Carpe Dory (2)

This stay completes our Highway 96 Klamath River grand do over. I’m giving high marks to Sarah Totten campground, but boy, we very nearly bailed on it. We sure do get triggered by long sections of no connectivity. I knew that going into this area of California was going to feel remote and “rugged,” but I think that is mainly due to the general lack of cell service. Interesting how when we rolled through as bicycle tourers twenty years ago, cell service wasn’t even a thing. I vaguely recall this stretch being a highlight of that whole trip and I can now see why. We are finding it interesting how the convenience of the internet has created a reciprocal mental burden when it is not there.

Twenty years ago, we flew down I-5 until the rest area at the start of 96. There, we made a decision whether to follow the Klamath River, or to go south to Etna and then up and over a huge climb to the Salmon River. That would have routed us through Forks of Salmon; hence the decision to dip our toes on that road by staying close to Somes Bar. This stay put us on another river ride along the Scott River. Sarah Totten is located right at the start of that ride, so it made sense. However, given we had to stop to dump tanks along our way, we got a brief burst of internet in Happy Camp. We paid $20 to use a hookup site with a sewer at Bigfoot RV Park, and while we were doing that, we both tapped into the free internet. That quick shot of adrenaline got me all activated and simultaneously created a strong desire to stay connected. In that state of mind, I began looking at other campground options in the general vicinity of where we were going. I saw that there was a place called Quigley’s RV Resort that boasted wifi and “waterfront hookups sites.” It was tempting. I went so far as to look at their reservation website and saw that they had availability for $69/night. That was a lot more than the first come first serve forest service campground, but it felt worth it at the time. This all played out in the back of my mind as we moved across the street to the grocery store (which also has wifi) and we did some shopping. As we were getting ready to continue back on the road, we discussed all of this and both of us were feeling pulled to go past Sarah Totten and instead continue to Quigley’s. We agreed to at least stop and look at the campground and make a decision then. On we went.

It is a gorgeous drive along 96, with never ending views of the Klamath, and well maintained roads. We had gotten a really early start, mostly because we are always nervous about first come first serve situations, so we arrived at Sarah Totten just before 11. It was nice. And totally empty. No problem getting a site, as is almost always the case. We determined which one was the nicest and, without yet committing to staying there, backed in and had some lunch. We both sat at the picnic table and made sandwiches, gazing at the river through a gap in the trees. As I sat there, I could literally feel my body relax. Like I noticed my shoulders lower, my chest open up, and my jaw loosen. It was so striking that it made me realize just how much that short shot of internet had gotten me wound up. I made the call right there that this was where I needed to be for the next three nights. We unhitched leisurely and wrote a check for $30; $10/night for three nights.

Given how much time there was left on the day, we decided to ride our bikes 17 miles up the road to see what Quigley’s was like, and either confirm or regret our decision. With $30 invested, it would not have been a giant loss if we’d somehow decided to change our minds, so I wasn’t worried about that part. And I did want one more check in with the world. Our daughter is having a rough time right now, but so is a major part of the whole country. The plan for the next day was to participate in a national protest in the nearest place I could find that was holding an event. I was really anxious about that, but reading reports of potential violence breaking out did nothing helpful for my psyche. Still, I was drawn to the news about it, and wanted to wrap up a conversation with our daughter and make sure she was ok.

Off we went, going slightly uphill and upstream. I remember how, twenty years ago, I had noticed that following 96 in the south westerly direction meant traveling downstream, which logically meant we would be mostly biking downhill. I was absolutely right about that, and I suspect that played a big role in how much I loved this area at the time. There was very little traffic, although this is the way truckers take, especially given all the road construction. Truckers tend to be very courteous to bikers and give lots of passing space, so it’s not really a problem, just something to note. We encountered a couple of one lane construction points, either with a timed light, or with a flagger, and we saw a whole lot of standing dead trees when we got to the wildfire zone. The Six Rivers Lightning Complex Fire (SRF) in burned from August to November of 2022, devastating 41,596 acres. Its mark is quite apparent in the north eastern side of the wilderness and set an ominous tone as we eventually arrived at Quigley’s.

Immediately on arrival, I gestured to Richard that we had made a really good call. The whole feel around Quigley’s is not as peaceful. Yes, you can sort of see the river from the slotty hookup “waterfront” sites, but you have to stand on a table to catch the view over the top of the shrubs. The sites are all in rows next to each other, so there is no privacy. But there would be hookups. Yes, there is excellent wifi and the store is cute and fun. We both got enough service, and an ice cream from the store, to feel we’d done enough civilizationing for the day. Then we turned around and rode all the way back to our blissful state of natural beauty and worldly ignorance. It would have been more pleasant if there hadn’t been a headwind, but that was only a problem for Richard. I tried my best to be a wind block for him so he could draft.

The rest of the day was spent dozing off in our Nemo chairs to the sound of the river and a cold margarita for me. Dinner was a scrumptious sour cherry glazed pork roast with foil packets of fresh thyme infused potatoes and garlicky green beans. This was topped with a sour cherry-mayo sauce, sprinkled with parmesan, and it was absolutely amazing. I saw, but did not photograph quickly enough, a river otter swimming upstream.

The next day was a big one. Either 5 million or 13 million, depending on whom you listen to, came out to protest the current regime. Whatever the actual number, it was a historical showing of opposition and it mattered a lot. I knew I needed to be part of that, it was just a question of how that was going to happen on the road. I sort of shifted the timing of our stays so that we could be a reasonable drive away from a sanctioned gathering, and that meant Yreka, deep in a very red county of northern California. We thought it was a good idea for Richard to get in a ride in the morning to help regulate him before the protest, so he rode and I drove, meeting up again at Quigley’s. This turned out to sort of backfire on him because he got very tense when he found the ride to be a lot more difficult and time consuming than he had assumed from the previous day. For my part, as soon as I got service again and scanned the news to see that there were no outbreaks of violence, I felt a huge wave of relief. Richard rolled in kind of stressed, but he was able to shake it off and we drove the rest of the way to downtown Yreka.

We found a showing of maybe two hundred (?) people gathered in front of the county health building, all with signs and American flags. I absolutely love connecting with people at these things. It reminds me how many people feel the same way, and how not alone we are, even in deep red counties. There were overwhelmingly more honks, waves, and thumbs ups than flipped birds, which is also encouraging. The energy was positive and full of determination. It was like a mainline infusion of hope, which I desperately needed.

I think we had about as much fun as it is possible to have in Yreka, since we were also there accidentally on their “Gold Rush Days” street fair. Obviously, Richard had already found an ice cream place to visit, which doubles as a clay crafts studio. Bella Art Works Creative Cafe serves specialty grilled cheese sandwiches, a variety of cafe foods, and ice cream that includes flavors made by BJ’s, an ice cream parlor we (obviously) visited in Florence. They also run a studio where you can paint clay items, like bowls, cups, statues, etc. individually, or for a party. Super fun place!

The street fair had several blocks closed to car traffic. There were some food booths, bouncy houses for kids, a band stage, and information on community organizations. It was located in the historic part of town, which was both cute and fun. We walked around for a little while and then drove over to their community park to go on a little hike. We discovered a disc golf course, which made me think of my friend Caz’s kids. The trail through the course continues uphill to a nice viewpoint overlooking the town. At the bottom, there is a small reservoir that is plentifully filled with trout and bass. A local person fishing showed us a little nursery near the shore where there were lots of good size baby fish just hanging out in the shallow water. It was a really great day.

