Northern California

Entering California

CALIFORNIA

Saturday 17^th August

Harris Beach, Brookings to Enderts Beach, Crescent City. 62kms. We had anticipated an easy day and made quick work to California, 9 miles south. It felt far more relaxed when we reached California and the traffic thinned out and even the buildings and plants looked more Californian. Interesting ride into Crescent City – went inland onto farmland which we hadn’t seen in ages.  Arrived to a tiny village called Smith River to find a big festival on in the street and biked in at the back of the ‘parade’ so that it looked like we were an official part of it!  People stopped us and chatted and we had sausage rolls at a side stall which were fabulous.

Continued on to Crescent City – quite a long way and went for a swim in the sea when we hit the coast again – complete with barking sea lions on a sea stack out at sea. Town was a bit hard to navigate but we met a guy in his car who pointed us in the right direction for a supermarket and ATM. He said to camp at Enderts Beach so we went to the State Park Visitor Centre and organised that. A bit stressful since quite off the beaten track and no water and also getting quite late. Committed to going and it was a fair way and uphill but got there and over the shicane fence and into the hikers campsite, on a bluff above the beach. Saturday night so lots of people also camped there. An Oregon couple, Alec and Hillary, arrived later and camped right next to us so spent the evening with them. Gorgeous sunset and beach.

Smith River Festival

Swim just before Crescent City

Lucy at Enderts Beach

Hugh and sunset

Enderts Beach sunset

Washed up dead shark on Enderts Beach

Sunday 18^th August

Enderts Beach State Park to to Elk Prairie State Park. 72kms. Pretty psyched for our entrance into the Redwoods. 1500 foot hill! It was foggy when we started but BEAUTIFUL. The Redwoods were something else. Fog cleared and sun filtered through. Stunning. The mist came in again after the top so we delayed descending into it and had an awesome lunch on the side of the road. So rapt to be over the big hill and into such beautiful  trees. They really were amazing. Descended in the mist to Klamath and stopped at the Trees of Mystery tourist trap to have a drink and see the giant sized Paul Bunyon and his ox. Continued onto Klamath and met two Australian cyclists, Evan and Courtney. Then ascended the second hill which was also substantial. Saw a homeless guy asleep on the side of the road at the start of the hill which was disturbing. Hill was challenging but ok. Met two Australians on Harley Davidsons at the top of the hill and had a good laugh swapping bikes. Amazing descent through Newton B Drury alternative drive and endless miles of gorgeous shady Redwoods and glades and groves. Superb.  Arrived at Elk Prairie Campground at the end of it around 7pm. There was a warning about a missing fugitive who had been shot by police at the campground the day before. Unsettling and kept the children close. Met up again with Courtney and Evan and another guy Jake.

Start of the hills!

Redwood cycling heaven

Top of first hill 1500 feet

Paul Bunyan and friends

Hugh and Lucy on Paul Bunyan's talking feet...

Harley Davidson swap!

Girls on tour!

Top of second hill

Redwoods

Arrival at Elk Prairie!

Monday 19^th August

Elk Prairie State Park to Eureka KOA.  80kms. Great to know the Crescent City hills were behind us. Great day through the Redwoods to Orick. Saw some elk.  Went to the Visitor Centreat Dry Lagoon. Had lunch at the school at Big Lagoon and met the caretaker who had been in New Zealand years ago. Lovely, quiet, undeveloped ride around Patrick’s Point to Trinidad. Then onto the freeway to Eureka. Had a bit of a debarcle trying to find the freeway exit to Arcata. Found a supermarket. Arrived at the KOA camp on 6.30pm. Met Courtney again. Had a swim in the pool and a spa – great!!  Dinner and bed. 

Leaving Elk Prairie - minus fugitive

Elk at Elk Prairie ...surprisingly!

Tuesday 20^th August

Eureka KOA - Ferndale – Fortuna Riverwalk RV Park . 62kms. Got away from the KOA at 11am after doing the laundry and chatting to a guy from Stockton who was delivering his son to college.  Short ride to Eureka – overcast and even a bit drizzly. Eureka was a treat – really cool with murals and a great bagel house called Los Bagels. Treated ourselves to lox salmon bagels with mustard dill dressing. Yummy. Kids had bagels and jam. Went to a great organic supermarket. Shocking amount of homeless people hanging around the end of Eureka.

Gumbies on tour!

