Summer 1997 - Yukon to California
Journals - 18 August 1997
Day 39
18 August 1997 (sunny; nice; fog/haze in PM; mileage = 24.9; Usal Beach) --
X - We got up early and had a quick take down and a quick breakfast. The
1st half mile was not ridiculously steep and that was it for the day. We
started climbing on reasonable dirt roads. We climbed and climbed. Then we
dropped and dropped. This went on all day. We averaged about 5 miles an
hour for 5 hours. We had a max speed of only 8 mph since the road was too
rocky and punishing to go fast. We again had to take brake breaks on the
drops. I could smell April's Coda brake pads burning. We went by some hippy
houses and some California hillbilly posers. When we got to the turn off
for the state park, our road had a sign on it that said "Slip out ahead."
Some guy stopped and said that we could do it on bikes. We only saw about 3
cars to that point. We went ahead and a guy on a trail bike zoomed by. That
was it for motorized vehicles (or humans) for the rest of the ride. So now
we were on a road that no car would be on with no spare tube, going down
rocky 15% roads for miles. So we tried being careful, which meant not
getting to check out all of the great scenery. Many of the views were
obscured by trees (which is fine). We went through a huge grove of huge
Redwood stumps, "Avenue of the Giant Stumps." That would be a better
tourist attraction. I was hoping to make it to Highway 1 today, but we had
to rest so much (on the down hill for the brakes, too). We had to check the
map every time we came to a logging road or a brutal climb that seemed
unexpected. Very slow going. We finally got to the wash out and it was
spectacular. It opened up the view very nicely and it was just wide enough
for a bike or light motorcycle. If I could do this to all roads, I would!
The road was very dry and dusty. All of the plants were covered in road
dust (even though this road sees little action) and by the afternoon, we
were, too. Our chains are in terrible shape. They sounded like they were
completely rusted through. I was quite worried about this. We eventually
got to our "big" descent that had so many climbs and brake breaks that it
was quite a chore. We got to the bottom and popped out in a nice-looking
campground (BLM). We rode to the beach and napped after eating lunch. All
afternoon, we were entertained by dozens! of pelicans and many seals
swimming right in front of us. There are 2 other tents on this large beach.
The kids from one annoyed me when they tried to "help" a sick bird and one
threw a rock at it. I told them to leave it alone. Then I had to tell their
dad (who came over to us). The bird eventually went to the water and swam
away. We had Knorr and pasta (our 4th dinner since a grocery store!). We
only put the inner tent up tonight. I'm hoping the rain (which I personally
control) will keep the dust and tourists down. We're only a few (6?) miles
from flat pavement!
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