Our last day in Six Rivers was spent on Scott River Road. In case you’re curious, the six rivers of this region’s namesake are: Klamath, Smith, Trinity, Eel, Van Duzen, and the Mad. The road begins much like the other one; a two lane well paved road with little traffic, which gradually narrows and starts to climb away from the river. There is then a long descent and you stay fairly flat and close to the shore for five or six miles. Along the way, you pass an incongruously manicured section surrounding a lodge and several satellite cabins. This is part of the Scott River Lodge resort. We passed by a couple in a golf cart, and as Richard is often wont to do, he asked them some questions about the area. The husband referred to the resort as a “husband and wife retreat.” My curiosity was piqued at the specificity of the label, so we made a note to look it up later. It turns out it is a religiously based retreat for married couples where you can spent $6-8,000 for a six night stay. The organization running it is named “JH,” which explains the couple of signs I saw along the road stating “Stop the JH expansion.” It seems, even in the remote places, there is no escape from politics.

We rode as far as the Indian Scotty Campground and had lunch in one of the empty sites. You could definitely fit a trailer in there, and I would not be as nervous towing Dory on that road as I would have on Salmon River Road, but it would still be tense and for not much more value than just staying at Sarah Totten. The road continues on to Fort Jones and we don’t know what that side is like, but we did for sure see some trailers in the campground, so people can do it.

We wrapped our stay with a delicious grilled chicken and poblano taco dinner with chipotle mayo and melty cheese tortillas, with Mexican spiced carrots on the side. I made a decree that taco dishes must be grilled, but we’ll see if I keep to that. The campground, and our site in particular, were just phenomenal. We saw multiple people putting rafts in the water there, with a plan to take out downstream at a place where they parked a pre-planned vehicle. Personally, I wouldn’t want to float this river unless I was with someone incredibly knowledgeable. Wide, calm waters turn to rapids very quickly. I saw a little deer swim across the river and I was genuinely worried about it. Maybe they do that far more than I realize because they made it without getting swept away.

Total miles from Pearch Creek: 72.5, 18.1 mpg, 3 hours 10 min with stop in Happy Camp to dump and shop. No hookups, ok solar, no dump. Water spigots. NO cell service and no wifi until Quigley’s 17 miles away.

Highway 96 along the Klamath River is literally why we have Dory. Twenty or so years ago, Richard and I bike toured through this area. I learned then that I am not the biker that Richard is. I also learned that I really don’t care for campground showers. But I did love the traveling. Life sort of ceased for us for about ten years, but then our son went on an adventure through Northern California and Oregon. He carried a satellite tracker and I remember following his progress wistfully as his little blip made its way through the Klamath and Six Rivers National Forest. His trip rekindled in me feelings of wanderlust, but I had to find a way to do it that was compatible with reality. Teardrop web searches led to small trailer searches, led to the Alto 1723, still the only solution that does 100% of everything we need. It is strange that it took eleven years of Dorying before we tried a grand do over on Highway 96.

Leaving the Eureka/Arcata coast, we knew we would need to top everything up. Richard filled the fresh water tank in Sue Meg using a jerry can. We got gas for the car and for the generator, and enough food to last a week before heading over the pass on Highway 299. There are two big climbs and descents, which I pedaled myself over once upon a time, thank you very much. Doing this in a car brings fewer bragging rights, but also less crying, so it’s an overall win.

There is a lot of road work happening at the moment. On the upside, almost all of the road surface is in excellent, freshly painted, condition. On the downside, we spent a good amount of time waiting for pilot cars to take us past ongoing construction. The views are every bit as thrilling as I remember, and there is very little traffic.

As for services, there is the town of Willow Creek, at the bottom of the pass. We didn’t explore that much, but it has some restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, a hospital, and even an Ace Hardware. This whole region is known as Bigfoot country, so many of the businesses are going to be named accordingly. In fact, this part of 96 is called the “Bigfoot Scenic Highway.” So we will for sure be looking for him.

Hoopa is the next town, right in the middle of reservation land. This is smaller, but has a grocery store, museum, a couple of restaurants, and a gas station with a mini mart. Cell service went in and out along the road. We rolled on through though, looking forward to seeing how much Orleans had to offer. 

We found the answer to the question to be: not a lot. There is one functional, but not modern gas station. No credit card pay at the pump 24/7 here. There is one store, and there is a conservation center with free WiFi. No cell service anywhere in town.

We had a reservation in the Forest Service campground of Pearch Creek. Originally our plan was to stay closer to our bike ride at Oak Bottom, but they closed due to downed power lines. This was just a couple of miles away, so no biggie. 

When we pulled in to the campground, there was almost no one else there. Almost. Just behind our site, I could see someone was lying on the ground, surrounded by plastic bags and various pieces of clothes and things strewn about. He was talking to someone, which was confusing since there was no cell service. We also noticed he had something plugged in to a power pole located a few yards behind our site. Benefit of the doubt said he had a power booster or satellite system, but other signs indicated he was simply talking to someone who wasn’t there. We unhitched and got set up as per usual, but I had in the back of my mind that we might be leaving, depending on how our friend seemed. I saw him start to pick up his things and put them in bags. By the time we were set up, he was carrying all the bags and walking out of the site. He gave a friendly, “Hi, how are you?” and followed with “Did you have any trouble backing in?” Casual, not hostile in any way. We greeted him back. And with the expected social interaction completed, he closed with, “Bye.” He walked over to another site and carried on the conversation with his invisible companions. Sometimes he gestured wildly, or clapped, or waved his arms. I decided he seemed harmless, just in his own world.

Richard rode into “town” to get all the info while I watched our friend. I was alert, but not afraid. I did activate “bear protocol,” just in case, with all the windows fully closed and door locked. When Richard returned, he said he spoke at length with one of the locals, and apparently there are lots of these guys around these parts, harmless she says. Our friend stayed in his area the entire time we were there. He seemed to have food and a sleeping bag of some kind. It wasn’t too cold at night or I would have been worried about him. It must be a hard life, just finding food and shelter. Maybe people mess with him, maybe people are kind. It’s a whole lot of small close knit communities out there, so I imagine people kind of take care of each other. That’s what I hope anyway.

After a very nice dinner of seared pork with grape agrodulce, we drove out to a small store in Somes Bar called Salmon River Outfitter. And really, the “town” of Somes Bar is just that store. It is a great store though! We need to remember to time our visits in the future to line up with doughnut days. We just missed this one, which happens every Wednesday morning. The owner bakes a whole bunch of delights and they sell out immediately. They had everything we could have needed and they have free wifi. We got our fill of outside world news and went to look at Oak Bottom campground, just to see what that would have been like. There was nothing particularly special about that place vs Pearch Creek, except that it is right on Salmon River Road, which was our planned ride for the next day. To do again, I’d be fine staying in either place. Forest Service campgrounds are only $10 a night, usually with no services and no dump. Some are reservable and some are first come first serve. Both Pearch Creek and Oak Bottom were reservable.

The next morning, we drove into Orleans to gas up before our bike ride. In areas with no service, we quickly find out where all the wifi is. The Mid Klamath Watershed Council building has fast wifi, but you have to go inside to get the password and they close at 6. Once you have the password, it works 24/7. We chatted with a guy who works there who has done all the bike rides around. He gave us some good intel for the next couple of days.

