Marching to Zion

I camped near Washington, Utah, just outside of Zion National Park.

 

Quail Creek Reservoir is up the road about a mile:

I'll be seeing Zion today, and maybe Bryce N.P. as well.

Now that I'm in the area of the parks that inspired this trip, I'll be slowing the pace a bit.

 

Yosemite Slam

 

I left the CA coast just north of Santa Cruz this morning under heavy clouds and some fog, but I didn’t have any problems with rain today.
My plan was to ride over the top of Yosemite to Tonopah, Nevada, and then the Al-E-Inn at Rachel.

 

But crossing Yosemite took a lot longer than I expected.
Over the top of the Yosemite highlands, massive amounts of the park are still a long way from recovering from last year’s wildfire.

 

 

 

But I came upon an overlook with a surprising view of Half Dome and El Capitan.

 

 

 

 

By ‘surprising’, I mean I wasn’t supposed to see Half Dome at all. I took a wrong turn and ended up there by mistake. :-)

 

 

When I had stopped at the entrance to the park, the ranger told me that of the two passes over Yosemite, Sonoma was still closed and Tioga (which I wanted to use) had only been re-opened 2 hours ago. It had been closed all morning because they had what she called a “dusting of snow” overnight.
“A Dusting”.
LOL.

 

She said it might be a little chilly going over the top of Tioga Pass.
“Chilly”.
ROFLOL.

 

So I headed off in high spirits, expecting to see some snow up on the mountain peaks.
She was right – It got chilly. All the way up to 7,000 ft.
Then 8,000, and 9,000…
Tioga Pass tops out at 9,943 feet.
This has a predictable effect on the temperatures.
The temps had dropped from the 70’s to the 30’s and it was snowing.

 

This had a predictable effect on the comfort level of one of the riders.

 

The problem is that you don’t just go up to the top and right back down.
It takes about an hour to cross the highlands. I don’t remember any of it being… balmy.

 

 

 

After finally ending up around Mono Lake, I had a decision to make.
I wouldn’t be able to make it to the Little Al-E-Inn for a burger and fries with free camping, and I was a bit glad about it. I was chilled from the snowy ride, I was still riding in elevations around 7,000 feet, and the wind was working itself into a frenzy again.
So I decided to be smart (uh-oh) and just ride to Tonopah and get a motel for the night and catch up on the blog.

 

All I had to do is cross some more valleys like this:

 

 

When I got there, I couldn’t wait to get into a hot shower, so I stopped at the first seedy motel I came to.
Oops – no vacancy.
So up to the next one – “The Clown Motel” (no kidding).
The guy says “Sorry – no rooms. You won’t find any rooms in town. All the contractors are building that new solar plant.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crescent_Dunes_Solar_Energy_Project

 

That wasn’t what I wanted to hear.
It’s another 109 miles to Rachel, and besides -  I didn’t really want to sleep in that cold wind again with my light sleeping bag.
Now the sun has set, and it’s looking like I won’t have a place to sleep.
The lady in the gas station said there was a really nice motel in the next town south - Beatty - with a Denny’s next door. I called it and got a room.
So here I am...
In the Motel 6.
In Beatty.
92 MILES from Tonopah. Yeah, I got to experience a moonlit desert ride. Strange... usually a farm is all dark at night, but I passed a couple of ranches way out in the boondocks that had lots of flashing lights...

 
 

I guess I won’t be going through Rachel again after all.
Instead, I’ll be going through Las Vegas again on my way to Utah.

 

 

Riding the coast

Tonight I'm camped out in Pescadillo, California right across the road from the beach. I can hear the surf from my tent, and I can see the Pigeon Point lighthouse.

This is me and my neighbor in a grove of eucalyptus trees. 

 

I'm typing this while sitting in my tent. The Wi-Fi signal reaches all across the campground. The wind had died down a bit after sunset, but now it's back up to a pretty serious blow. That's why I asked the owner for a spot near the trees - to get some protection from the coastal winds. 

Today was an exciting ride down the Pacific Coast Highway. By exciting, I mean "OMG – keep your eyes on the road!"

There are some sharp turns on that road that you wouldn't want to miss. It's a long way down to the surf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some random shots:

 

 

 

After I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and passed through San Francisco, it began to level out a bit.

