Day Sixteen
Harris Beach State Park to Elk Prairie Campground, 64 miles
Great night’s sleep! The sky was the same this morning as last evening: hanging fog, and the temperature dropped maybe 4 degrees through the night. I still don’t have a strict regime of what gear goes in which pannier, but it’s pretty well zoned, front and back. Packing is getting faster. First stop: 7 miles through Brookings to Mattie’s Pancake House. Monday morning and the place is packed, so obviously a local favorite. Breakfast was big enough to last me until after 3 PM before I needed to eat again.
The ride from Brookings to Crescent City is low and flat. Farms are small and mostly irrigated, which speaks to the limited rainfall seen here during growing season. I pass quite a few family-sized cattle ranches, and I can hear the ocean over there somewhere to my right, but the fog is too thick to see much.
There’s a remarkable transformation from the Southern Oregon Coast to the Northern California Coast. After I crossed the state line, per capita income seems to have dropped by thousands, maybe tens of thousands. Homes, cars, businesses all look like they have missed a few maintenance cycles. Whereas Oregon churches tended to mainstream, churches here veer towards the charismatic. Red loyalty signs are common. A key economic indicator may be the high security prison. As I noted above, this part of the coast is low and flat, not dramatic, which makes it a drive-through region, not a destination. No dunes, rocky seashores or huge trees to capture and hold tourist dollars.
The California State sign
I stocked up on some food in Crescent City because foraging will be leaner until I reach Arcata/Eureka. Just south of Crescent City, everything changes (except the fog). The grade steepens and just keeps climbing. Ugh. From here on, it’s either up or down. And redwoods. From Crescent City southward, redwoods were protected, beginning in the 1920s. The timing of their protection is, I think, in large part due to the confluence of the birth of America’s conservation movement, the emergence of the American middle class, with its surplus income and the invention of the family vacation, and the automobile and the road system on which to drive. This is all captured in the classic Redwoods attraction of a tree whose base is hollowed out so dad can drive the family car through it like a tunnel, to the amazement of mom and the kids.
The hills are relentless today, and to my happiness, so are my legs. I’m feeling up the task. It seems obvious but should be pointed out. With more power put to the pedals, less weight is sitting on hands and seat. As I am getting stronger, my hands are less numb. The stretches of riding when I don’t notice how much my butt hurts are also lengthening. More power means more speed which means fewer hours on the bike for a given distance, and longer rests between ride sessions. So much comes down to leg strength, and I am feeling stronger.
The end of today’s ride is also the highlight, the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway, which brings me right to my camp for the night at Elk Prairie campground. Naturally, the turn off of US 101 and onto the parkway puts me at the base of a very long ascent. One last patient struggle and the road tops out amid massive trees, then it’s a gentle five mile coast downhill to camp. Elk Prairie does indeed have a resident herd of Roosevelt Elk. Signs say stay away from the elk and that bears are active in the campground so store food properly. I roll into the hiker/biker camp and meet Chance and Ken. Chance is moving her campsite. Chance said Ken said that the tree she was pitched under is a night time roost for a flock of something that poops a lot. I picked a difference tent site too. Ken knows this because he’s a regular here. He explains that he has been camping on this stretch of coast all summer, using the hiker/biker sites for $5/night. He explains that the coastal bus system is excellent, with the schedules of all the local transit agencies synchronized so one can move all up and down the coast on the bus, and every bus has a bike rack on the front. As I learned on the Southern Oregon Coast, intercity bus rides are about $5. On the Northern California Coast, seniors ride the bus for free!
