Jul 22, 2013

When we awoke, we headed back to the Redwoods trailheads and I went for a hike on the Miner's Trail that I did last year and Joanna stayed in the car to sleep some more. I really love this trail. It was empty and peaceful this early in the morning.

There's something about being surrounded by these trees that calms me in a way that I've never experienced before. I always look back on this hike from last year as one of my favorites of all time. I feel like I'm just walking in wonderment, looking up and being amazed all the time.

I also spotted this guy on a leaf and spent some time shooting photos of him. I didn't take the whole loop this time. I went a few miles in and came back on the same trail. It was still a really nice hike for the morning.

We stopped at a little town and got lunch at a place called Hey Juan Burritos. They were pretty decent. We called a private disc golf course to try to play it, but it would have taken too long so we headed south to Redwood Curtain disc golf course, which looked pretty awesome from the description online. Once we figured out where to park and how to get to the first hole it looked like it would live up to its description.

Just being in a redwood forest is amazing, but getting to play disc golf there is even better. After playing a couple of holes and being a little confused we ran into a guy that was just starting and he offered to show us the course. This was very helpful and a lot of fun. It's his local course (how lucky is he?) so he was pretty good at it.

There were really some well-crafted holes at this course, including a water hazard, some long drop-offs, and yes, even a tee pad on top of a redwood stump. Craziness. We had a great round and played a couple more holes with our friend before we decided to head out.

On our way continuing south, we made a quick stop at Ukiah Brewing. They had a beer called Navarro Yarrow, that is brewed with yarrow instead of hops. It was really interesting and light. It didn't have that full flavor, but it was still amazingly tasty. The Orr Springs IPA was also amazing. It was a quick stop and then we were back on the roads to the Marin Headlands, where we pulled up to a somewhat foggy scene at the Golden Gate Bridge. We walked up to the overlook and took some shots, but I wasn't really happy with the foot shots I got there. It was still a nice view, but it was cold and windy up there so we didn't stay long.

Next stop was a restaurant called Source. It was a pretty cool little place in an industrial neighborhood. Very hip-like. The food all looked fantastic. I ordered some buffalo wings as an appetizer because I feel like I have to always try them wherever I go. The food was really good as well, but slightly disappointed that the menu described it as being topped with pineapple, Sriracha, and teriyaki sauce, but what it meant was there was a sauce made with those three things. I was looking forward to pineapple chunks and Sriracha. No such luck. I ended up getting another dish because of the misunderstanding and taking home the leftovers from both. All good.


We went to a place off Haight where there is a supposedly awesome vegan ice cream shop. Apparently it's true because there was a line around the corner for it! We waited for a little bit, but when the line didn't move and there were literally 30-40 people in front of us, we decided it wasn't worth it. We took the highway west for a little while until we found a suitable Wal*Mart for sleeping.

Jul 21, 2013

We drove from Oregon to the Redwoods area of northern California and stopped in Crescent City. Joanna dropped me at the Starbucks with my bike and headed down to the forest for a hike. I got lunch and a couple of local beers at Good Harvest Cafe before braving the big hills of Route 101 South. Coming out of Crescent City there's a big climb that doesn't stop for a long time. I took at least one opportunity to stop and rest on the way. The road continued like this, but it was more balanced. Big, big climbs followed by beautiful, breezy, downhill coasting that seemed to last forever. All the while I had views of the gargantuan redwoods on either side of me.

Aside from the hills, traffic was my other concern. It seemed like people were accustomed to cyclists on this road, so it wasn't too bad. I still worry. The ride was amazingly grueling, yet exhilarating and rewarding. This amazing view was just one of many. I stood and watched this for a while. It was chilly and windy, especially near the open ocean sections, but pedaling hard warmed me up. I met Joanna in Klamath, a little town along 101, after riding a hard 21.5 miles. It was fantastic. I felt great.

We met next to an emu farm so we talked to this guy for a while. I think I named him Frank or something like it. He's from Australia. Once we left Frank, we went down to Redwoods State/National Park and walked the Revelation Trail. It's a really short trail near the parking lot with a lot of very old and amazingly huge redwoods and sequoias. It was dusk, but we could still see the immense size of some of the trees. It was a nice, relaxing little walk. 

We got showers and pitched our tent in the biker/hiker area since the campground was full only to get told by a ranger when we were parking the car that we had to take it down since we are neither bikers nor hikers. I wanted to tell her about my recent long-ass bike ride, but I refrained. We had to drive pretty far up the road before we found a place to park and camp for the night.