California Love!

Saturday 20th August: I get to update the blog today as we're having a rest day in Burlington Campground within the Humboldt Redwoods State Park.  We have done four loads of Scrubba Bag washing (note: a Scrubba bag is a MUST for any extended tenting holiday), had egg rolls for breakfast, read our books and played the ukulele. 

I last posted before we made our way to Randy and Rhonda’s house in Brookings, Oregon.  It was a really pretty ride out to their place, winding about 10km along an undulating farm road on the south banks of the Chetco River.  When we reached their place we were greeted with cold beers at the rivers edge while getting a great history on the area from Randy and Rhonda.  Their property is simply beautiful and inspiring.  Randy, who has done many things in his life including being a builder has built their small home from the skeleton of an old shed, and what an amazing job he has done!  We were treated to a delicious meal, wine, terrific conversation and a comfortable bed, and in the morning sent off with the sweetest homegrown peaches.  We had such a memorable experience and left feeling motivated, inspired and grateful to have met such a lovely and honest couple.  Thanks Randy and Rhonda – hope we can meet again one day soon (BTW Rhonda, the t-shirt fits perfectly!!).

Enjoying a beer down by the Chetco with Rhonda and Randy

Coastal lagoon south of Brookings, Oregon

From Brookings, we cycled along the quiet and scenic Oceanview Drive and entered California.  Most of the morning took us on farm roads all the way to Crescent City.  After a quick lunch and grocery stop, we jumped back on the 101 and began a long, moderately steep ascent into the Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park.  It was awesome cycling amongst these beautiful and mystic trees.

Redwoods

We had a reasonable shoulder for much of the way, so were able to take in all the redwoods had to offer.  We were again lucky with roadworks which gave us a whole lane to ourselves and big gaps between traffic.  We ended the day cycling 5km down a steep hill into Mill Creek Campground, and while we always appreciate $5/person hiker biker sites, we were not very impressed with Mill Creek.   The campsite for hiker bikers was very small and the ground very uneven and overgrown, the showers were freezing and we knew we had five long kilometers of pushing our bikes back out the next morning!

Redwood beauty

Once back on the highway, we had a couple of shoulderless sections and a long, foggy descent back to the coast, where we then cut inland through the town of Klamath. From here there was a big climb (thankfully off the highway) into another redwood state park where we stayed at Elk Prairie Campground.  That night we met the two most unique and interesting cyclists.  First there was Joe, a sixty-something bearded, one-toothed, dread-locked Californian cannabis cultivator (try saying that fast).  He was a wealth of knowledge from the roads of California, to the history of bicycles, from carpentry to organic veggie farming.   We also met Marshall, a young guy from Minnesota who had decided to cycle the circumference of America solo!  From our brief time together it was clear he had a lot of outdoor survival skills. Together these interesting characters made for a great night, before we went our separate ways the next morning. 

Coastline on our way to Klamath

Dust in Elk Prairie

Our cycle from Elk Prairie was pretty good.  We continued the 101 subjected to the usual perils and hyper vigilance, before we hit the coast again and our route took us on lovely scenic drives through Trinidad and Clam Beach.  We then got on to the Hammond Trail, a cycle/horse/hiking trail that took us along the coast, through beautiful farm roads and into our destination for the night in Arcata.  We booked into the Redwood Lily Eco-Hostel, where we had a private, studio room and a 15% discount since we arrived by bike – winner!  Arcata is a great college town with a population of about 17,000.  There are heaps of cool bars, coffee shops, deli’s, bakeries and galleries.  We explored a bit the next morning, Neil got a haircut and we enjoyed some bagels before setting off for the day, vowing to visit this cool town again.

We continued on the 101 through Eureka and Fields Landing, and despite being on the freeway, the shoulder was excellent for the most part, and pretty quickly we veered off onto another back road – Tompkins Hill Road.  Despite the enormous hill we had to climb (what’s new…?) we enjoyed a good 20km of car-free country road, dairy farms and meadows before arriving in Fortuna at the Riverwalk RV Park to stay the night.  We had a great time - camping was cheap (despite being an RV park), showers were hot, we met a lovely couple Sally and Ed who treated us to a bottle of red wine and homegrown tomatoes, and were gifted free firewood to warm us up!

Looking forward to a rest, we cycles further to our third redwoods state park.  Initially, we scooted along a wide 101 shoulder with impressive farmland scenery, before once again leaving to take the Avenue of the Giants road into the Humboldt Redwoods.  The ride was probably the most spectacular cycling we have done yet, or at least equal to the Canadian Rockies!

Dinner at Fortuna

We reached Burlington Campground mid-afternoon, and set up in a beautiful hiker-biker site in amongst the redwoods.  As the afternoon went on, we were joined by more cyclists – there were nine of us by bedtime!  We are meeting a variety of folks, some quiet, some outspoken, some very similar to us, and the odd ones who don't pick up on (sometimes blatantly obvious) social cues.  All add to the experience! 

Spot the tent - Burlington Campground

A tale of time

Since leaving Portland we have cycled over 800km down the Pacific Coast.  It has brought out the best and the worst in both of us, but we make a great team and aren’t nearly ready to throw in the towel!  While sometimes we can feel tired, frustrated, scared and ‘over it’, at the end of the day we’re still having a ball and count ourselves very lucky to be on this trip. 

Tomorrow we begin the slow climb further south towards Leggett, where we will stay in Standish-Hickey State Park, before heading west back to the coast, leaving the 101 to join Highway 1.  There we should find no more massive trucks – although RVs prevail and the shoulder disappears…happy riding.

Don't forget to check our Instagram for more photos!