Day 23: Good Bye, Oregon. Hello, California (Harris Beach State Park, OR to Elk Prairie State Park, CA)

19 Jul Day 23: Good Bye, Oregon. Hello, California (Harris Beach State Park, OR to Elk Prairie State Park, CA)

Lighthouse in Crescent City

The major highlight for today was we finally made it back to our home state of California after being gone since June 25th. It’s amazing to even think about where we’ve pedaled and where we’ve stayed, as well as what we’ve gone through for the last 3 weeks. Even though we made it back to our home state, we are still very far from our ultimate destination of San Francisco and then figuring out how to get back to Los Angeles.

Abrupt Ending in Oregon

Made it to California

We were the last 3 groups to leave camp at Harris Beach State Park in the city of Brookings. Everybody in camp decided to leave early to either grab breakfast in town or some wanted to make it into the next California camp sooner than later. We left camp as usual, about 9AM. The ride took us past Brookings and guided us into neighboring streets as we followed the Oregon Coast Bicycle Route for the last 10 miles. These signs were a comfort to see for the last week and half whenever we wandered through town after town. We saw our last one as soon as it put us back on the 101 highway. From there, it was just a 3 mile ride when we, as well as other cyclists and motorize vehicles, pulled over to the side of the road to take a picture with the “Welcome to California” sign at the border. Huge milestone, check!

We then continued on Adventure Cycling’s maps through side roads, away from the busy highway through towns like Smith River until we reached Crescent City for lunch. We enjoyed our first Hawaiian BBQ meal in a long while. Afterwards, we took on the biggest hill of the day. A 1300+ feet climb up to the Del Norte Coast Redwood State Park. Biggest single climb on this trip so far. Another milestone, check!

Up and Down

Encouraging words on the way up the Redwood Highway

We enjoyed the long descent down to the beach and it eventually took us through the city of Klamath. Along the way, we visited the “Trees of Mystery” attraction where we got to see giant Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. The sign for this place has haunted us for the last 120 miles when we were at Oregon, so we finally made our way to pay this attraction a visit.  I had been here a few years ago by car going North, so it was nostalgic remembering my last trip in 2007.

The wind blasted us through Klamath and eventually put us on a good ascent up the highway until we reached the Newton B. Drury Scenic Highway in which we were given another tough 2 miles upward. It was so tough to conjure up the energy and strength to climb this one last hill of the day, but we persevered. Not a moment too soon, we were awarded with a mellow downhill with both sides lined with majestic giant redwood trees. It was an amazing view upward while we casually cruised taking in all the sights, sounds, and smells from this magical place.

Our first elk encounter

Our Little Community

We eventually reached the right turn we needed to take to get into Elk Prairie State Park. As usual, hiker / biker sites were open and surprisingly enough only $5 per person. The showers were no longer free like Oregon. Fifty cents for 5 minutes was plenty to clean oneself.

In camp, the usual suspects showed up: Portlan, Nick and Jen. We also incorporated another young man from the previous camp, Roberto, into our group as he was now traveling alone to Mexico. There was another older gentleman who was also there named Hambone (yes, Hambone). He was like a traveling hippy who knew the details of all the local camps and RV sites. Amazing knowledge and enjoyed telling us stories, so he kept us entertained through the night. Jeff and Mikhala also showed up, but they reconnected with a few other campers. There were 3 sets of French couples at this campsite so they were all sharing space for the night. It was a festive atmosphere, and we all passed the time very quickly.

We had planned to have our day off tomorrow, but are opting to ride another day so that we can stay right in the middle of the Avenue of the Giants. Our next stop is the KOA in Eureka before we make our journey into my most anticipated place. There will be WiFi and laundry has to be done before we take 2 days to explore The Avenue.