San Francisco

We cycled into San Francisco on a bright, sunny Sunday afternoon. Not the best time to be cycling the Golden Gate Bridge, it was a madhouse! All cyclists were on the westbound pedestrian walkway and all pedestrians were on the eastbound walkway. And there were lots of cyclists on that bridge. It was mayhem. There are several bike rental companies that specialize in biking the bridge. All that means is they hand a bike to any unsuspecting tourist and send them on their way to almost certain doom. Biking a bridge and then going downhill into busy traffic is serious business at the best of times. Combine that with crazy San Fransicso/Sausalito Golden Gate Bridge amounts of people, and you've got trouble. Obviously, not too many people must meet their maker on their trip across the bridge, but I'm not sure how that works. We made it across safely, but had no time or opportunity to stop and take pictures!


We had a great time in the city and here's a quick look at the place


 

Ferry Terminal



 Grace Cathedral

City Hall

EucalyptusTrees in Golden Gate Park.  They are everywhere in northern California and smell divine!



Coit Tower



historic street cars

Those we met along the way

A unique aspect of biking the Pacific Coast route in the summer time is the throng of other cyclists doing the same crazy thing as you.  We never had a day that we did not interact with some other cyclist that we met along the way.  Most campgrounds along the coast have hiker-biker sites where you pay between $3.00 and $6.00 per person for a guaranteed spot to pitch your tent.  It was fun to meet other cyclists and compare stories.  There are an infinite number of ways to travel by human power and it is fun to hear the stories and adventures of others.  We met one man in his mid-twenties who was a competitive cyclist.  In one day of riding, he had covered the same amount of miles it had taken us 3 days to accomplish.  His plan for the next day was to ride 170 miles.... we bid him farewell that evening because we knew it would be the last time we would be seeing him!  On the opposite end of the spectrum, we spent an evening with Bill who had been living on his bike for 8 years.  He spent his time cycling (ever so slowly) up and down the Pacific coast, averaging about 15 miles a day at the break-neck speed of around 3 mph.  All this information was by his own acknowledgement, but there was nothing to suggest any other story.  I really wish I had taken a picture of him.  He was quite the character. 

Paul and Alaine spent the first 10 days with us before having to head back to Bellingham

We met lots of interesting people along the way.  Here are just a few of them:

Nick is an environmental educator from northern California who lived in a tree house.  We camped with him for about a week before he had to pick up his pace and get to San Francisco.  He was meeting his family to fly to Vermont for a family reunion and then was going to Dewey Beach for a vacation with friends!  Small world.

Kem was born in Peru, but had lived in many spots in the US.  He had cycled in New Zealand and Vietnam. in years past.  He was just finishing his university studies and then heading to Cambodia to work with the World Health Organization.

We met 60+ year old David on our way into a State Park and he cycled in with us to have a chat.  He was on the road from Minneapolis, Minnesota and was just traveling around enjoying himself (remember, we were in California at this point!)  He is the author of several books on biking and his latest was titled, "A half-million miles of a biker's life" which lets you all know that amount of cycling he has done in his life.  We found him in a breakfast restaurant the next morning (he was doing the hotel thing) and cycled into Eureka with him.  He was headed further that day so we bid each other good-bye.  Here's hoping we're still on our bikes at his age!

 Tim and Adrienne are from Irvine, California.  Adrienne's sister lives near Bellingham so maybe we'll see them again some day.  They were cycling to San Diego, and we spent about a week with them.

 Christian and Manuella are from Switzerland.  They had been on the road since February.  They started in New Zealand and had cycled many parts of the western US before they met up with us on the final leg of their trip.  They were headed to Los Angeles  for their flight home.  Gunther is from Germany.  We met him at the final campground before San Francisco.

 We met Sarah at the first campground on the Oregon coast.  She works for a non-profit in Washington DC.  She had started her trip visiting friends in Alaska and was cycling on her own from Vancouver BC to  to San Francisco.  We spent many nights with her and then left her behind when she took an extra rest day.  We were so happy to run into her again on her last night before cycling into the city and heading home.

Eureka!

Eureka was our second layover spot.  A nice place to hang out for a few days.  We stayed in a lovely Victorian Inn and had time to wander around the town and enjoy ourselves.  We did laundry (yeah!), had dinner at the Lost Coast Brewery and even had a chance to take in some local community theater.  The town has many beautiful Victorian houses and impressive murals. 

                                                                       City Dock

quite an impressive house

 Lots of murals throughout the city.  Many cities around had this same decorating idea.  Lots of impressive art on the sides of buildings!

Our respite from the tent.  The Eagle Inn.

California

Here's some more pictures from the California coast.  The scenery was beautiful, when we could see it.  Lots and lots of misty and just plain foggy days on the road.  Even when the days were clear, it was often too busy or dangerous to stop and take pictures.  Highway 1 along the coast was rugged with lots of steep descents, big curve around the water and followed quickly by steep upgrades back to the top of the bluff.  In many stretches of the highway you can see the continuing fight with Mother Nature.  The roadway has crumbled off the side of the cliff and another stretch has been blasted into the hillside; you can see that it is just a matter of time before erosion claims that section also.  There is even a portion that can be closed off during inclement weather.  That was the stretch we biked in the fog!  The road clings to the side of the cliff and when you looked down there was nothing but grey mist.  Maybe that was the best time to be there on a bike.  No sense gazing off into the distant ocean... it wasn't there!  So all eyes were on the road.  As you can guess, we don't have any pictures from that day!

Although the air was so misty, the hillsides were brown and dry.  It created quite a contrast of colors.

 Mendocino.  A great town.  The Summer of '42 and East of Eden were filmed here.

California Lighthouses

Here's a peak at the lighthouses we saw in California.

Crescent City Lighthouse

It's an island at high tide and attached to the town at low tide

Trinidad Lighthouse Replica

A cute little town with a great breakfast spot.

Point Cabrillo Lighthouse

Point Arena Lighthouse

Closest point on the California coast to Hawaii

Everything needs its claim to fame

California Redwoods

Crescent City is the northernmost California coastal town.  It's a cute little city but its claim to fame is the Crescent City "hills" on the southern outskirts.  They seemed like mountains to me!  The day we climbed those hills was cloudy and misty.  The climb to the top of each hill built up quite a sweat and then it was time for the trip back down.  The air was chilly and by the end of the last hill, the bone chilling numbness had set in.  On top of that, the road surface was wet and a bit mossy which made for some slipping and sliding of the back tires.  All and all, not so fun.  But those hills led us into the Redwood Forest.  Del Norte State Park and Redwoods National Park surrounded us for days.  Words can't express the beauty and grandeur of those trees.

Corkscrew Tree

California Wildlife

Banana Slug

In places, the road seemed as narrow as this path, with redwoods towering overhead.  Quite awe inspiring.

Not a single picture I took captured the true essence of this place.  You really must come see for yourself.

A Last Look at Oregon

Here's a last look at the Oregon Coast.  Once we crossed the "border" into California, we headed toward the Redwoods...

I took many pictures trying to capture the essence of the coastal fog.  It seemed to have a life of its own, and you never knew when it would envelope everything in sight!

I loved the sea stacks along the coast.

Harris Beach State Park

Brookings, Oregon

Those kids are tough.  You could never call that water anything but darn cold!

Welcome to California, but leave all your fruit in Oregon please...  we smuggled an illegal banana and avacado into the state