Super high, almost 20k feet in the last two days.
This is the combined post for days 8 and 9 since last night I had neither service nor power.
Day 8 finish: Standish Hickey Recreation Area
Day 8 Mileage: 42.63 mi
Day 8 Climb: 9918'
Current Location: Fort Bragg
Daily Mileage: 55.56 mi
Daily Climb: 9980'
Total Mileage: 641.93
Total Climb: 74070
Both of the last two days were short mile wise, but grueling due to the elevation gain. However, it really feels like we're on the home stretch at this point. We've got three days for 160 relatively flat miles.
Yesterday saw then end of Avenue of the Giants. We really started to miss the calm and shade of the redwoods. Here's one last fallen giant.
Back on 101 things were much worse. It was now a wide open road with traffic flying by. The shoulder varied from decent to non-existent. The first chance we got we took one of the "alternate routes" listed in the book to avoid the dangerous traffic. Though it adds miles to the day, and the roads are generally shoddy, it sure beats getting buzzed by cars going 80 mph. Here's an example of one of the side roads.
We stopped for lunch in Garberville, which was a big town by the standards we're used to at this point.
Down the road in Richardson Grove State Park we saw some interesting wood carvings.
And I guess Bigfoot lives in the area.
We haven't seen him yet. We did check out the One Log House however.
Felt like a submarine inside.
Next novelty stop was Confusion Hill. The shop keepers didn't do a good enough job selling us on either of the attractions, a sideways house and a train ride, so we just headed on down the road.
We thought it was supposed to be an easy day, due to the 40 miles, but the hills and the heat were brutal on us. By the time we were getting close to Standish Hickey we were both pretty spent. To our dismay, here's what greeted us on arrival.
According to the map, the next campground was over The Big One. We still had some daylight left, so we started to muster up reserves we had left to make the push, but when we stopped in the store across the street the guy behind the counter told us to ignore the closed sign and go on in. He also started selling us on the burger "Best on the West Coast according to Sunset Magazine". Once in the campsite (which was closed) we found a sign that said 4 of the sites were still open for hiker bikers (Thanks Gods!) We set up shop then headed back across the street for the burger. The place was pretty hilarious; they had a fake cop car to slow people down, as well as a raised up South Park bus.
The burger was pretty good, as were the gimungous bbq'd oysters.
After dinner we went down to the South Fork Eel River, which we've been following for the last three days, and finally dipped our toes.
We still had enough daylight for some chain maintenance, gotta keep it clean.
Sterling rolled up a little while after us. We had some beers then turned in early in anticipation of the next day's hill.
We set out bright and early with the hope of avoiding the heat during our ascent. Just a mile or so down the road we finally departed the 101 for the 1.
Apparently, the "World Famous Drive-Thru Tree", as opposed to the drive-thru tree in Myers Flat, is in Legget. Still $3 per bike though.
Then up the hill we went. We must have timed it right, since it was cool and only one car passed us on the way up. The summit is 1950', the highest along the pacific coast route. More road notes greeted us at the top.
The descent sure was nice, 2000' ft is much nicer on the way down.
One more big hill and we were back on the coast.
Found this on the railing.
We just had to add our mark.
Beautiful coastal scenery once again.
We stopped in the coastal town of Westport for lunch.
They had Caddyshack Arnold Palmer!
Got a little cloudy on the way in to Fort Bragg. We took the Old Haul Road, which was a bit sandy in parts.
But arrived safely at the North Coast Brewery.
Very glad to see the hills in our rearview, it's all coastal riding from here on out. Crazy to think we've climbed 2.5 X the height of Mt. Everest, that's super high.
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