At first I thought of spending a few nights in the hostel near Crescent City (at the northwest tip of California), but my R100RT-riding coworker suggested that I try and hit some of the roads near Fortuna, just below Eureka (which is about an hour south of Crescent City), so I looked up nearby campsites and settled on a plan -- a four day tour that included the Mouth of the Matthole campground, a ride along highway 36 to Redding (also suggested by my coworker), a bit of camping in between and then a detour on the trip home to avoid most of Interstate 5.
This was my first tour with the Reynolds rack instead of the BMW top box. I secured the cooler and packed chicken breasts I'd frozen, cheese, and various other perishable food fixings so that I could rough it without having to check into civilization for at least a few days. I've honed the packing of my gear quite a bit so getting it all to fit on the bike was really pretty easy. I decided to leave the rainsuit behind not so much for lack of room as much as for an optimistic start.
I pulled out of "Dodge" mid-morning on Monday to see clear skies and forcasts that promised no rain until late Wednesday at the earliest. With my lunch packed and the hostel as an alternate destination, I was headed for Garberville/Redway, where I would connect with the road to Shelter Cove. The trip up 101 was uneventful because I knew to keep the speed near the posted limits after having learned my lesson with a ticket from Ukiah police on my way to Oregon a few months ago -- since tossed out using a class on driving safety. This day there was no major traffic, roadwork, or CHIPs to slow me down.
I did pass CHIPs going the opposite direction on several occasions as I headed north, but as I said, I was keeping within the posted limits with a few brief exceptions. Even at suggested speeds highway 101 is a pleasure to drive, especially mid-week (the more I tour the more I realize the time to stay *off* the roads is on weekends. Mid-week rides rule, simply put).
Daylight
savings ended the day before I left on this tour and I knew my daylight
driving time would be limited by a couple hours. I ate part of my lunch
after I gassed up in Ukiah, and eventually found the proper turn in Redway
to take me towards Shelter Cove (I passed the turn heading north -- it
wasn't well marked -- but a minute or two later turned around and saw the
signs).
I should mention that my methodology for planning these trips is to read info about campsites and routes, maybe scratch a few notes to use in case of a pinch, and otherwise wing it from memory and using my Thomas Bros. map of California. In certain cases I'll resort to localized GPS (asking someone for directions), otherwise I like to leave details as open-ended as I can afford.
The road towards Shelter Cove (a two-laner reminiscent of the road between Alice's and Pescadero) was a welcome respite from the highway travel of 101 (which is itself preferable to interstate 5). It was what I would call a "3rd gear" type road -- keep the K in 3rd and you're happy.
From what I remembered from the Mapquest.com map, I wanted to take the first paved right turn I came to. I was thinking it would be called Matthole but the first turn was called Edgewood. I took it anyway and wound my way up into the hills on this narrow unstriped route (see photo). I stopped and ate the rest of my lunch, had a smoke, then pressed on, although I was somewhat fearful of it not being the correct road. With my remaining daylight travel time down to a few hours I didn't want to make any major directional blunders.
The
road was (as my coworker had warned) of varying qualities. Mostly paved,
with some gravel and dirt sections in both easy to navigate sections and
on tight 5-10 mph turns. Needless to say I took it slow and passed a bit
of traffic going the opposite direction, including a fire engine on one
of the tight turns. Eventually I came to a sign that pointed the route
towards Honeydew and I knew I was on the right track.
At some point I guess I went through Honeydew (I must have blinked at the time) and was soon heading north on 211 (which was in much better shape than Edgewood Road). After stopping briefly to review my emergency directions, I began looking for the second bridge over the Matthole River, where I would turn off for the Mouth of the Matthole campground. I passed one bridge over the river and began wondering whether it was the first or second bridge that I'd passed. I turned around for a bit but then decided that the mouth of the river had to be further along so I turned back around, and it was. I pulled into the campground at about 4:15 with an hour or so of daylight left, especially pleased with myself for not opting for the hostel.
The
Mouth of the Matthole campground is remote enough that one doesn't *have*
to pay fees, but not so remote that one is all alone thinking of "Blair
Witch Project" (which I still haven't seen but people have asked about
when they hear I go camping solo). The 15 or so campsites at Matthole were
less than 1/3 full, so I chose a spot and set up camp (note the Osborne
Stove on top of grill in camp photo at left). I met up with other campers
and later shared their campfire and conversation. It was a perfectly clear
evening and the star-gazing was beyond compare.
