Navarro Beach

This was our first time camping at this beach. We have often made the parking area a meet up point after Richard has ridden Philo Greenwood Road, but we’ve never stayed the night. One reason is because, if there’s going to be weather, it’s going to be at the beach. This time was no exception and it was pretty windy. But not so windy as to be prohibitive to a pleasant stay. I got there with Dory around 11 and only two of the ten sites were taken by intrepid tent campers. By evening, I think all spots had been claimed. It is likely that if you arrive early, you’ll get a site. There are no services of any kind, and no water, so you have to be self contained. But there are vault toilets and porta potties. 

Richard had a great ride and arrived just after noon. We had lunch and then took the car up highway 128 a little so that we could ride together to check out the Paul Dimmick Campground at Navarro Redwoods State Park. This place has always been closed, often because of river flooding, so we were curious what the sites looked like. We drove up a little instead of riding from Navarro Beach to get out of the wind, and to avoid the incredibly pot hole filled road from 1 to the beach. There were some deep ruts there that could not be avoided, so pulling Dory across them was a super slo mo crawl. It is bikable, but akin to off roading in some places.

Riding 128 is beautiful, but it’s narrow with no shoulder, and there are regular pockets of cars that will pass you the whole time. The ten mile ride takes you through protected old growth redwood forest, with the Navarro River right by your side. It is really a beautiful stretch of highway, by bike or car.

The campground is unserviced and deeply dark. All of the sites seemed suitable for an Alto and are first come first serve. I had no interest in moving from the beach, so we turned around and rode back to the car. Mission accomplished and now we know another option for camping in that area. For future reference: Navarro Beach is open year round, while Paul Dimmick is only open late May-early September.

We then drove six miles south on Highway 1, to the tiny town of Elk. We’ve driven past and through a bunch of times, but haven’t really checked it out. On the recommendation of a friend, we made it a day trip and are certainly glad we did. If you blink, you’ll miss the town. There is a cute little store that sells high end groceries and deli fare, tailored to the Mendocino hip crowd with money to burn. We limited our purchases to a hot panini Caprese sandwich, and some brittle corn, which is essentially like adult Cracker Jacks. And it’s basically crack. It’s all gone now and we’d better be careful not to never buy too much at a time. Wow that stuff is good.

We then hiked the 1.3 mile trail down to the beach and along the bluffs. Wow! Those are some picturesque, quintessentially California coast views there! The rocks off shore have ocean beaten tunnels cut into them, and the water was an incredible shade of bright aqua that day. I highly recommend the short hike and a visit to the Elk Store the next time you pass through.

Dinner that night was a Blue Apron we brought with us that was super yummy. It was a Curry and Soy Glazed Chicken with zucchini and sweetened coconut chips. I don’t think I could recreate it, due to the coconut chips and yellow curry paste. But man, it was so good! I do so love cooking at the beach and our Seacliff vinyl poster made it look like we have a LFW. I will admit, this site would work well with a BFW. But no regrets on not taking Lola. There are just too many things I prefer about Dory. Storage is one, but also the color of the upholstery, counter tops, warm colored puck lights, and lots of little things that create an overall feel that just seems “right.” Plus, there are the technical upgrades like dual lithium batteries, dual propane tanks, better solar panels, etc. I don’t think heat will be an issue on this trip, since we’re sticking to the Pacific Northwest until the very end, so the BFW heat thing would probably not have been an issue. I would have been fine either way, but I’m happy we got our Dory.

We woke to a beautiful beach view, as blue skies gently broke through the fog cover. We have intentionally planned a much slower pace of travel for this summer, as compared to last. We did two one nighters in a row to get to Fort Bragg, but from there on, we’ll enjoy 2-3 nights and short travel days for two months. Bliss.

Onward and northward, up the coast. Still no errors on the Truma, so fingers crossed. We have pulled out my bike twice so far and are getting better at the process. I am learning how to screw on pedals the right way and I hope it gets easier every time we do it. It is definitely nice to store both bikes in the car. My old trailer bike got ditched and will probably be donated. It was a nice try, but I love my e-bike way too much. The spot left vacant on the trailer bike rack also makes for a perfect place to lug an anxiety ladder. I’ll be using that soon to put the anxiety vent cover on. Wonder if we’ll get sick of the coast after this?…. Nah!

Total miles from Hendy Woods: 22.8, 16.6 mpg, 31 min. Site 9, no hookups, first come first serve, $35 per night. Hardly any cell at all from the campground and beach, but if you stop at the turn off from Highway 1, there is decent service there. Excellent solar, vault toilets.