Day 23: Richardson Grove State Park – MacKerricher State Park

Distance: 58.30 miles.
Time: 6:27.
Average Speed: 9 mph.

I woke late, but the plethora of flying insects in the campsite had me on the move quickly. Setting off at 20 past 10, I stopped for a hotdog at a garage a mile in. The heatwave appeared to be continuing and the route was largely uphill, through a stunning river valley.

After ten miles, descending a steep slope on the highway, I hit a stone and there was a loud hiss from the front wheel. Dragging the bike off the road, I began repairs. Shortly after, Vincent – who I’d met yesterday – came around the bend. I thought it likely our paths would cross again, as he starts early and gets a move on, whereas I start late and slowly. We chatted while I changed the puncture before he headed off for his final few miles of the day. I probably had 50 still to do.

As I began the long climb to the high point of the route, 2000 feet, over Leggett Hill, I joined Highway 1 for the first time, and mileage markers showed it was now only 199 miles to San Francisco.

Climbing higher and higher up hairpin bends, it was fiercely hot, and I was drinking a lot of water, for the first time on the route. At 430 metres altitude, I started to get concerned, I had been hoping to stop at Leggett for lunch, surely it wasn’t this high up the road, when had I missed the town? I had a few Peanut M&Ms and a cereal bar to do me until Westport, 25 miles later: and even more concerning, half a bottle of water.

I continued up the hill, reaching the summit at 570m, then dropped quickly down the other side, down a very twisty road. The road continued to rise and fall, and finally climbed a second steeper hill before dropping back to the coast 10 miles north of Westport. It was cold, breezy, and foggy, so completely different from an hour ago. My lack of water, suddenly not a problem.

The climbing didn’t stop, however, the road rising and falling steeply along the coast. Eventually, I reached Westport, looking for food. There were 2 closed hotels and a shop. Decision made. Luckily, the shop had WiFi, and sold burgers, sandwiches, and ice creams. I bought quite the picnic, before finding a stool and sitting in the corner gorging myself and frantically uploading posts that had been waiting on my return from the wilderness of the Redwoods.

It was another 12 miles to final destination, MacKerricher State
Park, with some steep hills along the way. Stopped on one slope, a 4×4 driver pulled over to ask if I was ‘happy riding on’. It was a gloomy evening, but only half past 7, so plenty of daylight yet!

Arriving at 8 o’clock, I set up camp. Soon after, another cyclist showed up, Mark from New Mexico. He’s heading north from San Francisco, up to Vancouver and then East across the country. A long trip, and he was just getting started.

I had undoubtedly finished one of the toughest days of the trip. Although only 58 miles, the climbing was significant, and, hopefully, it shows I’m in good shape for the weeks ahead.

Day 22: Redcrest – Richardson Grove State Park

Distance: 44 miles.
Time: 4:31.
Average Speed: 9.7 mph.

The site owner seemed surprised to find tents in his RV park, but was in good spirits and said he’d sort something out for us regarding payment. The site had a shop, so we went in to buy provisions, and the family running it were lovely and very helpful. Before we left, we read about the ‘immortal tree’, which had survived lightning, axe, flood and fire.

The plan for the day was that we would travel the remaining 10 miles to Burlington Camp Ground, where Leah would be spending a rest day, and then I would continue 30+ miles to Richardson State Park. Despite the odd climb, the 10 miles flew by. It was a scorching day, but we were protected by the mighty trees. We stopped, after 2 miles, at a gift shop which advertised coffee, surprising the owner immensely, on such a hot day. While we waited for fresh coffee to brew, he requested my assistance to push a lawnmower, and gave us the coffee for free.

The assistant in the shop was a really nice guy, and told us all about a festival he hopes to attend in British Colombia in October. While we stopped we also encountered a homeless guy who had travelled from Florida, for 9000 miles, by bike.

Pressing on, we soon reached Burlington campsite, it was a lovely spot, right in amongst the Redwoods. Shortly afterwards, a Canadian, Vincent, from Montreal turned up, and after that, two girls we’d passed on the road. It would be a busy site that night, which didn’t make leaving easy, and I stopped for a coffee.

It had been great riding with Leah, we had put in some long tough days, but, somehow, it felt like I’d had a break from the objective at hand. It had only been for a few days, but it seemed like an age since I’d been on my own.

As I pedalled away, and for the first few miles, I reflected on my trip so far. The people I’d met along the way, the people ahead, the people now behind. Recent days were a blur, and before that, a distant memory.

I continued through the stunning redwoods for a few miles, venturing into a tree that had been burned out from the inside, but was still alive.

Finally, I was dumped, unceremoniously, back on the highway. With the shade of the trees gone, it was unbearably hot, and there were long climbs to contend with. This is what I remembered from before, I couldn’t get comfortable on the bike, I was pounding along the highway, desperate to get finished.

