Rolling along to our destination: Patrick's Point State Park

Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - Day 7

Today was just a day to cover distance. We spent most of our time on back roads and didn't have much a view of the ocean.  The ocean along Hwy 101, when we were near it, was ok...it wasn't a deep blue as what we have been seeing during our tour on Hwy 1. 

We got up at a reasonable hour and went to the convenience store attached to the Inn we were stayed in and picked up some sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits and juice for breakfast.  We then headed out of Ferndale towards Eureka, CA.   It was one of the last towns that we knew we could get camp fuel for quite awhile.  The sun was shining and we didn't have strong headwinds.

Ferndale, CA

     When we arrived in Eureka, CA we immediately went to the local bicycle shop, Henderson Bicycles, to find out where get food.  That is one thing that I've learned after years of traveling with James.  If you want to find the best food, the best place to go is the local bicycle shops.  They owners always know of the good local food joints.  We were directed to the Oaxaca Grill on 508 Henderson street.  The owner was super friendly and it was obvious he was trying to build his business and he really wanted to make his customers happy.   We ate a giant burrito, fresh salsa, a tasty mole sauce with a Mexican Coke.  Mexican Coke is made with sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup and it tastes less sweet -- the amount of simple sugars in the Mexican Coke close to "American" Coke though.  After eating our burritos we ran into a bakery where James picked up some fresh bread that they sliced for us and we took with us.


We then headed across town to a sporting goods store / bicycle shop called Adventures Edge to get camp fuel and to look around.  The guys at the shop were really nice and when they found out we had climbed "The Wall" they were quite impressed.  While I was there I picked up a souvenir.  My arm warmers I took with me were too warm for the the temperatures while I was riding but it was too cold and breezy to go without.  So I bought a long sleeved synthetic blend shirt and it served me very well during the rest of the trip.  Note to self:  next time I tour the coast in May and June, take a couple of long sleeve synthetic shirts.  The bicycle shop folks gave us a directions to a new bike path that would keep us off of Hwy 101.  Granted going this way meant we covered a little more distance since it was the less direct route but we prefer to avoid the busy Hwy 101 and to stay off it as much as possible.  In fact, we didn't go into Arcata, CA at all.

What we did was cross the bridge that went over Arcata Bay by taking "R street" out of town.  Once we crossed the bridge we turned right on New Navy Base road and traveled on some back roads until we connected with the bike path called "Fischer road" that took us into McKinleyville, CA.  The bike path runs alongside Hwy 101 until Clam Beach State Campground -- it isn't much of a campground and we didn't stay there but we did stop to have a snack.  The roads were quite flat compared to what we did the day before, very low traffic, and it was quite pleasant.  I was glad we made the decision to stay off of Hwy 101.
 

We rolled into Patrick's Point State Park and the camping for hiker/bikers was located on the cliffs above the ocean.  We couldn't see the ocean but we could definitely hear the ocean as we camped that night.  We were able to take a short hiking trail and watch the sunset on the ocean.  I must say camping near an ocean beats staying in a hotel any day.

We rode 57 miles for the day and have a total of 445 miles on our legs for this trip.



 

"The Wall"

Tuesday, May 22, 2013 - Day 6

James and I had oatmeal and coffee for breakfast packed up our tent and other gear and started on our big day of climbing.  In fact the amount of climbing we had on our schedule for the day was pretty intimidating to me.  We road 2 miles out of the campground and immediately started the first climb:  7 miles, 1700 feet -- a great way to start our 64 miles for the day.  It was a nice steady climb with a few steep switch backs.  In retrospect I probably should have slowed down my pace on that climb given the fact we had 2 more big climbs ahead of us.

Leaving the campground

Climbing

at the top of climb #1

After getting to the top we were rewarded with a really fun and long descent that dropped down into Honeydew, CA and stopped at the general store (immediately to the right after crossing the bridge).  There isn't anything else to Honeydew.  In fact, I don't think they have any other buildings other than the general store. We purchased some food, chocolate milk, and a Coke to get us through the next 2 climbs we had on our agenda for the day.

We saw a cyclist climbing up the mountain and later had a chance to talk with him at the general store in Honeydew, CA.  We decided he was the Rick Beville of Honeydew (its a Lexington, VA reference).  Anyway, he had time to climb up and down that mountain everyday and he seemed to be a strong rider.  Doing that climb every day would definitely do it.  He asked us where we were headed, James told him we were headed to the Lost Coast and he looked at us, our loaded bikes, and said, wow, you are going to do "The Wall?".  We said yes.  I went to the bathroom and ran into another local and he asked me where we were going.  I told him the Lost Coast and his response was the same, "you are going to do "The Wall"?  By this time I'm starting to get a little panicked.  I remember James telling me something about a steep climb but didn't realize it was sandwiched in between 2 major climbs.