We parked the car at the first turnout on Salmon River Road and started from there. This is a glorious bike ride to Forks of Salmon and back. Twenty years ago, we considered taking this route from Etna and wow. I would have been very challenged by the lack of any services whatsoever for that whole 57 mile stretch. I guess our plan would have been to do the whole thing and land in Somes Bar or Orleans where we could have gotten food. We were pulling 80-90 mile days on that trip though, so I suppose it would have been doable. In a car, I’m not sure how well I’d do. There are a lot of places that are super narrow, with hundreds of feet of dropoff on your left or right. I don’t think there was anything that would have caused an outright panic attack, but I would be very tense the whole drive. On bikes is definitely the better way to go.

The first seven miles is a normal two lane road, with the river running to your right. The road rises and falls gently, following the flow of Salmon River. Eventually, you cross the river and come to a place with a sign saying the road will be narrow and winding for the next 35 miles. It’s not kidding. It also warns against trailers and I whole heartedly agree. Someone painted “Begin Freeway” on a rock wall just before a particularly deathy part. I think if this was a one way only road, I could do it, maybe even with Dory, but the thought of having to squeeze past someone when up on those hight points makes me panicky. There are certainly sections of maybe up to a quarter mile where one of you would have to back up to get to a pull out. No thank you.

Once you get to the Nordheimer Campground, the road calms the hell down all the way to Forks of Salmon. And since that is the big metropolis of the area, the road is marked with a “Congested Area” sign. This is funny. There is an elementary school and a post office and a tiny little park with a vault toilet and some mining equipment on display. The population in 2020 was 118 and we didn’t see any of them. Not sure what children are going to that school, but there was a crosswalk. I wonder if they have a crossing guard. Maybe that person is also the teacher. So many questions.

Forks of Salmon is so named because of the literal forks in the Salmon River that divide there. From that intersection, you can get back to the Highway 3 area either through Sawyer’s Bar to Etna, or through Cecilville to Calahan. Any way you go, it’s going to be a narrow edgy road experience. Our ride took us 17 miles from Highway 96, and we just turned around and rode it back. I made it all the way on one battery, but again, was glad to have a spare strapped on my bike rack.

We celebrated tackling this once pondered, never taken, road by going back to Salmon River Outfitters to get a treat. Finding their ice cream coffin selections to not quite hit the spot, we drove instead to the market in Orleans, so named the Orleans Market. They had Haagen Dazs, and that was just perfect.

Dinner was a saffron chicken with kale rice and aioli. While cooking, we ran an extension cord from the power pole behind our site so I could properly charge up the bike battery. When using the generator, we try not to let it charge until the light on the charger turns green. For some reason, this seems to trip the fuse and the generator shuts off. We’ve had that happen twice now. Instead, we wait until the light on the battery itself turns blue, time 45 min, and then unplug. It reads 100% when you put it on the bike, but I do notice that it drops from 100% faster than when it charges all the way to green. Either way, having two batteries and a generator for times when we don’t have hookups works just fine. Too bad I couldn’t have bike toured this way. But then again, touring with a Dory is worlds better than actual tent camping. *shudder* Life is good. This has been an excellent do over so far.

Total miles from Sue Meg: 98.9, 16.7 mpg, 5 hours 1 min. No hookups. No cell. No dump. Water spigots and vault toilet. Site 1. Little tiny bits of solar. Electric pole behind site has 110 outlets. Ran extension cord from pole to Dory to charge bike battery.

We learned an important lesson the last night at Burlington: if in doubt, run the generator. The redwoods are super dark and virtually no solar was coming in. We had run it once, and figured Dory’s battery was fine for the last night, but we woke up to a pretty low voltage in the morning. We had enough charge for coffee, but I wasn’t going to mess around with running the water pump for a shower. We decided to pack it up and move to our next reservation, with a stopover at a Safeway for grocery shopping and solar charging in the parking lot. This was all fine and decided without urgency, but Richard did feel a little bummed because he wanted to do a morning hike along the river while I showered. We will have a do over some day and not hesitate about running the generator in the afternoon. It only takes 2-3 hours to fully charge everything, including my bike battery, so getting this done around making dinner time works pretty well. FWIW, I like the little Honda 1000 better than the blue Yamaha. It is much quieter, despite what the specs said on paper. Also worth noting is that once my bike battery starts blinking blue, you can let it go for another 30-45 min and it will be charged to 100%.

Last time we came through, we stopped at the McKinleyville Safeway and Richard attempted to ride from there to the campground. While he was ultimately successful, it was not a fun ride, because Google routed him onto a dead end road and he had to do a lot of uphill pedaling on Highway 101. This time we topped up at the Fortuna Safeway. There is a dump there, behind the Chevron station, that costs $10 and has water for rinsing. After logistics were done, I blogged in Dory and Richard rode out to the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Strava, the exercise charting app, showed a popular ride going up Tompkins Hill Road. He said it would not have been a good Dory road, but for bikes it offered a nice climb and an easy way to get across 101. We met up at a staging area near the south Jetty of a spit that encloses the bay around Eureka.

The weather was overcast and chilly, so Richard was good to stop for the day. He stretched, and we gawked at a paraglider getting ready to leap off the cliff overlooking the beach. It was a fascinating show, but in no way enticed us toward trying this as our new hobby. 

With all logistics out of the way, and some time killed so we wouldn’t arrive too early, we were set up for a nice three night stay. We ran the generator to top up all the things and went for a lovely walk along the rim trail after dinner. The site was very nice, with lots of room for outdoor lounging, which we didn’t use, and a secret path to the Rim Trail, which we didn’t use except to verify that’s what it was. Everything in the park is lush and tropical feeling, with rhododendrons of all colors blooming wildly.

For our first full day, we got out on our bikes. Riding out of the park and onto Patrick’s Point Drive will get you spectacular views, but also a lot of bumpy or fully unpaved sections of road. I wonder if the locals are opposed to ever fixing these. If the conditions were decent, I’ll bet everyone would be getting off the highway to take this breathtaking route. As it is, you really have to earn it, and I imagine that keeps traffic down. 

From Trinidad, you continue on Scenic Drive until it ends and puts you onto the highway. You can ride this to the next exit, which is about two miles downhill, and get off at Crannell Road. This gets you to Clam Beach Drive for the next few miles. We stopped and walked our bikes out to the beach for a nice lunch, which seems to be a popular activity, as evidenced by a long  flexible boardwalk surface, just perfect for wheeling bikes or wagons full of beach picnic supplies. 

At the very south end of Clam Beach, we picked up the Hammond Trail. This is a multi-use, mostly paved, trail that runs along the coast all the way to the Mad River Bridge. Sometimes if follows surface streets, but it is always clearly marked so there is little danger of getting lost. Speaking of getting lost, this was the trail Richard had been trying to get to on our last trip. He never found it, because, well, he is gifted at getting lost. We established that it is actually incredibly easy to get from the McKinleyville Safeway to the Hammond Trail. Turn right on Hiller Road and go 1 mile. Boom, can’t miss it. I mean, you can, I suppose, but it takes talent.

We made it all the way across the Mad River Bridge and even checked out the day use county park by the beach. It’s a beach. Got it. It’s a full twenty mile bike ride from Sue Meg to the bridge, and the out and back landed my battery at 7% as I rolled into the campsite. Perfect day. I did take my backup battery, with no regrets, but it turns out I didn’t need it.

We celebrated on the way back by stopping at the Lighthouse Grill in Trinidad. This place has some of the best ice cream I have ever had. It is made in house and maybe that’s why it is so good. They also make their waffle cones fresh and warm, so the ice cream slowly melts as you eat it. I had blueberry cheesecake on that day, Richard had vanilla and cookies and cream. I had banana fudge and Richard had chocolate almond on the return trip the next day.

