Riding along the coast
Can you believe it’s August?! We hardly can, and not only because we’ve been on the road for two and a half months— it was 50 degrees this morning! This side of the mountains is so drastically different and diverse. We went through the redwood forests and mountains, down the coast (which started out very foggy but became clearer as they day progressed), through lagoons, farmland, and eventually returned to more urban areas as we approached Arcata.
Quite foggy
The redwoods were beautiful and awe inspiring, and some of us stopped to see “Big Tree” on the way. Big Tree is the 13th largest single-stem coastal redwood, standing at 286 ft tall, 23.7 ft in diameter, with a 75 ft circumference. It is 1,500 years old (!) and one of the many cool sights from today. A few large herds of elk watched us ride by and we took a bridge over lagoons near the coast.
Not Big Tree, but a big tree.
Lunch at a gas station gave us warmth through coffee and a public restroom, and we shared chips and candy before continuing on. The hills for today weren’t too bad, besides one in the beginning that lasted over five miles. Once we got over that one big one, and three medium ones, the rest were rolling hills. Of course, though, the last half mile or so into the stayover was incredibly steep. Some of the team decided to run that steep hill again after dinner (In N’ Out) and try to beat records! We showered using the sink extension out the window (warm water!) and are ready to camp out in the Redwoods National Park tomorrow. That also means no internet— sorry! No blog post! But I’ll be back day 75!
— Marielle
Check out the sign— SF in 347 miles! (Down to about 280 by the end of the day!)
Climbing
Hello, elk
Pulled over to let the traffic go by
Bridge over lagoons
See the slackliner?! Wild!!! We stopped to watch for a few minutes
Headed to Arcata!