Day 4

August 29, 2001

MacKerricher Beach State Park to Manchester State Beach

47.2 Miles

In the morning fog had rolled in. Riding along the ocean I could see almost nothing. I stopped at Jughandle State Reserve. Scott arrived shortly after me, but didn't stay. I did a short nature walk. By the time I got to Mendocino it was starting to clear.

I decided to take a side trip to see the pygmy trees that the book mentioned. It said it was 2.7 miles up a fairly steep hill. It was steep. And it was getting hotter. The sign said the airport was three miles. By the time I got to the airport I was getting pissed. I wondered if I had missed it. But the sign at the airport said two miles back to town. So I continued on, and shortly I came to it.

It wasn't worth it. I thought the trees might look like bonsai's, but the just looked like sapling. Now I suppose it's interesting that these saplings are 80 years old, but it doesn't make it very visually interesting. I walked around the boardwalk, had some lunch, and headed back to the highway.

At least it was downhill, but as I got closer to the coast it became foggier.

I rode on to Elk, as the sun came out again. Stopped at a restaurant for a second lunch. After leaving Elk the fog rolled in again.

All along the coast were lots of hills, with hairpin turns. But they were banked really steeply, so you could fly down them, and go around the curve with little or no breaking. On some of these curves I was going so fast, I could feel my head spin, like on a ride at the fair. I was worried that I might lean so far that my panniers would scrape the ground, but it never happened.

I arrived at Manchester Beach State Park. The hiker/biker site was a big, open area. Cold and windy and foggy. But so was the rest of the campground. Scott was already set up. There were a couple of hikers. Quasi-drifter types from SF. And a Cyclist from Venezuela, who was heading north.

I walked down to the beach, but you could only see about 100 metres.

Stu arrived, and then Josh and Sam. The ranger dropped off some firewood for us, and we had a bonfire.


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