Our second full day was spent hiking the state park trails. We had done all of these before and nothing was new or different. A heavy mist made things chilly all day. We did all of the out and backs from the Rim Trail and ended up with about a five mile hike. Some of the trails are getting a bit overgrown, an indication that this is a rainy area. And some of the steps down to rocky tide pools are falling apart, an indication that this is a stormy, wave battered area. It is gorgeous, with or without blue skies and you can stare at the rocks out in the ocean surf forever. 

We tried a wing it recipe for TACO Tuesday with Mexican spiced beef and poblano pepper, with a side of corn and pickled pepper salad. I’d say it was good, but needed something saucy. I also really love tortillas heated on the grill. Don’t know how to capture that in Dory when it’s not grilling weather.

This is a lovely park with lots to do. If you know how to find agates, you can hunt for them on Agate Beach. I don’t at all know how to spot agates, but I do know pretty rocks when I see them and you are allowed to gather 15 lbs. The pond will be getting some Agate Beach bling. There are plenty of amenities in gorgeous nearby Trinidad, including gas and a good market. And for everything else, Eureka and Arcata are the big towns nearby. This marks our last stop on the coast. From here we turn inland for the rest of the summer. Fun stay!

Total miles from Burlington: 89.9, 16.0 mpg, 6 hours 40 min with stop for shopping in Fortuna and detour to Table Bluff. 4 bars of LTE or 2 bars of 5g for both of us. Spigots nearby. No dump. There is a dump on the northbound side of the rest area just before the park exit. It is free and a good dump, with rinse water, but no potable water. After you exit, you get off at the very next exit for Sue Meg park. On our departure, we went south from the campground so we could pick up 101 going north. Then we did a loop de loop to get off the freeway and once again head down south. For the future, it is way easier to just take the freeway for this maneuver, rather than take the Scenic Drive, as you hit all the unpaved bits before you get to the exit. It’s some rigamarole, but it’s a free dump.

Beginning with the important bit: June 6th is National Donut Day. We had celebrated, quite well in fact, but still Richard wanted to demonstrate his donut devotion on the day itself. He found a bakery on our way in the tiny town of Garberville. The towns along 101 in this part of California are really teeny tiny. There was however Il Forno Bakery, known in the area for its fresh pastries, breads, and donuts. Sadly, though we got there before 9:30 am, they were out. Boo.

Not to be daunted, we stopped at the last possible place on our way, Miranda. The Big Foot statue in front of the Avenue Cafe is practically as big as the whole town. But lo and behold, inside the Miranda Market, they did have packaged donuts. This was our fall back option. Like we were pretty sure we could get gas station donettes somewhere, but we did better. There was a display of Bon Appetit “Gourmet” donuts and we got the chocolate and crumb varieties. You guys! For packaged donuts, these are actually really good. The chocolate ones are what I always want the Hostess ones to be, but they never live up to my expectations. We have also now tried the strawberry cheesecake, and those are yummy too. I think this blog is now just going to be about finding donuts on the road. “Just keep swimming” will refer to the need for constant exercise in order to work off the donut calories.

With Donut Day in the bag, we still had a problem: arriving too early at the campground. We were lucky in that there was a safe spot in front of the Visitor Center to leave Dory until we could get into our site. Not sure what we would have done had that not been the case. The parking lot was too small and there weren’t a lot of pull outs where I’d feel fine just leaving her. But happily, we were able to get out our bikes and do a lovely ride up the Avenue of the Giants and up Mattole Road. There was a slide a little past the campground and a section of the avenue is closed to cars. No problem scooting past on bikes though.

This ride is one of our all time favorites. Majestic redwoods line both sides of the meandering road, keeping you in shade and awe the whole time. At times, the Eel River reveals itself to your left. You can stop and partake of some of the named grove trail hikes, like Rockefeller, Founders Grove, Big Trees. We had done most of these before, but we are not yet tired of the sky high natural wonder of this place.

Besides the sheer loftiness of the standing giants, the other thing that gets your attention in these groves is the ginormous fallen trees. They just go on and on, stretching hundreds of feet across the forest floor. These are an integral part of the old growth ecosystem and you can see multiple plant species taking advantage of the nutrients. One of the trees, the Dyerville Giant, was said to have created such a booming sound when it fell, that it was heard by a resident living more than a mile away. So that answers the question about the tree falling in a forest with no one around to hear it.

We got as far as the Albee Creek Campground and turned around. Mattole Road goes on to the Lost Coast and all the way to Ferndale, which marks the top of the Lost Coast. We dipped our toes into that world once and it’s a lot of narrow unpaved road for miles and miles. There is a campground out there somewhere, but it would be a brutal drive we’d not want to take Dory on. Past the Albee Creek Campground, Mattole Road seems like just a road, as it leaves the redwood forest, so we were content to head back.

Dinner that night was another Blue Apron recreation of stir fried ground turkey and Bok Choy, fresh ginger, garlic, and scallions. Radishes marinated in rice wine vinegar and sesame oil, with a sauce of soy sauce and a tbs of sugar. Over the top is a mayo Gochujang mixure. It was really good.

In the evening, we walked over to the amphitheater (which we will forever call “campground wifi”) where there was a ranger talk. It was all about the mammals that live in the forest, and I learned a lot. For example, I did not know Ring Tailed Cats were even a thing. Now, I would really love to spot one. There are foxes apparently, as well as the regulars, like bears, skunks, flying squirrels, and raccoons. My pond cam at home is showing me clips of late night raccoon spa parties in the pond, so I get my fill of raccoons regularly. One interesting fact we learned was that the Humboldt Flying Squirrel is a “cryptic species,” which means it hides among other similar species, so they didn’t know for a long time how many were left. Also, the Ring Tailed Cat, which is not a cat, can completely rotate its feet, allowing it to climb down trees head first.

The next day we rode north on the the Avenue of the Giants as far as the Drury-Chaney Trail. This hike is well worth the extra trip. The trees are enormous and the fallen ones seem ancient. The forest floor is covered in thick carpets of clover and ferns, making you feel like you have stepped into Rivendell.

On the way back, we caught the small loop trail at Grieg-French-Bell grove. This trail has been majorly messed up by tree fall. We had a hard time navigating because it seems that a giant tree has blocked the loop. There are informal smaller trails to get you around it, but you’ll have to do a little scrambling through branch piles. Unless you want to climb over the enormous trunk.

To celebrate, we stopped for ice cream at the little gift store by the Immortal Tree. That tree got its name from the number of natural, and unnatural, disasters it has survived. I honored its tenacity with a mint It’s It.

Dinner that night was chicken tacos in Guajillo pepper paste with a roasted corn and pickled jalapeño pepper salad. This was cooked on the grill, and it was wonderful. It has been mostly too cool so far for grilling, but I’ll take advantage of any nice weather that presents itself. I do love to grill.

One last thing to note about this campground: it is really really dark. This matters if you are trying to keep your batteries charged with solar panels. We ran the generator one night for a while until it ran out of gas and shut off. We figured that was fine. We should have run it again the second night to get a full charge. We woke up with batteries on the low side and decided, since generator hours don’t start before 10 am, to pack it up and head out. No big deal, but it’s worth remembering. Great place, wonderful stay.

