the Manila galleon captain Sebastian Rodriguez Cermeño, who did not make landfall.

On June 11, 1775, which was Trinity Sunday, Heceta and his men conducted a formal act of possession, claiming the bay for King Charles III of Spain.

[9] At the place where they erected a wooden Christian cross, a carved granite cross bearing the inscription Carolus III Dei G. Hyspaniorum Rex ("In the name of King Charles of Spain") was installed in 1913.

The Russian-American Company started using Trinidad Bay as a base for sea otter hunting around 1806.

[15] On December 31, 1914, the largest recorded ocean wave ever to hit the United States West Coast struck Trinidad Head, a rocky promontory surrounded by sea stacks sheltering Trinidad Harbor.

The wave's impact shook the lighthouse and extinguished its light, although Harrington restored service in four hours.

The southern 13 acres (5.3 hectares) of the promontory, including Trinidad Head Light, remained under United States Coast Guard ownership until 2014, when the Coast Guard transferred it to the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management.

[24] In January 2017, the United States Congress added the Bureau of Land Management's portion of Trinidad Head to the onshore area of the California Coastal National Monument.

[11] President Barack Obama used his executive power under the 1906 Antiquities Act to designate the Bureau of Land Management's portion of Trinidad Head as a unit of the National Monument.

[26] Spring and fall cold fronts often form advection fog which pushes the marine layer towards the coast.

In summer, low-pressure troughs produced by intense heating inland can create strong pressure gradients pulling the marine layer ashore.

[26] Summer fogs, moderate precipitation and mild temperatures are characteristic of Northern California coastal forests ecoregion and are vital to the growth of local Coast Redwood.

[35] Federally, Trinidad is in California's 2nd congressional district, represented by Democrat Jared Huffman.

[36] State parks Historic landmarks Other Part of the auto wreck scene in the 2001 film The Majestic was shot at College Cove Beach on March 19, 2001.