So we climb out of Honeydew and head toward the Lost Coast.  The Lost Coast is about a 2 miles stretch of road that is basically undeveloped. The terrain was too rugged for Hwy 101 to be put in and so the Department of Transportation took it inland, east of the Lost Coast.  Unfortunately it was cloudy and drizzling the day we were there but I can image that it is absolutely gorgeous on a sunny day.  The ocean was a grey/green different from the brilliant blue we had been exposed to prior to this.  There were pretty white and yellow wild flowers decorating the side the road.  There was relatively no traffic - I think we saw 5 cars the time we were there.  It is empty coast line and a couple of ranches with cattle on the inland side.

So, to get out of the Lost Coast requires climbing a road that the locals refer to as "The Wall".  It is a one mile climb that has grades of 18-22%.   I later learned that there is a century ride that goes through this area called the "Tour of the Unknown Coast"  California's toughest century.

James and I get closer to "The Wall" and there are a herd of cattle on the right.  I swear they starting moving with us to the end of the lot so they could get a better view.  It was like they were saying to each other "hey, check these two out.  They think they can climb the wall carrying 50# pounds of gear. This ought to be good."  A car came down the wall as we were nearing it.  I was watching it and got butterflies in my stomach wondering if I was going to make it up without having to get off and walk.

approaching "The Wall" - it gets steeper after the right curve

finishing the steep part

Fortunately James put mountain bike gears on my touring bike and I got in my granny and made it just fine.  James made it without any problems -- which is not a surprise.

After climbing the wall we descended about 900 feet and then started the next major climb.  I think it was about 8 miles and the first 3 miles ranged from 15%-17% and then it turned into a nice steady climb which I later learned is referred to by cyclists as the "Endless Hill".  I must say that I agree with the name they have given that climb. It started out as a drizzle and by the time we were 2 miles up the climb it started raining pretty steadily.  The terrain reminded me of the pictures I see of Ireland.  Really lush green grass, rolling hills, bright red barns.  It was beautiful.  It would have been nicer had it not be raining though...I was starting to get soaked and I was worried about having dry clothing for the next day.

still climbing

descending into Ferndale, CA

We finally reached the top and descended into Ferndale, CA.  It was raining, cold, and there was big diesel truck with a trailer on my tail which was a little unnerving given the fact the descent was windy and steep and it was wet.  We finally rolled into Ferndale, CA which is a charming little town.  James wanted to check out the county fairground outside of town.  I told him I was fine with him going but I was getting a hotel room.  I was tired, cold, wet, and just wanted a hot shower and to sleep in a bed.  So we found a cute little Inn and the man who owned it, it turns out used to live in Woodstock, VA which is close to where James and I lived when we were in VA.  He gave us a discount on the room.

We ate the local pizza place.  I ordered a lot of food but couldn't eat it all. The lasagna was good but the pizza wasn't the best pizza -- I prefer less cheese. The restaurant did have some funny decorations though.  There was a laundry mat a couple of blocks from the Inn and so we took the opportunity to wash our clothes.

Ferndale, CA is a charming little town and the rhodendron were in full bloom when we were there.  If I do the trip again it would have been fun to explore a little bit.

We did a total of 64 miles for the day. After looking at the "Untouched Coast Century" map, I think we did all of the major climbs that are in the century and the total vertical is 9400 feet.  I'm guess we did pretty close to that amount.  Our total for the trip is 388 miles.

Avenue of the Giants and some Campground Karma

Monday, May 21, 2012 - Day 5

Today we road one of my favorite stretches of the tour -- Avenue of the Giants.  We planned a short day of 43 miles and headed out of Richardson Grove State Park onto Hwy 101. It had a nice shoulder and there were some rollers but no major climbs like the day before.  Our total for the trip after today was 324 miles.

I can't think of a more perfect way to see the Redwoods in mass than by touring through the Avenue of the Giants by bicycle.  I could barely keep a straight line because I kept looking up at the massive trees while I was riding.  The Redwood's technical name is Sequoia sempervirens and it is one of the tallest trees in the world getting to heights of 379 feet and 26 feet in diameter.  And no,those numbers are not typos.  These trees are spectacular and I have never seen anything like them before.