Total miles from Standish Hickey: 44.4, 19.0 mpg, 2 hours 19 min. Site 56 no hookups. No solar. Next time: run the generator every day a little. Occasionally functional 1 bar of LTE, better for Verizon than ATT. Good wifi in Visitor Center but doesn’t do pictures. Workable cell here and there when out and about. No dump. Spigot in site.

Lest you think I can’t get bored of repeat stays, here is one that I will say we don’t need to do again. I chose it because it falls right at the intersection of the twisty turny final hurrah of Highway 1 as it bends inland to hit 101. I have traditionally been frazzled after that drive and have appreciated the opportunity to stop. Maybe I’m getting more used to that drive, or maybe we are leaving earlier in the day than we used to, but for whatever reason, I really did not need to stop when we pulled in around 1pm.

Yes, we consistently enjoy stopping at the Peg House (“Never Don’t Stop”), but I think we could do that without the overnight in the campground. Richard has been looking forward to the “world famous” blackberry sundae and it did not disappoint. I have a thing about vanilla ice cream in the same way I have a thing about whipped cream. To me, neither one has enough taste to warrant the calories. Like, I’m happy skipping whipped cream in almost all scenarios. And when something is too vanilla ice cream forward, I’m kind of meh about it. So though I understand the appeal of the sundaes, I spent my calories on a silly treat purchased in the Peg House store. And they certainly do have a wide array of treats there, so no worries.

That said, once we had walked the short nature trail, and had our fill of sundaes or non sundaes, there wasn’t a whole lot to do. We figured we could walk down the steep road to the river, just to kill time. A few yards along, there was a noise. Richard froze. I did not immediately recognize what the noise was. It sounded like maybe insects or something and neither of us could make out exactly where it was coming from. You all know I’m hearing impaired right? Hearing aids are not super at giving you the location of where sound is coming from. It was very good that Richard had frozen in his tracks. I looked around, not terribly alarmed, until I saw a gigantic rattlesnake just off the road, and only a few feet away from where Richard was standing. I began backing away and I think I said, “It’s a snake.” He still didn’t know where the sound was coming from and I urged him, really insistently, to “walk toward me.” I would have grabbed and pulled him if he hadn’t started moving.

From further away, we could see the rattlesnake, all nicely coiled and ready to strike. There was a sign near the kiosk warning of rattlesnakes, but honestly, we see those everywhere, and have come to tune them out. This was the first time we have ever encountered a really big rattler in a situation that could have potentially ended badly. We closely watched everything everywhere the rest of the walk.

After dinner, we went back over to the Peg House because I was still a little peckish. We split a grilled cheese sandwich and a brownie and chilled to the sound of a live music. There is nothing to complain about here. I think I just could have continued on further up the road. We spent a lot of time discussing whether the section of 1 between the coast and 101 would be reasonable to bike, like if Richard wanted to pedal campground to campground. So first off, that would be a very long ride. But to my mind, the important point is that it seems excessively dangerous. There are nonstop blind corners, no shoulder, big climbs at the outset, and highway driving expectations from the cars. He will forget how thoroughly we discussed this, but I will not. Let’s leave it at: should he get really excited about riding that stretch in the future, he should know that he’s going to have to engage in a big discussion with me about it.

We both think it would be a good idea to shoot for Richardson Grove State Park a little further up the road. Yes, we will of course stop at Peg House (cause it’s a rule). I will remember that they have Root Beer Floats, which is one of the few applications of vanilla ice cream that I fully support. But as for staying again in the rattlesnake campground, I think we’re good and can try something else next time.

Total miles from MacKerricher: 42.4, 14.7 mpg, 1 hour 56 min. Site 3 no hookups. No solar. Water spigot in site. No dump. 1-2 bars functional LTE.

Fort Bragg is a no fail fun time stop on our way up the coast. This time, we had a very important mission to accomplish right out of the gate. As Richard is well attuned to all things ice cream and donuts, he has been looking forward to celebrating National Donut Day (which is June 6th just in case you didn’t know) for quite some time. In fact, he already realized that we would not be in an ideal location to properly observe the holiday on the official date. Furthermore, he researched the best donut places in ALL of the proximate locations and determined the most worthy contender would be Drop In Donuts in Fort Bragg. And finally, he found out ahead of time that it would be closed Tuesday and Wednesday. That left us Monday only to sample the doughy offerings. And since this place is a small batch specialty bakery, making only what they feel like putting out there and selling until they are sold out, they can run out a couple of hours after they open. This presented us with a seriously stressful situation.

We made the decision to hook up and roll as early as we could without being nuts about it. Richard wanted to ride up the coast, but even at his fastest donut motivated pedaling speed, it was going to be a journey fraught with disappearing donut dread. So my mission was to fly ahead with Dory and hope to get a parking spot close to Drop In. I was to then use my best judgement to procure a properly representative selection of one or two to share, and have something waiting for Richard when he arrived at the campground. I arrived at 10:00, with ample parking and a non empty display case. SUCCESS!! The thing is, you really cannot put me in charge of narrowing down the selection of unique specialty donuts and expect restraint. The owner listed off all of the varieties in the case: maple spice, chili hot chocolate, chocolate cream filled, coconut, cinnamon sugar, and chocolate strawberry. I struggled visibly for a while and finally said, “What would happen if I said one of each?” She had already perceived my dilemma and had the number “21 dollars” at the ready. “Perfect. Let’s do that.” I did use some restraint in not ALSO getting a slice of donut bread pudding. I might have FOMO about that.

I waited for Richard in the Day Use area by the lake and waited a respectable amount of time before losing patience and sampling one, then two, then three of the donuts. Of course I left him half of each. Oh my dear god, those were good. The chocolate filling was like some kind of rich custardy pudding and the strawberry glaze on the chocolate cake donut was intense. We both thought the maple glazed spice was the best overall. We have made a note to make sure future visits to Fort Bragg do not happen on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, just so we can go back to Drop In.

Our site this time was in the Surfwood loop and we are fans. It is closer to the beach, and quieter than the main campground. It is only open for part of the year, so that is worth noting. I managed to pick a site with the least solar, but the most privacy. We needed to run the generator on the second day to charge up my bike battery, so it really didn’t matter. And we loved the privacy. There was maybe one site at the beginning of the loop that would have a view of the ocean, but then you’d lose the privacy. I think I would try for this one again in the future. We spent the rest of the day walking out on Ten Mile Beach in the fog. Dinner was a pork and vegetable stir fry, which was delicious. 

The next day we spent biking up and down the multi-use trail. That is a favorite activity for sure. You can’t get better scenery and there are short little trails down to the water, like at Glass Beach. On the other side of the bridge at Noyo Harbor, you can go a short distance to another day use area and catch views of the harbor from the other side. And of course, on your way back, you can head into town for a stop at Cowlick’s Ice Cream. They not only have great ice cream, but also great hot fudge.

We tootled around a little and made a visit to the local music and gaming store. I text argued with our daughter for a bit on what constitutes “too many DND dice.” I did not get her another set, and in retaliation, she sent me a super cute picture of our cat showing his fluffy belly so I’d miss him. Diabolical, she is.

Soon, we started thinking about dinner. If you are on social media at all, you may have seen the word “TACO” thrown around more than usual. The trend amuses us and it was a Tuesday, so we decided to enjoy a TACO Tuesday dinner at Los Gallitos (appropriately slang for: “cocky little tough guys”). They had a $10 two taco + margarita special, almost as though they knew I was coming.