This is the Point Arena lighthouse that I passed a few hours north of here. 

 

 

Here's a sad example of why you don't want to build your dream home too close to the ocean.

There are several homes here that have partially fallen into the sea.

 

How about this:

While I was photographing the Point Arena lighthouse, my phone beeped. Bonnie had texted me telling me that the batteries were low in my SPOT tracker!

I checked the device and sure enough, the low-battery light was on.

LOL - ain't technology great??!!

Apparently, the tracker sends its status along with its location to the tracking web page.

 

Redwood Adventure

The guy who ran the campground told me about the nearby Jedediah Smith Redwoods Park
He said there was a "smooth dirt road" you could ride through the giant redwoods.
But I neglected to consider that it had rained overnight.
So it was a little muddy, but not too slippery.
I stopped to take a picture, but decided to turn the bike around to pose it for a better shot.
That's when I discovered that the pine needles outside the tire tracks were covering very slippery mud.
Anyway, the bike started going over, my feet were slipping and down she went.
I hate it when that happens.

 

I tried to lift it, but it was too heavy and I couldn't get enough traction for the 'backwards lift' technique.
Of course I had just filled the tank (7.5 gal) minutes before.
With a full tank of gas and all my gear strapped on, it felt like 700 pounds. Oh wait...  It is 700 pounds!
After removing all the luggage and duffle bag, I was finally able to grunt loud enough to get it upright again.

Then I took my stupid picture and loaded all the stupid luggage back on the bike and continued down the stupid road.
The road was so narrow I didn't expect to meet anybody coming the other way - surely this must be one-way road.
Then a car came around a turn and surprised me - I was just able to get stopped in time to avoid going into the pine needles again.
But the worst part was her warning as she passed me...
"There's a school bus behind me!"
=:-O

It took us a minute or two to get past each other. (The dark shoulder on the road is the muddy part.)

 

 

Then I started having flashbacks of the Dalton Highway.
Uh-oh. There's that nasty twitch in my left eye again... and my therapist almost had me cured...

 

After all that, I was able to take a hike into one of the redwood groves for a closer look...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I stopped at a KOA campground today in Benbow and was told that I could pitch my tent for $45.
I said no, thanks.
So I ended up here in Fort Bragg, CA in a motel for $58 with a continental breakfast.
And I don't have to set up and tear down my house and bed.
;-)

 

 

Redwood camp

It rained most of the night... at least I think it did.
When you camp under the trees, it doesn't stop raining when it does for everyone else.
But at 6:00am, only the tree drainage continued, and the skies were starting to clear.

It was a beautiful campground. I think Sandy would like to come here and stay in one of  their log cabins.
Here's one of them between 2 "little" redwood stumps:

 

Chuckle...
I'm sitting in Denny's eating breakfast.
Three people come in and take a booth near me - two men and a woman.
Seriously backwoods folks - close to "my other brother Darrell" and his sister. :-)
I'm guessing they don't get to town often.
A few minutes later a window-shattering sound blasts from their booth...  BUUUUUUURP!!!!
After a couple seconds of silence, one of the men says, "What do you say?"
The woman says "Excuse me."

 

Oregon Coast

I received a thorough free "bike wash" today, courtesy of the Pacific North-Wet!

But it didn't last long - most of the day was cloudy and misty.

Hopefully the rains will hold off for tonight.

 

I got to see some of the Oregon coast today, but not in its best light. The photos may appear a bit gloomy, but that's what today's weather was like. Maybe I can make up for it on down the California coast.

 

 

 

 

 

I was hoping for a chance on this trip to find a campsite around the redwoods, and I found one in Crescent City, CA.

None of the real giants are in the photo, but check out the size of the stump on the right.

 

 

I am next to the Jedediah Smith State Park. If the weather is OK in the morning, I'll ride the little road that winds among the really big trees.

 

 

For those of you who enjoy golf, you may have heard of this place. It's open to the public, so you can play here.  Just bring a big bag full of money.

 

 

Weather change

It drizzled rain off and on through the night, but when I broke camp, the sun was peeking through.

After riding 75 miles I stopped for breakfast and looked outside to see it raining buckets. Good timing!

The terrain here reminds me of the smoky mountains. 

This is about as far north as I'm going. In a few miles I'll head west for the coast at Bandon.