Dwagenheim

I woke up after a wrestles night of sleeping uncomfortably and waking up to animal noises. My food, surprisingly, was not tampered with. I had most of it in animal storage anyway. So I cooked up some oatmeal with banana, spoon of chocolate and ate some bread and honey as well. I want my body to be loaded for another day on the hills. I packed up and tried to get my tent as dry as possible of the overnight condensation before putting it away. I rode out and into some amazing redwood scenery. I was taking pictures every 5 minutes, no wonder when I looked down to see the mileage after a half hour, it was under two! I could see the sun come in in beams in some dark areas of the forest. As patches opened up, I saw the other trees like oak and maple flourish with young, small redwood. The colors were beautiful and the big maple leaves fell down in slow motion as if in a perfect scene of a fairytale story in the woods. Humans are the mere elves that peer up at these tremendous living things. I traveled through the small towns like Meyers Flat, Miranda, and Phillipsville, stopping to get a snack or two along the way. I spoke to a guy who was experienced with these areas by bike. He asked me some questions about my set up. He told me of an off road trail tour he was organizing up California. In Phillipsville outside of Miranda, a cyclist joined me for about 10 miles to Garberville. His name was Mike. We talked about how much pot is grown up here in Humboldt and Mendocino Counties. These two and Trinity County make up the “Emerald Triangle” which is known for its marijuana production. Mike told me about a stop outside of San Francisco that is run communally called Nature Friends. There aren’t too many in the US but quite a few in Europe. It kind of sounded like a hostel with free camping, but I might get to find out if there is more too it. Mike also told me about how he owned some land around Miranda that he grew some pot on. He talked about how many of his neighbors did too. Mike asked me if I’d like to work his pot farm for him, but I was a little skeptical of the offer. During my ride from the end of the Ave of the Giants and on to 101, the hills started to come. Mike and I parted outside of Garberville. I pedaled into town and found the library. I shot off a few emails and then did a short cruise around the interesting town. I took a look in the local head shop and then left town. I continued to see some climbs but overall it was like rolling hills. I cycled along the south fork of the Eel River for most of the day. The day’s sights were overwhelming. The river moved its way through the valley. Supposedly it had been low up until that year. I continued my steady uphill through small tourist oriented places that must be packed in the summer. The sun was shining and most of the sky was clear. The temperature must have risen significantly from when I was in the trees this morning. I applied sun lotion a couple times throughout the day. Eventually, around 4pm, I made it to the Sandish-Hicky State Recreation Area. It is at the base of tomorrow’s big climb, about 1000 ft above sea level, and unfortunately is right near the noisy road. I paid my dollar fee and took a dollar shower. I’ve had better, but it sufficed. I met my neighbor, a man named Storm who had come in just as I went to take my shower. He offered me some kindling and I invited him to join me later once I got my tent up. Storm came over and ate dinner while I fixed pasta and some soup. We enjoyed a nice fire and conversations dealing with logging, fisheries biology, tree climbing, and pot growing. I especially liked hearing about how Storm uses slingshots to get a line in a tree to climb it. He does tree climbing retreats in Leggett and cuts down trees as well. Storm seemed like a jack of all trades, a forest native, and well educated naturalist. We spotted a fox lurking in the background but it quickly ran away when it saw it was found. We puffed on the peace pipe and talked until the fire turned the wood to coals and then said goodnight. I had a few granola snacks and watched the fire dwindle as I looked back on a wonderful day of scenery and people meeting in Northern California. I wrote about the day before lying down to crash around 8pm. (52 miles)

Peace

Dave

Dwagenheim

Pic: Redwoods!

Dwagenheim

Pic: Eel River

Dwagenheim

Pic: Eel River Valley, Home of Reggae on the Rocks Music Festival

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Pic: Sunshine creeps through the forest

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Pic: More tall Redwoods

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Pic: The amazing scenery on the Ave of the Giants seems never-ending!

Dwagenheim

Pic: Sun peeks through the Redwood forest

Dwagenheim

Pic: Sun shining through the trees