Sep 5: Redwood Coast Cabins and RV Resort in Arcata to Burlington Campground in Humboldt Redwoods State Park (57.8 miles)

The Hiker/Biker site here is behind the store and 3-4 flood lights keep the whole area quite bright all night long. I tried blocking it with the tent rain fly and extra ground cloth, but to little avail. I had earplugs to help with the Hwy 101 noise.

The fog rolled in overnight so I was off to cold start this morning. I rolled into Eureka to find coffee to warm me up and then back on the road.

My ride today would have been over 60 miles, but a road closure detour and missed reconnect to the route shortened the ride a bit. Here’s roughly the route

To help plan my route I’m using maps from Adventure Cycling, an ebook “Cycling the Pacific Coast” and Google Maps.

These resources advise routes on side streets and bike paths and only use Hwy 101 when necessary. They are a bit out of date, and even Google was not aware of the road closure today. The detour sign was rather faded, so I assumed it had been closed for a while. I returned to 101, which had a nice shoulder but failed to exit at the next off ramp, so missed the side-road route through trees and farms. I also missed the hill on that route, so I wasn’t too bummed.

At last I reached the Avenue of the Giants turnout. The ride down this road is amazing by bike or car. The ride follows the Eel River

So many huge Redwoods have been preserved here: everywhere you look you see them.

My guides suggested that I do my food shopping along this route at a town called Redcrest. Unfortunately the grocery store there has closed, and the nearest food is 20 miles in either direction. I do have reserve food, and with what I could scrape together I’ll make it through tonight and tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow I continue on the southern portion of the Avenue of the Giants and then on and off 101 to the town of Leggett.