Eureka KOA to Garberville

Pacific Coast Bike Route Oregon and Northern California: Day 9

We got off to an early start this morning, leaving by 8am from the KOA in anticipation of a long day in the saddle. Our intention was initially to make the Burlington Campground in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, but we planned to continue on if we felt good and figure out where to stop as we went.

 

It was nice not to have to re-pack the camp and we had some great leftover pizza from the night before to get us going. We'd gotten a recommendation for our first meal stop from two locals we met at the jacuzzi the night before, which was in the city of Fortuna.

 

 

Quick work was made of the ride into and past the town of Eureka and we soon found ourselves barreling down the 101 southbound (not unlike the occasional logging truck passing us by). We came to an opportunity to ride a parallel road called Eel River Road, which features a consistent, but less steep grade than the 101 route. We put on some music and blasted up the thing before stopping for a little break.

 

 

We hit Fortuna and Hot Brew Coffee earlier in the day than we were used to stopping for lunch, but were hungry enough to take some food in and have some of their house blend of coffee. After the meal we crossed the street to Safeway to buy some supplies for the camp that night, which took longer than we had hoped, but we got rolling again around noon.

 

As would be the case for a number of days, the route followed riverbeds, like the one shown above. This made us feel comfortable that we wouldn't be doing any ridiculous amounts of climbing, and we were generally right. Despite a slight headwind, we continued along at a strong pace until we hit Avenue of the Giants.

While maybe not quite as stunning as the passage through Prairie Creek's grove of redwoods, the Avenue of the Giants was a very beautiful ride under the shade of trees that had been standing for thousands of years. Being inland, this kept us out of the sun, and combined with the gentle grades, we passed smoothly through the more than thirty mile section.

After reaching and continuing past Burlington Campground, we made our way towards Dean's RV Resort and Campground, where we hoped to find accommodation for the night. A few miles outside of camp, we came upon Phillipsville where we decided to re-supply the water bottles and have some ice cream. We met a fellow bicycle tourist named Kat and her dog Moxy, who were headed in the same direction and chatted for a bit.

When we reached Dean's Resort, we found their cabins full, their motel rooms overpriced, and their campground a little disappointing compared to where we had been camping (and at three times the cost). Indecision hit us for a few moments, but with minimal reception we had trouble exploring other options and decided to stay put for the night. Just as we were paying for the campsite, Kat came along and offered to split the tent site with us.

We set up our Big Agnes Seedhouse SL tent and Kat set up her hammock and we chatted a bit more before heading up to the hot tub to relax sore muscles. We were suprised, though, to feel as good as we did after covering 77 miles in a single day.