We left Samuel P. Taylor with the goal of reaching Sea Ranch State Park but unfortunately the strong headwinds prevented us from getting that far. At one point we were on a flat section, working really hard, and only going 6 mph. Typically we average 13-15 mph to help understand just how strong the headwinds were. Regardless, it was during this ride that we were introduced to the coastline along Pacific Coast Hwy 1 and the stunning views helped make the headwinds tolerable.
We passed through a small town called Tomales where we stopped at a convenience store so I could get a Coke and buy my notebook so I could record our day's events. There wasn't much to it - just a few buildings. We continued on rolling hills and the scenery was beautiful. If you look at a map you'll see that we had been traveling along Tomales Bay and then Pacific Coast Hwy 1 turns inland for a bit and then goes back to the coast. So at this point, we still had not seen the Pacific Ocean.
The traffic started to get pretty heavy along Hwy 1 - my guess people were heading to their campsites for the weekend since a lot of the traffic was RVs. James found an alternate route to get away from the traffic called Bay Hill Road. It was a rough road, it had some climbing, and had some beautiful scenery. We bypassed the Doran area but I don't think we missed much. We ascended the final climb and got our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean and it was awesome.
We continued to Bodega Bay State Park and took a rest to eat some bread and Peanut Butter. James was feeling sluggish but I convinced him to continue a little further. The views along Hwy 1 were just like you see in the brochures of Hwy 1. Later we were told that the section of Hwy 1 we rode is a favorite spot for car companies to tape commercials. I can see why.
An interesting aspect of Hwy 1 were the "gully's" that were along the coast. We would ride along and then the road would take a sharp turn to the right with a descent, have a sharp left (almost a U shape), and then climb to take us back to the coastline. Although it wasn't steep or long, over a long distance the elevation climbed added up. At times there were some steep climbs that were about 1 mile long. We saw a school bus on one of the steep climbs we did (see the photo below) and we decided to wait for it to go by us before we started the climb.
Our resting place for the evening was Salt Point State Park. We had ridden 66 miles for the day. I was pretty tired. We stopped at the State Park Entrance and the ranger told us there were no camp sites available...and then she told us she was joking. I was so glad she was joking. I was so tired. The hike/bike area for this campsite was basically in a meadow and they had no showers. We had purchased food at one of the grocery stores we passed by and so we were able to cook a decent meal. We purchased some quinoa and realized we had no way to season it. We decided to buy some salt and pepper at the next grocery stop. It was chilly and so I was grateful to have my wool leggings, wool socks, long pants, wool long-sleeved baselayer and the heavy rain jacket James told me to bring. I meant to bring my stocking cap and forgot to pack it. Next time it will be in my bag.
Total miles for the trip = 136
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