We turned off the Avenue of the Giants and took Mattole road into Humbolt Redwoods State Park.  We camped at Albee Creek campground.  James and I both agreed it was one of our favorite places.  It was definitely off the beaten path and the park rangers were really nice.  There wasn't anyone in the park when we arrived and so they let us stay in the regular camping area at the hike/bike rate.  The facilities at Albee Creek were excellent and I would highly recommend staying there.  The bathrooms/showers were all tile, plenty of room, and they had really hot showers.  $1 would buy 10 minutes of wonderful hot water.


  


















James and I took advantage of the fact we had a short day to go on a hike and I must say that it ranks as one of my all time favorite hikes that I've ever done.  We hiked a trail that took us the "Tall Tree" and the "Giant Tree" and "Flat Iron Tree".  The ground was covered with Redwood Sorrel which looked like clover to me.  With the enormous trees I felt like I was a character in Alice in Wonderland wondering through a magical forest. I kept expecting a little gnome or elf to pop out and start talking to us.

 As I discussed earlier, some Redwoods will become hollow and will form a room inside.  Some are big enough that a person could live in the tree.  The trail we hiked was well built, curvy, smooth and followed the contours of the land.  James and I both were dreaming of riding our mountain bikes on this trail someday.

We arrived back to the campground from our hike to some campers who were blaring their music from their vehicles so loud that it disturbed the entire campground.  The rangers said they couldn't do anything about it until quiet hours went into effect.  It saddened me -- those campers were in one of the most beautiful forests and set up their camp by a creek that had water flowing and making a beautiful relaxing sound.  But they overpowered nature's music with the modern pop crap.  It baffles me that people would go to so much effort to get away from it all and go into the woods only to blare loud, horrible music.

We went back to the campground and made some dinner of quinoa, with sauteed onions, spinach, zucchini, and flaked salmon with pesto.  While it was tasty I learned that I can't have that much quinoa and expect to ride comfortably after it hits my small intestine--too much soluble fiber.

Campground Karma...
A little karma happened the next morning, hehe.  James ran into the camp host while he was washing the morning's dishes and the camp host said that the campers who were blaring their music the night before couldn't get their car started because their battery had died.  They asked her if she had cables to jump the battery and so she messed with them.  She asked if they had top or side cables, they said top.  She told them her cables were side.  Sweet.

And the winds calmed down...finally!

May 20, 2012 - Day 4

We had a 9 am roll out despite our intentions to leave earlier.  We got up, ate a little food, packed up and headed to Fort Bragg, CA.  It was only 12 miles and we had plans to get a big hearty breakfast when we got there and then to stop at Grocery store to buy some food and other necessities.

It was a long 12 miles and I thought we would never get there.  And the road was actually flat compared to what we had been riding.  We used our Garmin to find some places to eat and decided to eat at a restaurant called the Homestyle Cafe.  I ate a HUGE breakfast for me and it was so delicious.  A mini-omlet with spinach, cheese, mushrooms, sweet potato cake, toast, a pancake, and coffee.  It was a generous portion and can't image what the "regular" omlet was like.

The breakfast so filling that I only needed Gatorade and one energy bar to get through the rest of the day and I rode pretty strong.  I went through 3.5 bottles of Gatorade -- I should definitely drink more while I'm riding because I don't like to drink alot before I go to bed at night.  I really don't like having to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom when I'm camping.

The highlights of the day included several stops to take pictures of the coast line.  It was so pretty!  The wind actually calmed down and we later learned that we had been riding through a weather front.  The front had finally pushed inland.

Proof we were on Hwy 1

This was the point in the tour that we turned inland for a little bit and had to climb a mountain range to get to the Redwoods and Avenue of the Giants.  One of the climbs we did was a 700 foot climb and the next was an 1800 ft climb before we dropped down 900 ft into Leggett.  The second climb had a nice grade and we were able to push about 6 mph but it definitely seemed like it took a long time to get to the top.  I'm guessing we did about 5-6 miles of climbing.

The forest surrounding the climb was gorgeous.  I think it was a type of pine but I've never been good at identifying trees.  It smelled good and we had plenty of shade to keep us cool.  It really felt like I was riding in North Western, NC and South western, VA.  I was really grateful  for my exposure to big climbs prior to this trip!  

Up until now James had been slumming pretty bad and it was at this point that he got his legs back and he climbed really strong.  So much for seeing him on the climbs from now on!

We dropped down into Leggett, CA and went to the tourist attraction -- a drive-thru Redwood tree.  It turns out that this is a natural occurrence for Redwood trees.  At some point I think in the early 40s someone widened the hole so a car could drive through it.  James and I road our bikes through the tree a couple of times.  These trees are so big!