A detour through Redway offered some relief from the highway, but, with it, another big hill, and the number of transients took me aback. Parts of California had a lot of transients, homeless people, walking the roads, and wheeling their possessions around in shopping trolleys. Redway and Garberville where I passed through next, seemed to have a lot of them.

Back on the highway, I decided, no more diversions. Next stop, Richardson Grove State Park, then with only a few miles to go, I encountered a couple of American girls, one from Wisconsin, one from Montana, also pedalling to the same campground. They were at the end of a 65 mile day, on their way from Seattle to San Francisico, and it was a pleasant distraction to chat about our trips as we finished the day.

After days of cycling amongst the Redwoods, tomorrow brings a 2000 foot climb before I drop back down to the Pacific once more.

Day 21: Clam Beach County Park – Redcrest

Distance: 68.82 miles.
Time: 7:22.
Average Speed: 9.3 mph.

Today was a day to get back on track. John left early, cycling into McKinleyville for breakfast, before getting a lift further along the route, as he was short on time. Leah and I were hoping to make it to Burlington Campground in the Avenue of the Giants. Conflicting figures for the day put the total at at least 70 miles.

We cycled along cycle paths and back roads, skirting past McKinleyville, to Arcata, a pretty little town with a nice central square. There we stopped for brunch at a cafe on the square.

Heading into Eureka we hit some residential streets and skirted the centre and the marina before passing out the other side. Soon we were back on pleasant farm and agricultural land, before encountering a closed road near Loleta.

Sneaking past, we continued to the amazing little town of Ferndale, stunning wooden buildings with painted signs, saloons and all.

From Ferndale, we set off on Grizzly Bluff Road. For seven miles the road was dead flat and we were aided by a tailwind, and then the road went straight over several very steep climbs. I worried we might not recover for the rest of the ride, but Leah was insistent, we’d be continuing, as long as there was light!

Returning to the highway at Rio Dell, the climbing continued, and eventually we left the 101 at Pepperwood, entering the Avenue of the Giants. The sun’s final rays were high in the trees and the road was empty, it was a perfect time to be passing.

A sign showed 10 miles to go, and it was now quarter to 9, and getting dark fast, so we were delighted to chance upon an RV park in the trees. It was expensive, but almost empty, and we didn’t really have a choice, so we quickly set up the tents and would wait until morning to see what the charge would be.

Tomorrow, Leah and I will part ways as she doesn’t need to reach San Francisco, for her charity ride, for 9 or 10 days at the earliest. I’m still roughly a day down on schedule, after the Orcas Island fiasco, but keen to make up the distance.

Day 20: Klamath Riverview RV – Clam Beach County Park

Distance: 46.89 miles.
Time: 5:08.
Average Speed: 9.1 mph.

Last night’s campsite was lovely, with free coffee on the decking of a pleasant clubhouse. It turned out the area floods regularly, and much of the site had been destroyed over the winter. The Camp Host was a great character with lots of interesting stories, and opinions, about his hobby, hunting. It took a long time to get away.

Setting off, I returned to the Klamath Bridge to see the golden Grizzly bear statues I’d missed the night before. After turning around and just before the first climb, I met John, a tree-cutter from Vermont, who was cycling the pacific coast after his wife had secretly saved for a year to give him the opportunity. He was clearly in his element. Being Scottish, he asked if I knew Mark Beaumont, to which I could at least reply that I’d met him.

I found Leah near the top of the climb, with John arriving shortly after, to instant recognition from Leah. They’d met in a shop in Yachats 3 or 4 days before. He had a lift arranged to take him further along the coast tomorrow, so for today he was happy to come along with us, wherever that may lead!

Firstly we took the Newton B. Drury Parkway, a scenic route through the Redwoods. We stopped at ‘Big Tree’, a 300 foot tree, and at 20 metres wide, it was wider than three bikes end to end.

We continued to Elk Prairie campsite, where we stopped to look for Elk, spotting some further along the road. Then, seeing a family outside a parked car by the road, Leah exlaimed, ‘what are you doing here!’ They were friends of hers, who’d followed her tracker to bring us all ice cream! Apparently, not that unusual on her cycle tours.

We soon reached Orick, and stopped for dinner, John ordered a root beer float, I had to have one too. It was pleasant enough, but I’ll probably stick to the coke variety.

Back on the Highway, passed Humboldt lagoons, we met up with a Mexican girl, Emma, who had left Portland to return to Mexico City, to renew her visa. She was on a mission, but we cycled along with her for a while until it was time for us to leave the highway once more.

By the time we reached Patrick’s Point Drive and the Trinidad scenic drive, the sun was setting and it was a stunning evening, we kept stopping as the sky lit up brightly, the colours magnificent as we arrived at Clam Beach County Park.

But, there had been a bad accident only a half hour before, with a car flipping off the highway onto the parallel road we were on. The area was a hive of activity and it took a long while to settle down.

We ended the day by the fire as some kind Canadian campers had left it lit for us.