And on our last full day, we redid the Fern Canyon Loop Trail in Russian Gulch State Park. Boy was that a good call! We just happened to be there at exactly the right time to see all of the rhododendrons in full bloom. This is just a spectacular trail. You can do a loop up through a lush fern canyon, then cut up through dense redwood forest, swinging around to a nice waterfall at the top. On your way back, you can take the North Trail which tracks a little higher above the valley and ends back in the Russian Gulch Campground. The whole entire way, we were gifted with glorious pink blooms, filling the forest floor and lining the sides of our path. 

We could easily stay in this campground some time. It is also only open part of the year, but there were plenty of sites that could have fit Dory. The cell service there was not great, but it was pretty, with the little creek running through it. It is about fifteen miles south of Fort Bragg, so close enough to services.

We wrapped up our stay with a delicious recipe of Shawarma spiced rice with currants, carrots, and ground turkey. Fort Bragg gave us our last evening with clear skies for the sunset and we walked the boardwalks, entertained by bobbing seals splashing about in the sea foam. Richard is thoroughly enjoying his first official week of actual vacation, and we have learned that we can recharge my bike battery in under two hours of generator time. All wins.

I doubt I will ever get bored of Fort Bragg. Even if we do the same things over and over, they are always fun. It’s also always a good replenishing stop, where you can refill groceries, propane, gas, and of course donuts. Of the three approaches to Fort Bragg (Highway 1 from the south, Highway 1 from the north, Highway 20 through the mountains) I prefer the coastal route from the south by far. If I wanted to cut off some of the roller coaster, I could take 128 from Cloverdale, landing on the coast at Navarro Beach. But when there is time, I really like the Salt Point-Navarro-Fort Bragg trio to get in the summer spirit.

Total miles from Navarro Beach: 27.2. 15.0 mpg, 1 hour 10 min. Site 139 Surfwood loop. No hookups. Water spigot in loop. Some solar, but topped up with generator. $10 dump and hole is too small for dump hose. Water spigot in dump is on wrong side, so have to do a maneuver to turn around or run the hose underneath. Potable water tasted weird. Something to consider for the future. Generally, not our favorite dump, but at least you can dump. 1-2 bars 5g. Surprisingly slow given proximity to Fort Bragg, but workable cell service for both.

Now we work our way up the coast for a couple of stops. It was windy, so Richard opted to get in his exercise by power walking the bluff trail at Salt Point while I was taking a shower. This is almost always a good idea for him. It gets him regulated first thing in the morning, thus making him far less tense about traveling, getting a site, all the unknowns for the day. Highway 1 has gotten a lot of new pavement and, despite a couple of short waits at one lane construction points, it was a lovely drive. The secret to driving in wind is to go slow. That is not a problem on this section of 1. You’re supposed to go slow here.

We were the first ones in to grab a site, so we unhitched and walked on the beach for a while. We decided later to do a short trip to the tiny town of Elk to see if the store had their fancy caramel popcorn (aka “crack”). They were out, which is just as well really, because it is very hard to stop eating that stuff once you start. We walked down to the beach and enjoyed the view before heading back to Dory.

It was a chill day, so we continued just beach walking. Two things were interesting. First, when the tide comes in at a river outlet, it is jaw dropping how much of an inland current forms. The water was rushing in through a narrow sand channel, raising the banks of the entire delta lake by many feet. The power of the ocean blows me away sometimes, even though I realize this phenomenon takes place twice a day, every day.

The other interesting thing was that we came upon a pile of someone’s beach things that was being attacked by a clever crow. There was a plastic bag with potato chips inside that the crow had managed to open up. It was feasting on Ruffles and flying away, one chip at a time, leaving pieces of wrapper blowing in the wind. We scooped up the trash and tried to use the towel and shoes to cover things up. We noticed whoever left it also left their iPhone just sitting on the beach. The crow circled overhead and waited for us to walk away before diving down again. It had no trouble removing the towel and shoes barrier to get back to the chips. We became kind of obsessed with who this pile might belong to. We approached a couple on the far side of the beach and asked if they had left stuff. They had indeed and we described the state of their former lunch. They laughed and seemed to appreciate our efforts, and then slowly walked back to salvage the remains. We were puzzled about why someone would leave a phone on the beach. The waves were coming up pretty close to their spot. But I guess if you don’t have pockets and/or really don’t care about your phone?

We weren’t going to get a sunset, so I stalked a little white seal for a while and called it a night. This is a great stopover spot. I can’t tell if there was too little cell service or not enough cell service. Maybe it was a perfect amount. Like if you really want to know something, you can walk your butt out to the waves. Otherwise, ignorance is bliss. There were only a few surfers and other campers there. The porta potties are fine, but even better is having your own bathroom. Perfect for a one nighter on the way along the coast.

Total miles from MacKerricher: 58.7, 2 hours 6 min, 16.6 mpg. Site 1 first come first serve, no hookups. No dump, no water. Very little cell, but 1 bar of 5g or LTE out by the water to the right.

This is the payoff. This, right here. For all the change that has come from Richard’s professional downsizing, now is the time to reap the joys of being a school schedule couple. And let me tell you, it hasn’t been easy. Or more accurately put, it hasn’t been easy for me. I am not a money person. As soon as you start talking about numbers and prices and budgets and bargains, part of my brain shuts off and thinks about what color outdoor furniture would look best on the patio. But I get it that outdoor furniture, regardless of color, necessitates changing our ways regarding unregulated spending. We’ve gone out camping a lot less and we have spreadsheets and apps, and I’ve forced myself to learn them. But as of Friday, once my classroom closedown list had been turned in, and Richard got the all clear to take off, we are both officially, contractually, and guiltlessly, free for two whole months! We have never experienced that, because having a flexible remote work schedule has always made things vague and fuzzy. We’ve gotten to do some amazing traveling, all while Richard has been getting paid very well; a golden handcuffs situation that was too comfortable to challenge. But it came with sustained low level tension, in a passive aggressive tug of war between responsibility and fun. This summer, the play time is unambiguous and we are here for it.

Our first stop was Salt Point State Park. We arrived with time on the day to go for a hike on the bluffs. I’m positive I have taken most of these shots before, but the landscape poses for your camera in irresistible flirtation, especially when the light hits right.

We made it down to Stump Beach and tried to time the return with the sunset. We did pretty well, except I was freezing once the wind picked up and the sun started going down. Richard raced back to Dory to turn on the water heater for his shower, intending to come back down for sunset viewing with me. He got an error code scare on the Truma heater, so he had to spend time figuring that out. Once again, it appears our cat flipped the propane switch on top of the unit to off. He likes to explore Dory and climbs all around the undersides of the benches. One of these days, we’re going to have a camping cat that no one planned for.

The next day we rode our bikes up Kruse Ranch Road, through Kruse Rhododendron State Preserve. I drove this one time, on Richard’s recommendation, because it’s a pretty road. What he doesn’t comprehend when he’s biking is how narrow those roads can be for cars. It’s all fine and well until someone comes the other direction. Then you have to get way over on a huge drop off and hope you can squeeze past. That happened once or twice on my drive, and the worry of it ruined the whole thing for me. On a bike, it is so much better.

The road is mostly unpaved, but it is hard packed and only steep in a couple of sections. My ebike handled it no problem. We took a set of larger bike tires for Richard and threw them in Bruce’s roof box. This was the exact kind of application for that.

After reaching the top, we turned around and came right back down. Near the summit is a working farm which runs summer camps. It was buzzing with people getting ready to welcome kids and makes for a surprising and picturesque landmark in an otherwise undeveloped back road.