We left Leggett and continued on one of the worst sections of Hwy 101 on the trip.  It was tight, windy, no shoulder and cars, trucks, and big semi trucks were flying by us at 60 miles per hour.  The campground we went by was closed and so we stayed on the highway and finally got to a section with a shoulder.  We also noticed that it had gotten darker but we had plenty of daylight but didn't think anything about it.

While we were riding we saw a family standing outside of their car looking up.  James asked them if they needed any help and they told us that they were looking at the eclipse.  They were taking their polarized sunglasses and looking at it and offered to let us look.  So we stopped and hung out with the family and looked at the eclipse. The last eclipse that had happened in this area was 40 years ago.

The family was really really nice and their two girls were adorable.  The mother had just taken them shopping and bought them shiny red shoes.  The 2 year old had sparkly red slippers and was pulling on James and proudly showing them to him and asked him to take a picture of them.  It was so cute.

The family was super nice and gave us their contact information as they lived in Arcata, OR and we were going to pass through there.  They told us if we had any problems to call them and they would help us out.

We pressed forward and made it to Richardson Grove State Park where we shared a hike/bike spot with a couple from Vacouver, BC.  They were really nice and we had a great time chatting with them.  They were heading south to San Fransico and it was the woman's first time riding a bike and touring and she was tackling it like champ!  The campground had a horrendous amount of mosquitoes and I think they were giants!  James rode down to the convenience store that was about 3 miles away and bought a $9 can of bug spray.  Way over priced but the well worth it!

I really like meeting people and talking with them while we tour.  That is why I think the shared hike/bike areas in the campgrounds are great.  We get to meet other people who are touring, share stories, tips for what is coming, good restaurants, etc.  I really like the sensory aspect of touring too.  The sights, the smells, sounds.  All of that is missed in a vehicle.

To day we ended at 281 miles -- 78 miles for the day.  Tomorrow is Avenue of the Giants and a shorter day.

More headwinds...

Saturday May 19, 2012 - Day 3

We rode along Hwy 1 along the coast and battled the headwinds.  There were times the wind was so strong it felt like we weren't even moving.  I remember looking down at my speed and it said 6 miles per hours and we were pedaling pretty hard.  It was so bad that we had to pedal on the descents just to keep moving.

James' comment was he really didn't think that the prevailing winds were this strong...we kept thinking that this must be a front that was moving through but it had last a long time and were thinking we had a long trip ahead of us.

Even though the wind was torture, we had blue skies, ample sunshine and the scenery was gorgeous.  We both agreed that this was one of the most beautiful roads we had ridden in all of the cycling we have done over the years.

There were a few steep "punchers" as James likes to call them.  Steep, short climbs along a relatively flat road.  Those are killer especially when loaded.  Just when you think you are done with the downhill you go back up and it seems steeper than the first time.

One of those steep climbs was Point Arena -- man that was a steep climb!  We had stopped for lunch and a rest break and that was a mistake.  In fact there was a guy who had stopped at a cross road as we were climbing and he yelled out words of encouragement as we slowly climbed up it with our 40 to 50 pounds of extra weight. If I did it over again I would have pick up lunch, kept riding out of town and then stopped once we climbed out of town.  I can't find a picture but I think it had to be at least a 18% grade.

That has been one thing I noticed so far.  People have been exceptionally friendly and have offered a lot of encouragement as we are cruising along -- especially on the climbs.  Yesterday we were going up a big climb and a car passed, honked, and gave us a big thumbs up.

We made a lunch stop at Elk, CA so I could grab a sandwich and a Coke.  When I was purchasing the sandwich the lady asked me what direction we were going and told her south to north and her comment "oh, that isn't how most people do it, the prevailing winds are awful.". I'm thinking, no kidding!

There was a nice little park across the street and James did a little exploring and took a path that went to the right and found some picnic tables and sunshine with a magnificent view of the ocean.  We also saw sea lions popping their heads out of the water!

We finished our picnic and kept rolling until we reached Van Damme State Park.  They had hiker/bicycle camping which meant we had another night that cost $5.00 for each of us.  They also had hot showers but you had to pay 50 cents for 3 minutes.  It is amazing how long 3 minutes can last and the hot shower was welcomed.   I wish Pennsylvania and Virginia State Parks would add this amenity to their state parks.  Bicyclists don't take up much space and we definitely don't bring in the amount of stuff that people who drive bring.  Who knows, it might actually motivate people to ride their bicycles to state parks.

We had a big meal of spaghetti and french bread and set up camp.  James took his bike out and did a little bit of exploring and I laid down. 

Our game plan for the next day was an early departure so we could get most of our miles in before 12 pm since that is when it seemed like the winds began to pick up.

We ended this day with 203 miles.