Day 15
Slept so hard I couldn't remember what campsite we were at when I woke up. Pleasantly surprised to remember we were still in the redwoods. Though we had heard rumors of rain, the sky was clear and a light mist hung above the Elk prairie. The forest stood at such heights, abruptly ending at the edge of the meadow, they formed a giant green wall, that the sun was working its way over as we ate our morning granola. Decided these words we too special to leave so soon. Delayed our departure to do as short hike among the big fellas. To a little trail they call Cathedral trees-- it was Sunday morning afterall...
We stood in front of a tree estimated to be 1500 years old and thought of what ir had seen. When the first european explorers came through this coast, this tré was already 1000 years old...
We were slackjawed and very content. This had been one of the must-hit stops on our route. Glad to take the extra time to enjoy them.
The road out of the forest dropped its into Orick, the primary economy ...of ehich appeared to be the sales of Redwood burls and other wood art. Soon after, high clouds started to come overhead. It was cloudy and cool while we passed the Humbolt lagoons. To the side of the road was a sorry sight: a dead elk hit my a car. Just after on the left: "Elk meadow Resort and RV park. Free dump station, pool, and cabins." It made me cringe.
At Patrick's Point we got onto a road that worked its way by the ocean, growing narrower, and narrower and sleeker by the minute: the pavement was no match for the erosion occurring along the cliffs and many sections were one lane or gravel or both. Nevertheless, we enjoyed it tremendously.
Later on, it turned into a bike path qnd walking trail which we rode clear into McKinleyville. Lots of funny people watching to be done on this trail: speed walkers, dog talkers, cool posers and unabashed stoners.
We hit a natural foods store in town, only to see out the windows as we were checking out, the skies opening... on our uncovered bikes! Ran outside and prepared purselves for a soggy 10 miles to Eureka.
Lady talked to us outside who told us about the "space gems" they have in town. Sounds like some far out gummies.
We lucked out by calling David, who's number was listed on our map, to get a place top stay. Though his backyard camping had been shut down by the county, he had a spare room which he offered to us. Such a blessed feeling to come into a cozy home and hear the heavy rain on the roof.
Saw an Earth First! sticker in the garage and knew I could have an interesting conversation with this guy. Over dinner he started tslling us about the Smith River, a toen we had biked through yesterray without hardly batting an eye. He said it was the center of Eadter Lily production for much of the country. Nearly 95% of all the lilies folks use on easter, he said. Trouble is they use nearly 300,000 pounds of pesticides annually to keep production up, a lot of which ends up in the town's namesake river. A local nonprofit dtarted investigating the water quality and found acute toxicity on many areas along its course, so toxic not even the little waterbugs the salmon eat could live. They've been operating without a discharge permit because the water quality board is funded chiefly by the pesticide industry... yikes.
We started talking about salmon too, something that's been on my mind since passing over the columbia. The Klamath, ehich we rode over, is facing many of the same issues. Declining salmon populations, native fishing rights, angry irrigators upstream, and aging hydroelectric projects. There's a lot to talk about. So much, I might do a devoted blog post. An interesting side note here is that there's a Norweigan company looking into farming salmon at an old Pulp mill in Eureka. Is it smart to farm salmon anticipating lower populations? Or do we make the problem worse by not investing in wild fisheries? The answer was as unclear as the future, but we agreed wild salmon aren't worth giving up on yet.
We looked at the road ahead in the evening. Perhaps a week until San Francisco. We're actually ahead of schedule, and although the weather looked mediocre, we've decided to take the Lost Coast route. A little more remote woth some epic climbs, but heck, we're here and adventure calls.
We stood in front of a tree estimated to be 1500 years old and thought of what ir had seen. When the first european explorers came through this coast, this tré was already 1000 years old...
We were slackjawed and very content. This had been one of the must-hit stops on our route. Glad to take the extra time to enjoy them.
The road out of the forest dropped its into Orick, the primary economy ...of ehich appeared to be the sales of Redwood burls and other wood art. Soon after, high clouds started to come overhead. It was cloudy and cool while we passed the Humbolt lagoons. To the side of the road was a sorry sight: a dead elk hit my a car. Just after on the left: "Elk meadow Resort and RV park. Free dump station, pool, and cabins." It made me cringe.
At Patrick's Point we got onto a road that worked its way by the ocean, growing narrower, and narrower and sleeker by the minute: the pavement was no match for the erosion occurring along the cliffs and many sections were one lane or gravel or both. Nevertheless, we enjoyed it tremendously.
Later on, it turned into a bike path qnd walking trail which we rode clear into McKinleyville. Lots of funny people watching to be done on this trail: speed walkers, dog talkers, cool posers and unabashed stoners.
We hit a natural foods store in town, only to see out the windows as we were checking out, the skies opening... on our uncovered bikes! Ran outside and prepared purselves for a soggy 10 miles to Eureka.
Lady talked to us outside who told us about the "space gems" they have in town. Sounds like some far out gummies.
We lucked out by calling David, who's number was listed on our map, to get a place top stay. Though his backyard camping had been shut down by the county, he had a spare room which he offered to us. Such a blessed feeling to come into a cozy home and hear the heavy rain on the roof.
Saw an Earth First! sticker in the garage and knew I could have an interesting conversation with this guy. Over dinner he started tslling us about the Smith River, a toen we had biked through yesterray without hardly batting an eye. He said it was the center of Eadter Lily production for much of the country. Nearly 95% of all the lilies folks use on easter, he said. Trouble is they use nearly 300,000 pounds of pesticides annually to keep production up, a lot of which ends up in the town's namesake river. A local nonprofit dtarted investigating the water quality and found acute toxicity on many areas along its course, so toxic not even the little waterbugs the salmon eat could live. They've been operating without a discharge permit because the water quality board is funded chiefly by the pesticide industry... yikes.
We started talking about salmon too, something that's been on my mind since passing over the columbia. The Klamath, ehich we rode over, is facing many of the same issues. Declining salmon populations, native fishing rights, angry irrigators upstream, and aging hydroelectric projects. There's a lot to talk about. So much, I might do a devoted blog post. An interesting side note here is that there's a Norweigan company looking into farming salmon at an old Pulp mill in Eureka. Is it smart to farm salmon anticipating lower populations? Or do we make the problem worse by not investing in wild fisheries? The answer was as unclear as the future, but we agreed wild salmon aren't worth giving up on yet.
We looked at the road ahead in the evening. Perhaps a week until San Francisco. We're actually ahead of schedule, and although the weather looked mediocre, we've decided to take the Lost Coast route. A little more remote woth some epic climbs, but heck, we're here and adventure calls.
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