Eureka to Redcrest, California

December 30, 2012

We left Eureka early, without searching out what may have been its more charming bits. Around our motel was pretty stark.

We started with a jaunt on the freeway, which had a wide shoulder and not too too much traffic. The road passes by the Humboldt Bay nature sanctuary, which may account for our seeing waves and waves of geese in the air. There were lots of vees of them, making it seem like some sort of military fly past. Off in the distance at one point Dodie spotted some egrets. Here is where the somewhat telephoto (10x) ability of the Sony DSC-WX150 camera served well, catching a quite nice shot from far away.

We left 101 to head for the small farming community of Loleta, home of the cheese factory we had seen advertised in pamphlets and on billboards. The town is "funky", featuring a large abandoned factory that used to be the home of Humboldt Creamery, the cheese factory- a small wooden building built in 1919, and on Main Street, a convenience store and a bakery.

The cheese factory offered many flavour variations on cheddar style cheese, and we had fun trying to taste them all. There were ones with smoked salmon flavour, garlic, herbs, caraway, jalapeno, and others. One of them, not tricked out with some special flavouring, was called Cream City Cheddar and seemed to far and away have the best natural flavour of all. We came away with that one and a Caraway.

A little later as we cycled, I felt very strong - something I attribute to all the samples of high quality cheese. Now, if only there was some real baguette and maybe some German sausage I could be leaping these hills instead of just grinding up them!

One of the main attractions on this Coastal route is a 50 km country road called the Avenue of the Giants. The thing starts off hwy 101 about 45 km south of Eureka, and then winds around 101 and the south fork of the Eel River, ending near Garberville. This little road has got to be one of the most wonderful in the whole of the world. What it does is to skirt the Humboldt Redwoods State Park, an area that contains dozens of groves of ancient Redwood trees. By ancient we mean they can be 2000 or more years old, and one, the Dyerville Giant was estimated at 370 feet tall, with a circumference of 52 feet and a weight of a million pounds.

Eel River, nourishes dairy farms in its lower reaches, run through the redwoods higher up

In spots there are not redwoods, but dry hills and pine

The most common word to describe these groves is "sacred", and of course forests easily attract that kind of reverence. Even near where we live, there is a grove of giant fir, called the Cathedral Grove, which is exactly on the same lines.

A remarkable thing about the Redwood giants, though, is that with seeming American showmanship they have set up shop right beside a freeway. Well, ok, maybe the freeway came later, but in B.C. you kind of have to get a secret map and take a long hike to see trees like this. Here, they are standing by the roadside.

The thrill of starting down the Avenue of Giants was much like the thrill of cycling to the Eiffel Tower, or Big Ben, or something. It's just so darn famous. We were not disappointed, either, because guess what they are still here, just like the last time we visited. And we fervently hope they will be here just like this for our grandchildren and their grandchildren.

We slowly made our way about 15 km down the road, to Redcrest. This is a village that has a post office and giftshop/cabins offering. The grocery store has gone bust. We got a cabin that has a big comfy bed, two easy chairs, and a table with four chairs. Significantly, it also has an effective heater. (Though it reached 14 today, it started at zero). Around us are redwoods, and across the street is the "2500 year old Eternal Tree house".

In our cabin is a guest book in which previous residents have recorded their impression of their stay. They document their enjoyment of the quiet environment, the trees, the heater, and the cosy bed. We feel just the same.

Today's ride: 69 km (43 miles)
Total: 1,283 km (797 miles)

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