Rushfan

My troop in Woodland has decided to make next summer's big trip a bike ride. Two years ago we camped at Bass Lake near Oakhurst and rode around the lake for one ride (1,000' of climbing in 26 miles, quiet roads) then explored Yosemite Valley on our bikes another day.

I'm looking for a location we can camp at that has a couple of easy/moderate difficulty, low traffic rides maxing out at maybe 50 miles. My initial thought is Avenue of the Giants at Humboldt Redwoods State Park, camping in Garberville. We can ride the Avenue and also add a ride out to the Lost Coast, taking on the Avenue on a weekday to reduce traffic. Anyone do any riding up there?

Any other suggestions in Northern California? The boys will have a wide range of skill levels and bikes, with some on mountain bikes; all should have some gearing. Steep climbs, crazy descents, and traffic are all things I'd like to avoid.

Also, we're looking for a good weekend warmup trip. I've penciled in Santa Cruz/Monterey as possibilites. Any other thoughts?

Thanks for the help.

gpelpel

When my Son's troop did the 50 miler bike trip we went to the Avenue of the Giants. We stayed at the Burlington campground right at the center of our route, biking the northern part one day and the southern part the next day.
It's an easy route with a couple of climbs each way but these are very moderate and not too difficult for kids. Traffic is close to non existent. A big plus is that there are very few roads connecting to the A. of the G. so the risk of having kids take wrong turns is almost nil. Plan on having several dads or a couple older kids as the groups will quickly spread in various level groups.

The Lost Coast is beautiful but the biking will be more challenging with some quite steep climbs.

x136 

My only concern about AotG is that the road is sometimes narrow and often dark, even during the day. Like Georges said, I've found the traffic to be very minimal, but I've only been there during the week (and on xmas day). [edit: Whoops, missed that you'd be there during the week anyway.]

I suppose it depends on how old they are, but if they've done a 26 mile ride, I can't imagine they're too young.

Otherwise, the AotG is absolutely amazing. Don't miss the hiking trails. Too bad those are likely not bike legal.

TeeMac

One of our Troops just did Henry Coe. Not sure of the status of this one with the closures and all, but it's HUGE. There are a lot of fire roads, but it would be all mountain bike stuff. There's a cool group camp you could use for the base of ops. One drawback is that in the summer it can be hot and dry.

Rushfan

Thanks for the confirmation. Sounds like AotG will work.