Crescent City, Ca – 377 km

We started off with the usual California coastal foggy weather, a bit cool and moist but at least no rain. We could see the nice weather in the distance and were pretty happy when we actually connected with it. For the most part we had a wonderful sunny day of riding though the temperature dropped every time we got close to the coast.

It was so pretty and pristine along the coastal Hwy 1 but again the road was very winding. On some curves the pavement had been gouged out by travel trailers hitches. There were frequent signs advising against double axle trucks, and at times against trailers as well and we could see why. Also warning signs where tsunamis have potential impact. The worst corners were the really sharp slow to 15 mph (and one slow to 10!) curves on a grade. Doug needed to nearly stop the bike to get us around. Not too much traffic but what did get behind us was let past as soon as possible. As we got further north Hwy 1 turned into Hwy 101 which at times was a freeway.

Eventually we made it into the very impressive California Redwood forests. It was pretty comical how each tourist establishment would have their claim to fame – world famous grandfather redwood, world’s only single tree house, world famous confused road, world’s largest tree and the list goes on! And for those who may remember the bumper stickers reading “Trees of Mystery” you will be happy to know they are still there. No, we did not stop. We limited our stops to State Parks, one stop was dedicated to a Saskatchewanite who moved to the California redwood area and championed ecological responsibility. A very nice redwood snag was there showing the value of these dead trees to the ecosystem.

Redwood Snag

We did stop at the funkiest (not one of our usual words) little store on the side of the road. It sold everything from souvenirs, pop, wine, food stuff to all sorts of baby needs and all crammed into a pretty small space. We bought a carved redwood tree, our souvenir for this trip as so far we hadn’t picked up anything.

Later at one of parks along the way we were able to pick up a little handlebar companion as is our usual pattern on our motorcycle trips. This one is named “Cabbage” after the skunk cabbage at home so. . .can you guess what he is???

Cabbage

A few years ago when we travelled the Oregon coast we stayed in Crescent City as the Curly Redwood Motel so are have a little bit of nostalgia and are here again tonight. We will walk across the street to the seafood restaurant for dinner later.