Day 3: Rolling Hills & Rain (Roberts Creek to Saltry Bay)

Day 3: Rolling Hills & Rain (Roberts Creek to Saltry Bay)

Dinner at Roberts Creek

I was awakened by the pitter-patter of the rain drops on my tent. That made it difficult for me to fall asleep, but on the contrary, Sang Hyun said it helped him fall asleep and sleep much better.  We woke up to find our tents and the tarp on our bikes covered with water.  Luckily for us, there was a break in the storm as we prepared our breakfast and rolled out of camp.

Showers All Day

Just like clock work, we get hit with a downpour as we started back on highway 101.  Our rain gear held up very well.  Both of us wore a Gore jacket, rain pants, waterproof socks with wool socks underneath.  Sang Hyun wore his Buff around his neck to keep warm along with his wool arm warmers.  I had a wool t-shirt underneath as a base-layer and then a riding jacket over that.  We were both comfortably warm and wicked away moisture as we pedaled along.  The weather consisted of off and on showers for the entire day.  Constant traffic buzzed by incessantly.

Alternate Route

Riding through an alternate route

About 15 miles in, Sang Hyun’s GPS pointed out an alternate route.  This put us through some residential streets where the cars were scarce and the roads were narrow.  We went up and down the road for another 15 miles before we were dumped back onto the main highway.  From there, we stayed on the highway and resisted further alternate routes as we felt they may actually add more mileage and time.  We were probably at about the 16 mile marker when we pulled over to grab lunch at a small cafe.  It was a much needed break as both of us were tired of climbing up and flying down one hill after another.

Tourists

Fellow cycle tourists from California – Pictured L-R: Sang Hyun, Johnny, Jennifer, Craig

We finally made it to the other end of the peninsula to catch the next ferry over to Saltry Bay.  We were waved up to the front in a waiting area with two other motorcyclists.  We were there at 3PM and our boat did not leave until 5:30PM.  We had plenty of time to kill.  The two motorcyclists were actually from Palm Springs, California.  They were both doing a round-trip tour up to Lund, which is on the same peninsula as Saltry Bay, but much further North.  They were planning to turn around and ride down the coast back to Palm Springs.  We were also approached by three other tourists from Medocino, California. Two of them were also avid cycle tourists.  Jennifer and Craig were the cyclists and Lorena came along for the ride.   They told us about the great adventures they’ve had and gave us tips about riding on Vancouver Island.  They even told us to look up her parents on Warm Showers to host us when we get to Elk, California.  We might just do that.

Beautiful Campsite

Campsite at Saltry Bay

When we got off the ferry, we waited for all the cars to roll out first and had the entire road to ourselves.   We pedaled no more than a mile and spotted our home for the night, Saltry Bay Campgrounds.  This place was immaculate!  We were surrounded by forests once again, but the vegetation was much denser. Our spot on lot 34 had some green grass and moss for us to sleep on. Moss and slugs were everywhere, and the distance from one campsite to the next was vast to maintain some privacy.  Saltry Bay Campgrounds would have been fantastic if it weren’t for all the moisture and mosquitoes everywhere.
We quickly ate our dinner and went to bed by 9PM as we needed to get up by 4:30 the next morning to catch the first ferry to Vancouver Island, which will begin our journey south.  This will be our longest day as we are expecting to ride about 70+ miles to our destination.
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