The
next day awoke clear and bright. I went for a long walk along the lost
coast beach, saw sea lion pups, and considered at some point in the future
doing the 25+ mile 3-day hike to Shelter Cove. It was just me, the gulls,
and the sand -- In a word, beautiful. I sat on driftwood and read (_High
Fidelity_ by Nick Hornby, a fantastic book!), meditated, and basically
enjoyed the serene location in all of its glory (serenity may be in short
supply at the Mouth of the Matthole, as the location is right over the
convergence of three of the earth's plates. A canyon-like cut into the
hill near the campground is actually the very end of the San Andreas fault
line, and nearby signs warn of tsunami danger in the event of an earthquake!).
That afternoon, cloud cover cooled the temperature from the high 60s to the high 50s for a while, then it moved on to reveal more blue skies and some high clouds but nothing too worrisome from a rain perspective. Slept well that night, and the next morning I packed up for the next leg of the trip.
The
ride between Petrolia and Fortuna was smooth and beautiful, but I was really
looking forward to the ride I would take after fueling up and eating --
126 miles of Highway 36. Heading southbound on 101, 36 is a left turn across
the oncoming 101 traffic. I made it through that without any problems,
and the first few miles of 36 took me through some towns that reminded
me of being in Oregon a few months ago.
Once past that section, 36 became a wonderful fourth gear type road. Normally I stay out of 4th gear in twisties because the bike gets to going too fast, but this road's curves and switchbacks allowed 60-80mph speeds and was perfect for fourth gear. One must be especially careful of speed however, because there are but few signs that indicate safe turn speeds so it's often difficult to tell whether the turn your barrelling into is a 25mph turn or a 45mph turn (speeds can be doubled for motorcyclists, right? ;). I err on the side of caution in these situations.
I
prefered the fast uphill runs on the south side of the hills, and I noticed
that the downhills were typically on the north sides of the hills with
enough moisture on the ground to make one a bit nervous. Didn't make any
blunders though, and the balance between 60-100mph stretches and the second
gear tight twisties was perfect for this motorcyclist. I'd hate to be in
a car on Highway 36, however. The ride on 36 between highway 101 and Interstate
5 near Red Bluff took me about 3.5 hours, and it was one of the best roads
for motorcycling I've ever been on.
Red Bluff's a sweet little town. My great-grandfather once owned a ranch nearby, where he grew crops and raised his 9 children. That property is long since sold, and anyway I have no idea of its exact location. Red Bluff does have campsites galore, and I chose one on the Sacramento River called Sycamore Grove or Shady Grove. It was virtually empty. After I ate dinner I developed a (fortunately very rare but) tremendous headache that lasted the rest of the night. Next trip, I bring pain meds! I think it was because I had been served unleaded coffee that morning.
The next morning, after a walk along the Mt. Shasta View trail, I packed up my camp by 9am or so, ate breakfast at a diner in town, and then went for as stroll along the main drag before heading home. I passed a shoe store and on a whim went inside to see if they had a pair of zippered short boots, like I've wanted but have been unable to find in San Francisco. Lo and behold they carried a brand called Deer Stag that had a perfect style, and on sale! $60 including tax out the door and I was a happy camper. Now I have full-length boots for touring and city riding boots that don't make the legs of my pants bunch up like laced boots do...and anyway as you know laces are a hazard on a motorcycle.
I pulled out of Red Bluff by 11am and headed south. For the trip home, I wanted to get off of Interstate 5 ASAP, so I took highway 20 to lower Clear Lake. I'd never been on 20 before and I'd been wanting to ride it for ages. It was excellent! Not much traffic. Passing lanes. Top speeds. A fourth gear road (on this day at least). From there I caught 29 and rode through Calistoga, Napa, Sonoma, etc. I was surprised that there were a few extremely twisty sections near Robert Louis Stevenson State Park. It was a nice strech of road, but traffic steadily increased to remind me I was getting closer to home.
Eventually I hooked up with 80 and crossed the Bay Bridge by about 2pm. My detour along the backroads cost me more than an hour of extra riding time... I'm glad I took it! :)
All in all, a great trip. Nearly 800 miles of perfect motorcycling fun in just the right number of days. Now I'm ready...let the winter rains begin!