Archive for September, 2009
2 weeks after I left Seattle I arrived in San Francisco on Labor Day (Monday, Sep-7). The weather was glorious, luckily, as the last couple of days the Bay area was fogged in! For Labor Day, the sun came out and created this magnificent view!
I stayed at the Fort Mason Youth Hostel, just like 22 years ago on my trip around the world as freshly graduated college kid – amazing!
Today I’m bringing the bike to the San Francisco REI store for some maintenance (replace broken spokes in rear wheel). I’ll also take some time to organize the next sections of my trip into Mexico and Central America; probably have another day here in the Bay Area before heading further South towards San Diego.
I also uploaded some additional pictures to my California photo library.
September 8th, 2009
Exactly two months after I started my ride on July 1st in Alaska I finally reached California on September 1st. It was a real pleasure seeing the sun come out near Crescent City after the many cloudy and foggy days in Oregon.
After the sand dunes in Oregon the dominating feature here along the Northern Coast are the mammooth trees of the Redwood National Park. One campground (Elk Prairie) is situated on a large open meadow in the middle of large stands of redwoods. One of those trees is over 300ft tall and estimated to be 1500 years old! (Later today I’ll ride the “Avenue of the Giants” with more superlative trees.)
There are other scenic stops along the way, including the memorial lighthouse in Trinidad, some saltwater lagoons and the Victoria style homes in Eureka.
I posted more photos on the Oregon photo set and created a new one for California. The days are getting shorter, with sunset before 8pm. It’s cool in the mornings (around 50F) but heating up quite a bit during the day (mid 80s). So I’ll keep this post short to get on the road and see more redwoods…
September 3rd, 2009
The last 5 days I have been riding down the Oregon Coast following Hwy 101. There is a rugged beauty to this land, especially when the sun comes out. A sunset on a clear, cloudfree evening overlooking the cliffs and seastacks just off shore is truly a sight to behold.
At times some bridges have to be crossed, often without shoulder or sidewalk. Once I tried the narrow sidewalk, but the wind gusts threatened to throw me off! I walked up to the crest, then waited for a low in traffic, got back on the road and pedaled downhill with tailwind 🙂
The State Parks offer good facilities (incl. hot showers) at an unbeatable prize ($4 per day for hiker/biker camping), beach access, fire wood, and often put you in company of other riders to share stories of the road.
The campgrounds tend to be damp at night and I often packed a wet tent. Usually I would stop the next day around noon and unpack the tent to let the sun dry it out while I have lunch.
Sadly, the sun hides a lot behind fog and low clouds created by the cool waters of the Pacific, even on summer days in August! Then it gets breezy and cold on the bike. It was actually much cooler here in Oregon than in Alaska or Canada. I definitely would not want to ride here in the other 10 months of the year when it rains a lot! So as this was the last day of August, it’s time to get down to California – I should cross the border tomorrow…
September 1st, 2009
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