Day 96. Saturday, Nov. 12, Russian Gulch State Park, near Fort Bragg CA
Rain heavy all last night. Stopped briefly in the morning but then started up again just as i started ti break camp. Not the most pleasant thing to do in the rain, but it has to be done, so you do it. And nothing could destroy the wonderful experience of that cathedral of a park.
The ride down the upper coast of Californian was, to overuse a word, absolutely splendid. The long coastal highway is also called the Redwood Highway for reasons obvious to anyone driving it. Some of the tunnels of redwood trees you pass through are other worldly. You just have to drive through them and enjoy the few seconds you have with them, without daring to take your eyes off the road. If i spontaneously uttered the word "wow" once, i uttered it 100 times.
I stopped off the Richardson Grove redwood campground for a break with Donner and a chance to revive the memory of my staying there with Erde two years ago. It was onky 2:30, so i decided to move on down the coast to Russian Gulch, where i have wanted to stay since my first coast trip in 2001, but never had the chance.
To get to Russian Gulch, you have to leave Highway 101 as it heads inland and take hiway 1 about 40 mikes to the coast through some pretty tough going mountain roads. And i do mean tough going. I could not recall how tough it was to the point where i wondered if i took a wrong turn. Even Garmina was confused by the unpredictable and rough terrain and started acted erratically during the entire trip. But as soon as the rough -but quite scenic, if you like forest roads- ride ended, we were rewarded with spectacular ocean vistas that you can never tire of, even in rough weather as we had at times today. The rougher the weather, the more drama added to the scenes.
At a gas stop in Fort Bragg, Donner got some compliments from 21-year old Sarah Smith, a third-generation bush pilot from Ontario, on a long road trip herself. We chatted for a few minutes and then i invited here to share my tent site at Russian Gulch, which she did. In exchange, i got a delicious home-cooked meal and the chance to have a conversation with a brave young woman who obviously shares some values similar to mine about the road, nature and solitude. What is interesting is that we both are having the very same thoughts and fears about driving and tenting practices on the road. Maybe everyone has the same thoughts and fears.
This camp in the day at first is not very appealing, with space limited by the size of the gulch it is tucked into. But at night it takes on a whole new presentation, especially with the full moon that is out tonight, casting so much light as it breaks through the attending clouds that you do not need a flashlight in places in the dark. And the setting itself, in a deep gulch, and view into the cove from the beach is breathtaking.
Tomorrow we had down the coast to just north of San Francisco to Samuel Taylor State Park. I purposely delay my trip to here to arrive on Sunday so i could get my campsite of choice to see why it is so popular on weekends. Two years ago, we were allowed to camp overnight in the awe inspiriting picnic grove, but had to be out by 9 in the morning.
After Samuel Taylor, i decided to spend at least one day in Yosemite after all, and so we will head there, some 250 miles away, and camp at the only camp open now, Upper Pines After that, it's off into the Nevada desert for a few days and then, at some point after that, we will jump onto Interstate 70 for the final leg of our long journey right to our front door, and what an absolutely incredible journey it has been. I have no idea at all i how can possibly respond when people ask, how was your trip! Perhaps i will simply tell people to read my blog to find out.
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