Sep 2: Humbug Mountain State Park to Harris Beach State Park (55.0 miles)

I awoke and packed up just as the T-Rex attacked the campground — I hope everyone else made it out alive!

Ok, so that’s a roadside attraction just south of the campground.

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s blog that I caught up with Ryan and Laura (from New Zealand). Ryan was attempting to locate a slow leak in his tire. He inspected the tire and was trying the soap trick on the inner tube. That’s when I noticed he was working on his front tire. Nobody gets flats on their front tire– it’s always the back tire. It must be one of those northern/southern hemisphere things. Try as he might, he could not locate the leak and so put in a new tube.

Today’s route is 55 miles south on Hwy 101. For some reason the guide books try to steer you off 101 an onto a route they describe as remote, windy, hilly and generally uninteresting.

I choose to stay on 101 and had a generally flat coastal-view-rich route. Not sure what those guide books were thinking…

Today was the day of coastal views and I had great weather for it.

I arrived at the Rouge River and another narrow bridge experience, but again the automobile traffic was patient and supportive.

On the other side I found the Mary D. Hume in Gold Beach.

I think just a little TLC will bring her back nicely!

It got very hilly from here on down to Brookings where the campground is. I had both supportive winds changing to opposing winds as the day went on. It was annoying that I had to pedal to go downhill. I guess that’s the way is… Great views though:

I arrived at Harris Beach State Park and was directed to the hiker/biker site. Except for the cool REI bike station, the site seemed to be phoned in 😦 Check out that bike friendly entrance gravel

And, by the way, that gravel is throughout the site: Need a tent area? Just toss some hay on the gravel! It’ll do!

Oh well, this quest is partly about adapting to what comes my way.

I selected my rock and hay site and went to downtown Brookings to shop for my next few meals. I did see a fair bit of brown sky to the south — I fear smoke may be in my future 😦

Thanks for reading!