July 5th, 2009

Eureka to Humbolt Redwoods State Park (heading inland)

“Hey Doug, it’s only a 40 something mile day”. “Oh lets take this side trip” (add 4 miles). “Oh lets take this other side trip” (add 11 miles).

We rode out of Eureka and said goodbye to our B&B (bed and warm shower). We had a great day. Our first stop was at a cheese factory in Loleta. Jan was waiting for us. We sampled and then sat in a wonderful garden and snacked.

We then took a side trip to Ferndale. On the way we rode through more dairy country. We saw a fox in a field. You would not have seen that in a car. What a great town! I think Jan would like to retire there - old restored Victorians, main street filled with cute shops and friendly people nestled in a valley. We ate lunch at the city park while people played bocce on well-maintained courts.

Of course we had to climb to get out of there, and we steadily climbed into the redwood forest. We stopped at some of the “famous” trees and later stopped for ice cream. We did not know exactly where we were staying. Jan stayed in Ferndale and finally passed us when we were getting close (we thought). She drove ahead to a ranger station and then came back and told us to “STOP!“. We had missed our turn by 3 miles and then had to descend 5 miles to the campground. A civil and minor revolt started. The three of us were not back-tracking. She again went ahead and transferred the reservation to a campground ahead a couple of miles. All was again well. The rest of the “through bikers” were just across the way; a lot that we had not seen before. We took a twilight hike through the redwoods. I have been to the Sequoias probably 10 times - even though these were coast redwoods, they were majestic. There is nothing like hiking in a redwood forest.