Day 20--ENTERING CALIFORNIA

September 24, 2000
Brookings to Orick, CA

I had just about finished the 3rd part of this report when I lost everything again. The battery door was not open so the batteries must have shifted and lost contact. Grrrrr! I'm having a love/hate relationship with this little Pocketmail machine.

As we were leaving Brookings this morning, an RV slowed near us and we heard "Hello, Susan!" It was Bob & Wilda from our KOA campground of sometime back on Willapa Bay.

We left OR today and entered CA. First stop was the California fruit inspection station. Even though we declared our apple, they flagged us through. Almost immediately we took one of two alternate routes off busy 101. What a relief to be cycling on little traveled 2-lane roads flanked with orange California poppies, Queen Anne's lace, dairy farms, and field after field of Easter lilies. Del Norte county produces over 90 percent of the nation's Easter lily bulbs we learned.

Jess poses with the Leaving Oregon sign and I pose with the Entering California sign

We stopped at Taco Bell in Crescent City for lunch before tackling the infamous Crescent City Hills, 7 miles of climbing over what our guidebook described as "some of California's most hair-raising terrain." We got lucky. They were constructing a second northbound lane and had channeled all traffic to the inside southbound lane. That left the outside lane behind the cones free for us to climb without traffic worries. Because of this break and the fact that we were in the beautiful redwoods, the climb wasn't bad at all. We stopped only once for a power bar break.

A nice bike lane after we enter California and trees in the shoulder of the Crescent City Hill climb

We soared down the other side and then rode rollers until we got to Trees of Mystery, a tourist trap about the redwoods before Klamath. I took Jess' pic with Paul Bunyan and his ox, Blue.

We stopped at a dilapidated grocery in Klamath to buy groceries for the evening's camp at Prairie Creek Redwoods SP, but it was closed. As far as I could see Klamath consisted of a row of prefab homes, a bar, and a grocery.

Me pretending to feed the imitation golden bear near the grocery where we stopped, and the real thing on the Klamath Bridge

Just the other side of Klamath was the Golden Bear Bridge, two golden grizzlies (Calif. state symbol) guarding each end of a curving span over the Klamath River. Then began another long climb—we were tired and this 6 miles seemed endless and our toughest so far. We each were sure we had a flat at one point or another. Trucks tooted us encouragement as we neared the top.

Finally we summited, put on our warm jackets, and soared down the other side . . . and two miles past our campground. Neither of us could face climbing back up two miles, so we continued to Orick where we got a motel room in a seedy musty motel that seemed like heaven.

Near Orick we encountered this bicyclist's dream. Hell, we could eat anything: smoked salmon, salmon jerky, Mexican food, seafood, salad, or baked goods. I was a little disappointed that there was no Bhutanese or Seychelles Islands specialties.

A virtual smorgasbord from the restaurant next to our Orick motel

On the way down we had to stop once because there was a herd of elk feeding in a meadow right at the shoulder. One male had impressive antlers. We passed them cautiously so that they would not spook and step in front of us.

Internet photo of the Roosevelt Elk in just about the place we saw them

Miles: 75

Route: Brookings, OR to Orick, CA; mostly on 101, long climbs

Weather: Sunny weather in the 70s