Took the freeway out and made good progress. Headed to Ferndale in a bit of a head wind. Arrived to the camp to find it was the County Fair and the showgrounds were packed. The campground host was unhelpful and we ended up turning around and heading back into town. Enquired at the Victorian Inn about other accommodation but to no avail. Biked out of town and stopped at a park  to evaluate our options. Luckily found in a brochure that there was an RV park at Fortuna, so headed there back the way we’d come. Ended up that we were thereby 7pm which was earlier than expected. The park was lovely and had a kitchen shelter and a pool and everything which was great. Had dinner and later the kids and I had a swim and spa. So relieved to be there as we were running short of options about 6pm. Later we skyped a phonecall to Dad and then video-skyped Angela since it was her birthday and Pat just happened to be there which was awesome.

Eureka mural

Los Bagels, Eureka

Outside Los Bagels, Eureka

Hugh tunnelling in Redwood stump

More redwoods - gorgeous!

Wednesday 21^st August

Fortuna Riverwalk RV Park to Burlington Humboldt Redwood State Park. 60kms. Got up to find a broken spoke on John’s bike.  A bit of panic stations but managed to google a bike shop in Fortuna and headed down there as soon as it was 9am. Not only did the guy replace the whole wheel for $60 but I also got a new pair of North Face shoes which were much needed.

Went to the camp and packed up and left at 11am and then got groceries and biked down the road to near the Scotia exit where we met a guy we met at Humbug Mountain who pulled over in his RV to say hi again. He’d given us mandarins when we left the camp. It was great to see him. Had a late lunch on the verge on the side of the motorway under a tree.

Carried onto the Avenue of the Giants. It was truly a bit of a wasteland at the start with Pepperwood and Redcrest where we stopped for a drink – only they didn’t have one in the café! Had to get one from a fridge in the souvenir shop. Really nothing there except for a one room house in a Redwood Tree. Lovely ride through the Redwoods and even though it was 6pm when we neared the campground, we went down to Founder’s Grove and the nature walk there which was really beautiful and interesting. Arrived at the gorgeous Burlington Campground and reunited with Evan and Courtney and also another girl Mary and her father who had been at Harris Beach in Brookings. Met another couple there too who were on lovely bamboo bikes and were climbers. The kids played with a boy called Izaak and we met his parents – lovely people from Santa Rosa. They played in the trees.  All the cyclists squeezed in around two tables to cook and had a good laugh and chat that night. Bed.

Avenue of the Giants

Log house

Redwood canopy

Largest fallen redwood

Shall we camp in here??

 Thursday 22^nd August

Burlington Humboldt Redwood State Park to Benbow Golf resort RV Park – 42kms. Late to leave Burlington Campground after chatting to people there. The children went for a walk to the creek bed with Izaak and his parents. BEAUTIFUL ride up the Eel River. Stopped at Myers Flat which was just slightly more touristy than the day before and were happy to have organic coffee and muffins there in a small café. Worked well to have an early break and a late lunch.

Biked through Redway which was shocking with a huge homeless population there and publicity about the homeless staging sit-ins outside businesses. On and up the hill (hot and steep) to Gaberville – many more homeless people in the park, including a couple and their child. Kept on going to Benbow, where we arrived at 5pm. Had a glorious swim in the pool and spa pool. A dog called Lucy chased me later. Daylight finishing earlier as we go south. Gorgeous starry night.

Brlington Campground

Coffee at Myers Flat

Hot!

Typical town in the Avenue of the Giants

 Friday 23^rd August

Benbow Golf Resort RV Park to Westport Union Landing State Beach. 80kms. The BIG HILLS day!! Made great progress on the 4-5 early hills. It was gorgeous. Met a couple from LA who said they were ‘credit-card’ cycling. Gorgeous first part through Richardson Grove and stopped at the Log House which was a caravan made from a hollowed out log – very cute. Had a nice coffee and some muffins. Got to Leggett – hot – and started climbing. Stopped at the Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree before lunch while John went uphill to the temporarily relocated Leggett Store. Lucy fell backwards off a rock and narrowly missed catapulting down the steep hill. John returned. Had lunch and then biked through the drive-thru tree which was fun. 32 degrees!

Hot climb up the steep, long Leggett Hill but pretty motivated and good to get into something substantial. It was in the forest which was welcome. Got to the two summits easily – the highest was 2000 feet and the highest point on the coast. Exhilirating ride down the other side into a deep, dark and quite cold forest.

