Crescent City to Trinidad

61 miles, 3850 feet of climbing, road kill (2 hawks, 2 skunk scents – no bodies.

It was the best of days. It was the worst of days. The day started out at Denny’s for breakfast and oh what a good biker’s breakfast there is at Denny’s. We also met another touring cyclist there, Dick, from Columbia, Maryland. We ended up cycling all day with him to Trinidad but sadly lost him just outside of town. He was a super nice guy on a tour to San Diego and we wish him well the rest of the trip.

But, back to breakfast. The breakfast arrived and it was trembling in our presence. We made quick work of it and set out for the biggest climb of the trip. In the cold and the fog, what a surprise! In fact, we forgot to mention that the bike mechanic in Brookings said they hadn’t seen the sun in 3 weeks. A local Crescent City resident told us they expect the sun to make an appearance in October.

So, up, up, up we climbed. Even with the fog, there were some impressively large redwoods to stare at during the climb and we all made relatively quick work of the climb. Our new found friend, Dick ran truck interference on the downhill but the narrow road, lack of shoulder and idiotic drivers made the descent absolutely harrowing. A couple of times it looked like we were going to be the road kill today. By the time we made it to the bottom of the descent, “ESB tour” had turned into “extra scary biking tour” and “Eureka = stop biking tour.”
Fortunately, things improved and in a most dramatic and expected way. We biked another 12 miles and came to our scenic road through Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. When we got there, much to our disappointment, the scenic road was closed. But in talking with a Caltrans worker, it sounded like we might be able to get through on bikes. So, we attempted it and were rewarded with the best 10 miles of our trip so far. Huge redwoods and we cycled right down the center of the road! The creatively named “Big Tree” was 1500 years old, 21 feet in diameter and 304 feet high. It was sad to join the traffic again after this treat.
Tonight we are in the tiny town of Trinidad, California. Apparently, 3000 people lived here during the gold rush – now there are about 300. Still, it is a beautiful setting overlooking the Pacific with nice redwoods everywhere.