Down on Highway 1, we pulled off into a closed day use park and climbed an old trail to Sentinel Rock Viewing Platform. It’s a perfect place to have a bit of lunch. You can’t get a car past the barriers, but on bikes or on foot, you’ll have the views to yourself. It’s not maintained, so be aware that there is abundant Poison Oak to dodge.

After all of that, we still had some oomph left and did a do over hike to see a Pygmy Forest that was previously closed due to tree fall. It was about five miles with some decent climbing, so I was fully pooped after that. I spied my favorite wildflowers, Tiger Lillies, and we got closure on that particular pygmy forest. It’s quite striking to see the difference in tree heights and forest density from one specific area to the next. My understanding is that pygmy forests happen when there is a shelf of land that is hard packed or rocky, inhibiting the growth of all plant life. Just a few yards away, the very same trees shoot up a hundred feet or more in tightly packed forests, creating a completely shady canopy. The temperature difference must have been ten degrees. Just goes to show, it’s always about location, location, location.

That evening’s sunset photo was brought to you by the car, with heating and butt warming. Plus, my sleeping bag down jacket for when I chose to step outside to take a photo.

We are excited to begin this summer trip. Already we are realizing just how much of a difference it makes to be really, truly ON VACATION. Both of us. At the same time. We may not be going out on weekends as much, but man, if we can manage this, I think it will be a game changer. Happy summer!

Total miles: 105.7, 3 hours 25 min, 15.8 mpg. Site 2, no hookups. Excellent solar. No dump. Excellent 5g because of recently installed tower.

And last, but not least in our Spring Break campground trio, comes the ever dependable Morro Bay State Park. We got perfect weather the whole time we were there and, though we brought the generator, we never had to use it. Solar kept up just fine. We even felt confident enough to run the rarely used inverter to heat up some leftovers in the microwave for lunch. We don’t use the microwave often, but every time we do, we declare it to have been a ‘worth it’ accessory.

We had plenty of time to get caught up on internet things before walking over to ‘downtown’ Morro Bay where we met up with our friends for drinks and dinner at Giovanni’s. Beers were consumed, stories told, and ice cream followed at Kelli’s Candies. We had to say farewell to Marcy and Steve, who were heading up to Sunset. Man, it is so nice to connect with Alto friends, especially when they live far away. We have started scheming when we might next be able to get out their way.

Saturday was a busy day. April 5th was a designated national day of protest and I’ll be damned if I’m going to skip out on any of those, traveling or not. While driving all the way to the capitol in Sacramento was more than I could commit to, it turned out there was an event planned by Indivisible.org in San Luis Obispo. This meant we could ride our bikes to it, since that is definitely our preferred transportation mode when there is the potential for crowds. We rode up Los Osos Valley Road most of the way, and that’s not especially nice. It has a shoulder for bikes, but it’s kind of a wind channel and you are passed by cars pretty nonstop. Eventually, we turned off onto Foothill and that was immediately nicer. Once you get to Chorro Street, you can easily follow a bikeway into town. Just follow the green “sharrows” and you’ll be fine. And in fact, there was a free bicycle concierge tent set up, in part to facilitate the protest event. Well done, SLO.

The crowds were an absolute inspiration. I could not see the end of the people filling several city blocks in front of the courthouse. There were some kind of speeches going on, but we couldn’t hear a thing. It didn’t matter though. The energy was exactly what I needed and only grew as the event progressed. After the inaudible speeches, we spread out to surround the city block and bring out the honks. I heard estimates of 4-6 thousand people attending. I have utterly no idea how to estimate crowd size, but it was great, whatever the number. There were honks, and people driving by with flags and signs, and I think I only spotted one person flipping us off. As reports came in from across the country, it felt like a lifeline. I deeply, deeply appreciate seeing the push back to these f*cked up mfs. This is exhausting, but witnessing the rising up of so many good people gives me hope.

Hard protesting work earned us a stop at SLO a la Mode. I ordered “This $&@! Just Got Serious” on a waffle cone. Partly, the flavors sounded good, but mostly, the name seemed appropriate for the moment. We then took a little tour of the mission. It has been nicely restored and there are some interesting displays. Richard decided he is going to become a California history expert. He always notes how much he loves California. The problem with learning about history though, is that it is always bleak. Like learning about missions is right away going to make you learn about the California Genocide. Bleak. But, on the upside, history reminds us that things have always kind of sucked, so maybe this sucky period in history is just one of the many. Full of rebel spirit, ice cream, and the perspective of historical massacres, we biked back to the campground. This time we took the cutoff on Turri Road. That was lovely, albeit still pretty windy.

That night I tried making biscuits on the grill. We had bought mix a while back and used the Omnia to bake them. The recipe is easy- 1/2 c dry mix, 1/4 c sour cream, 1 tbs water, and a handful of shredded cheese. I put them on an oiled aluminum drip pan, which I place on top of an upside down drip pan. I timed 16 minutes, but they didn’t seem done, so I let them go for about another 4 or 5. They turned out perfect! Crispy brown bottoms and cooked through. We will definitely try that again!

On Sunday we rode over to visit the Elfin Forest in Los Osos. This is like a pygmy forest, where the vegetation has found itself rooted on land that does not make it easy to pull nutrients. So the trees stay small, even when they are very old. We saw lots of examples of Live Oak that normally grow twenty feet, contained to shrub size. There was an abundance of other California native plant life. I saw the Fuchsia Flowered Gooseberry, whose name I am getting better at remembering. The problem with learning new facts once you are of a certain age is in the retention. I am usually recognizing things and saying, “Oh look! It’s the something flowered, something berry!” But slowly some of them are getting committed to memory, just through the repetition of Googling the same thing so many times. The trails through the forest are only about a mile or so, so we then rode around Los Osos. Richard found the most impressive porta potty he’s ever seen. Apparently, this complimentary public rest area is maintained through community donations and is kept pristine, complete with a hand washing station and little decorations.

That night we had an absolute blast inviting Rich and Kathy over to try out our experimental Thanksgiving camping dinner. We also picked up Toni, another Altoiste who actually passed us on the trails back in Montaña de Oro. She and her husband Vince were out there and she thought she recognized me. She told herself, “Nah, can’t be,” but messaged me later. We had a themed dinner of turkey hot dogs, cranberry sauce, gravy (sort of), Brussels sprouts, and stuffing. Everyone brought other things to share as well, so it was a genuine feast. We all sat around the campfire and talked well into the night. It doesn’t get any better than that.

For the last full day of break (and actually this was an extended break because we took two days off!), we hiked up Cerro San Luis Obispo. There are nine named morros in this area, all formed by volcanic plugs and lava domes twenty million years ago. This was a fun hike because you could see the city of San Luis Obispo down below. We tried to identify all the places we had been from up above. You can also see all the way out to both Morro Bay and Pismo Beach to the south. It was steep, but worth it, with just a little scrambling at the end. I will note that if you get to the peak and want to touch the ‘made it’ pole, take the path on the left. It’s easier.