Along the river at the bottom and then up the Rockport Hill – very steep and went on longer than expected – up to 690 feet again. The guidebook understated the distance and it went on and on up steep grades. Absolutely wasted by the time we reached the top at about 6pm. Pleased to get it done and dusted and arrived out to the coast which was foggy and a bit cold. Up and down in a thin wind to Westport Union Landing Beach State Park. Pretty exposed right on the beach and chilly and basic, but camped there happily as the sun set.

Gnome and friends

Bear Hollow

John looking for wisdom before the hill..

Lucy, Hugh and a familiar looking green ogre...

Dan Boone

Log House caravan

Historic photo of Log House caravan

Chandelier Tree

Starfish at Westport Beach

Westport Beach

Saturday 24^th August

Westport Union Landing State Beach to Hidden Pines RV Park and Campground, Fort Bragg. 36kms. Tired! Packed up in the fog and went up and down to Westport. Lucy and I fell off on a steep corner but were okay. Some lovely views and stopped for a snack at a rest area. It was hard work to get to Fort Bragg as we were so tired but went straight to a Mexican place when we arrived and had eggs, beans and tortillas. Great. Went and looked at the Skunk Train which was cool and a model train station and then had coffee at The Coffeehouse – great. Went to Safeway and out to the RV park. Got there about 5.30pm. Basic but fine. Met an Iranian guy there who was very interesting and made us think to cycle in Iran in the future. Bed later. In the afternoon we learned at the coffee place that there are terrible bushfires in Yosemite and California so are changing our plans. Met two men who were from the Gold Country so got out the map and are thinking to re-route inland to there and hopefully enter Yosemite from the south side.

Skunk Train

Skunk!

 Sunday 25^th August

Rest day, Fort Bragg. Hidden Pines RV Park to Pomo Camppground. 22 kms. Went into town for breakfast at the railway coffee shop which was great!  Discussed trip options.  Returned and packed up in 45 minutes, leaving at 11am. Went to the new RV park – Pomo Campground - since it had wi-fi and other amenities. It was really nice. Later we went back into town to the model trains and the Coffeehouse – at 4pm a Brazilian pianist played there which was nice. Read fire updates in the papers. Gorgeous old buildings in Fort Bragg – very quaint. Relaxed and did laundry and skyped Peter later at the camp. Time of great change of our plans.

Met a couple there who came over with homemade cookies for us! They had made them in their RV. They were so sweet and it is really lovely to have people be so kind. We were really overwhelmed.

Breakfast at Fort Bragg

Pomo Campground, Fort Bragg

Homemade biscuits from our friends

Monday 26^th August

Pomo RV Campground, Fort Bragg to Hendy Woods State Park, Philo. 63kms. Great day’s cycling. Packed up and left about 10am after chatting to a Mexican guy working at the camp. LOVELY ride down the coast. Branched off to Medicinio for coffee which was great – beautiful and picture-postcard stuff there – apparently make lots of movies there. Met a man and his elderly father who were interesting and gave us lots of information about the route. We carried on and met a bearded San Franciscan mountain-biker guy who was helpful. GORGEOUS and calm and blue along the coast and we gulped a breath before turning inland on Highway 128. Just hard to ditch the guidebook, not knowing really what was ahead.

BUT it was GORGEOUS! Straight into a gentle 11 mile ride through cool redwoods. Had lunch in the middle of the forest. Lovely. On to Navarro where we stopped for a drink and then emerged into gorgeous rolling wine country. Lovely. Got to Hendy Woods State Park and it was a bit of a ride in but lovely. Quiet and really quite different to the coast.

Medicinio coastline

Coast north of Medicinio

Decision moment - turning inland on Highway 128

Redwood heaven for 11 miles

Lucy and Hugh with     at Philo

Tuesday 27^th August

Hendy Woods State Park, Philo to Dutcher Creek RV Park, Cloverdale. 68kms of hills! Left at 9.20am after the kids met up with some little kids again. Biked back out to the highway and had a pleasant trip down to Philo and Boonville – vineyards and orchards along the way and stopped for some organic apples. Certainly much hotter inland. Boonville was an absolute treat and we had coffee and empanadas – Mexican version of samosas – and cinnamon and raspberry rolls. It was a lovely place and great to get out of the heat. 