One last sleep before the long drive home. We got dense fog in the evening, but went out for a stroll and determined that the wooden boardwalk in this park wins this trip’s “Who’s the Best Boardwalk” competition. In other contests, Dolly’s Donuts wins for the crumb cake and the glazed old fashioned. Our own Jonny’s still holds the title for the lemon, and for the raised chocolate glazed. Pink Box is undefeated for its chocolate old fashioned. I win the prestigious Duct Tape award for my fix it job on the Fantastic Fan cover when the second of its two flimsy tabs holding onto the uppy downy arm finally broke. That stayed put the whole time and the fan was completely operational. Because I also win the “Who is the Most Over Prepared” award, we do in fact have a replacement cover in the car’s roof box. However, looking up how to fix it makes it seem like I’m going to have to get on the roof. And that is a trick best attempted at home where we live very close to paramedics.

This was one of the best spring breaks we can remember. However, we always say that. Or at least I think we do. I can’t remember. The drive back was expectedly long, but we got an early start and Richard ran up and down the Black Hill Trail before we left. We got home around two thirty and I was struck by just how beautiful my very own yard is. For all the pictures I have taken of California natives, I have some awfully nice specimens thriving in my yard right now. My magnolia and my red and lace leaf maples are just stunning. And we’ve got our very own Pacific Coast Native Irises blooming like crazy. And it’s always good to see the cat. All is well. Vacations are good. Life is one crazy ride.

Total miles from Montaña de Oro: 12.6, about 30 min. Site 109. Great solar. No hookups. Great cell service. Good dump $10.

Stop #2 in our Spring Break travels was another new to us place, at least in terms of camping. We have visited Montaña de Oro for day trips from a home base at Morro Bay State Park. As luck would have it, I discovered that several Alto friends were also going to be staying there at the same time! This is always my favorite thing. On our way down, we stopped for shopping at a Safeway in King City and were stocked and ready for the rest of the trip.

We pulled in after 3 and found our site to be nice and private with good solar potential. Richard was ready to get his “ya-ya’s” out after a long drive and suggested a four and half mile hike up to the top of a peak and back. We know Richard has oodles of energy, like one of those cattle herding dogs who go crazy if they don’t get in daily runs. I’m just going to go ahead and diagnose him. I think he’s ADHD with out so much of the A, but definitely the H. He was surprised I was not up for a 1200 foot peak hike after driving five hours, but I was up for a nice, level bluff hike of about the same distance. We continue to work on our communication skills as they pertain to wildly different physical needs. The good news is we both appreciate the other’s perspective and recognize the advantages to sort of keeping our own natures in check.

Weather was sort of iffy the next day, but we ventured out onto the Sand Dunes Trail with Hazard Reef happening somewhere in the middle. The trail wasn’t rated super highly, which was confusing, until it wasn’t. Before you drop down to the beach at Hazard Reef, the trail going to the left out of a parking area gets smaller and harder to avoid the Poison Oak. We doubled back on that one. Going to the right, you go steeply down some stairs until it hits the wet and creeky bottom. There used to be a boardwalk here, but it has long since fallen apart. They have made some attempts to put short boardwalk runs down, but then they just gave up and you have to stay out of the water using rocks that get farther apart as you go. We bailed on that too once we determined the spans of rocks to be a guarantee of wet shoes.

We climbed back up the stairs, made our way through an understory of low trees, and connected back up with the other trail after it has pushed through the poisonous pass. Finally, we arrived at the steep descent down a sandy dune to get to the beach. One big jump over a muddy creek crossing and we had earned some spectacular beach views. Here we stopped and had lunch with the secluded beach all to ourselves. Within a few minutes though, a surfer came casually meandering through, surfboard in hand, looking unscathed and unflustered by any trail difficulties. We asked him if he had traversed the water crossing and he seemed confused. It turns out there is a way easier way to get down to the beach if you take a different trail from the road. Oh well.

Our return back met with a muddy fail when Richard took a misstep over the creek crossing. His shoe and sock got fully buried and he had to hike the rest of the way squishy and uncomfortable. We made it back almost in time to get under a downpour. We heard from our friends that some got completely caught out. It was short lived and blue skies followed, so we got Richard other shoes and headed over to say hi and catch up with Marcy, Steve, Rich, and Kathy. They also had Altoiste friends Amy and Greg staying in another part of the campground. We made plans together to hike up to Valencia Peak the next day and get out to Point Bouchon on Thursday. All good!

I love when things just organically work out perfectly. Our group hike up to Valencia Peak was exactly that. Richard and Steve represented the over achievers who peeled off and headed up the trail quickly, stopping only to take pictures of butterflies, expertly identified by Steve, the famous “Butterfly Guy.” Marcy and Kathy took the trail at an expected, grade level appropriate, pace, while Rich and I happily represented the intervention group. Rich has overcome a lot of health challenges, but he does just fine with a relaxed tempo and breaks now and then. I was thrilled to slow the hell down and chat, unpressed for time and able to take my fill of flower pictures without holding back the herding dog. I took a great picture of Rich where you can see Marcy and Kathy half way up the final climb, with Richard and Steve waving from the top. This is differentiation at its finest.

We had just enough time on the day to ride over to Los Osos and go to a bakery recommended by Marcy as having the best apricot tea cakes she’s ever had, aside from the ones her grandmother made. That’s a throw down you can’t pass up. Sure enough, Carlock’s Bakery has a dizzying array of delectable treats. And I’m no expert on tea cakes, but damn these were good. We got the apricot and a raspberry, just to see. Yep, both checked out. You must go there if you are in the area.

On Thursday we did the Point Buchon Trail together. I say together because we all arranged to get to the trailhead early and at the same time. But actually, Richard and I ended up peeling off and going ahead to get to the end. There were a lot of reasons for this, which we analyzed during and after the hike. I think we’ve uncovered some important things here. First, yes Richard definitely needs to get that cow dog energy out in order to be regulated. When he’s not regulated, logistics are really stressful for him. For this trail, he was worried the small parking area would fill up. Then he was worried about whether we would all get in before they cut off the entry permits (the trail is limited to 275 per day). And then he was focused on the end point which was four miles one way. This all made him antsy and needing to move. In hindsight (which by the way, Richard achieved while he was speed hiking up the Valencia Peak trail again the next morning while I was leisurely having my coffee in bed), if he had just walked the bluff trail to the parking area first thing in the morning, it would have all been fine. He would have gotten regulated, seen the parking lot had plenty of space, and that there was no risk of running out of entry permits. He could then have leisurely strolled with no end goal. I’m assuming everyone was fine with us tearing off ahead, but all of this is good to learn as we go.

We joined in a very fun happy hour by the campfire at Marcy and Steve’s site, and by that time, I was too tired to think about making dinner. Instead, we drove into town and got dinner out at Los Cabos. I had beef enchiladas and Richard had mole chicken enchiladas. Paired with rice and pinto beans, all was excellent.

We both really liked this park. We also love the state park closer to town, but both places have very different feels. This one is more laid back and chill for sure. And there are a lot more trails right out of the campground. But the services are located in Morro Bay. That is where the dump is, and the cell service, and hookups if you can get them, plus proximity to all the restaurants and ice cream you could ever want. I like how this trip worked out though, as we will be wrapping up there. I do want a do over some day of the Point Buchon Trail. It is gorgeous there and I’d like to try it when we can take it a little slower. Lessons learned. You know it’s a good trip when you discover a new bakery, and perhaps a new diagnosis.

Total miles from Pfeiffer Big Sur: 182.7, 17.5 mpg, 6 hours 8 min (with shopping stop). Site 16, really nice. No hookups. No dump. Good solar, just hits a bar of service, sometimes. Wifi at the Spooner House or out on the bluffs, or up a trail. Potable water available from tanks. Vault toilets, but clean and nice, as vault toilets go.