On to Yorkville – quite a big hill to get over and stopped for a late lunch out of Yorkville. Had some Sour French bread and cheese and tomatoes – yum. Then onward and encountered our second very spectacularly hot and steep  hill. Incredibly steep and winding ascent in mid- thirty degree temperatures! Finally flattened out at a road called Mountain House Rd and sensational descent. Had all run out of water by then so on arrival in Cloverdale we progressed towards a supermarket but stopped at a diner and had sensational refillable Sprites and Coke with ice in it. It was the best drink I had in all my life! And air-con!  Carried on to a supermarket and toy shop before trying to get here. Met and chatted to a homeless guy at the Freeway entrance only to find bicycles prohibited on the Freeway. Took a parallel route and arrived to the Dutcher Creek turnoff very quickly. Got here 6.30pm. Straight to the pool. Divine swim and then camped and dinner with a nice Sonoma Pinot Noir wine. Getting very dark early so sleeping with the fly off to look at the stars. Still very warm. Amazing day and beautiful evening in this gorgeous valley.

Boonville

Biking from Anderson Valley to Knights Valley - hilly and steep!!

Last of two summits

Dutcher Creek RV park

Wednesday August 28^th

Dutcher Creek RV Park, Cloverdale to Bothe Napa State Park, Calistoga, Napa Valley. 58kms. Packed up and left Dutcher Creek at 9.30am. Made really good fast progress (gently rolling) to Geyserville where we had a quite average coffee in a nice cool building. Carried on into the Alexander Valley and stopped briefly for a snack at Jimtown as we had little food with us.  Had some handcut tortilla chips which were delicious. In the gourmet salami and cheese and wine country now. On to some gentle winding hills (NOTHING compared to the day before) into Knights Valley and then a rise up and over into the Napa Valley and into Calistoga for a much needed rest and lunch. All a bit wasted after yesterday – and hot again the afternoon.  Had done 50kms by the time we stopped for lunch at 2pm. Ate lunch outside the supermarket and then stuffed around quite a lot. Got away again at 4pm after visitor centre, groceries and bike shop. Dropped into a castle vineyard! – but just looked. There was a movie crew there and it was all pretty amazing. Then raced to Bothe Napa State Park – pretty quickly arrived and now camped, showered and waiting for Peter to arrive. Very exciting. He has been working in Winters about 40 miles from here and we were so hopeful that we might get to see him. We are going to eat out which will be such a treat. Lovely and cool here now after the heat of the day.

Hills into Napa Valley

Castle vineyard complete with moat

Mexican dinner with Uncle Peter at St Helena. Yum!

Thursday 29^th August

Bothe Napa State Park to Skyline Wilderness Park, Napa. 47kms. Peter arrived at 7pm on Wednesday night and drove us to St Helena to have dinner at a really nice Mexican place. It was awesome to see him. The car trip was a highlight! He’d had quite a drive over so we really appreciated it. Hugh was a bit off-colour that day – think he might have had a bit of a cold. Hard to say goodbye to Peter again as just wanted to go down to Vegas then and there. We are getting a bit over camping after 40+ consecutive nights. Packed up slowly the next morning – hot and we were tired from the three days before. Extra hot by the time we reached St Helena and had trouble finding the visitor centre etc. there. Did find the Model Bakery which had wonderful coffee and pastries. We did feel a little out of place amongst the designer stores and upscale wine bars. Many excessively wealthy people in abundance.  Also many mansions and incredible vineyards out along the Silverado Trail and we stopped opposite one for lunch. Also called into a vineyard but it was a bit early to start tasting five wines so left again. Got into Napa finally about 5pm, supermarket and came up to the Skyline Campground. It is nice here and we will stay another night to try to miss some of the holiday traffic and just have a rest after the heat of the last four days.

Lizard at Bothe Napa

Cycling the Napa Valley

Cooling off in wine cave

Typical Napa vineyard

Friday 30^th August

REST DAY. Skyline Wilderness Park, Napa.

Relaxing morning. John went to Laundromat and kids did maths. Camping next to two LA guys and their two year old son Olivier who played with the kids.  Had the morning at the camp and then went into town on the bikes to the bike shop ad had a look around. Tried to go out to the Premium Outlet shops and got a bit lost and hot! Did buy Lucy a new top at the Gap shop.

Back to the supermarket and camp about 6.30pm and had bread and ham and cheese for dinner with a chardonnay. Nice.

Napa riverfront

Dinner