Cycling through the Californian redwood forests ranks right up there with cycling through the gorges of Morocco, in terms of spectacular days on the bike. I rode and camped within the Redwoods National Forest for 3-4 days, one day cycling 40 miles on a road called the Avenue of the Giants. The roads were all freshly tarmac'ed - if that is a verb. And the traffic was quiet. It's off season.
Roads so quiet I could leave the bike sitting in the middle of the road.
Making coffee for breakfast
Trees so big I can fit my bike inside
12 hardboiled eggs in one pot was a record
After cycling for almost a week together both Rob and Mike sped off into the horizon. I was probably no more than half a day alone on the road when Hilary from Vancouver with her green panniers popped out of somewhere... and we rode and camped together for a few days. She calls herself a 'bike activist' so we had great chats about social inclusion via the bicycle. She volunteers each year in New Orleans where there are some long term post hurricane Caitriona project still ongoing. She talked of trying to promote a bicycle culture among black communities where a bike is seen as a poor mans mode of transport. I found her really interesting. She gave me a high viz band to wear on the narrow roads ahead. Thanks Hilary.
This is Hilary. She too had bright green Ortlieb panniers.
Whereas Washington State and Oregon are both just jammers with trees, northern California has farmland. But it's farmland of cows and sheep on rugged dry terrain, as opposed to grazing on green pastures. I passed many pumpkin patches - Americans seem very keen to dress up their houses well in time for Halloween. I have also seen a herd of wild elk, smelled a few dead skunks on the roads and bumped into way too many racoons. They have been hovering around the food boxes at night at the campsites. They have no shame.
A herd of elk
Two racoons hanging out near my food box
God dam racoons stole my oats from inside the food box and ripped it open with their claws.
California started out being nice and sunny and I was so glad that the wet soggy camping days of Oregon were over. But little did I know what lay waiting. While a hurricane was blowing off the East coast of the US near Florida we were just getting lashed on in northern California. Saturday October 16th 2016 will be remembered for being one of those days which belongs to Connemara in February and not on the Californian coast in October. The thing is.. if you were in Connemara in February and had planned on going cycling, you would just give up, have a long hot shower and go to the pub to watch some rugby and have a pint or two of Guinness. One of those days where the headwind is so strong you have to pedal downhill... and where the crosswind is so strong coming in from the shore that you have to have the brakes fully on when going downhill or else you will be blown over.
I got all excited taking out the solar panels.
A great day to do a bit of washing.
After these first few days of solar panels and redwood trees came the rain. When I look at the map ahead of me I see words like Santa Barbara, Long Beach and Monterrey. Surely it will be sunny and warm in Southern California??
How on earth should I pack this soggy mess?
The salty fog coming in off the ocean tastes of salt
One of many cook-ups in the bathrooms of the State Park campsites
I have to say that this was a first. Having cooked up my usual lentil, spud and carrot stew, I made myself a hot chocolate. The only place to sit in the campsite bathroom was obviously the toilet
But even though you are wet and tired, the same grime has been under your fingernails for a week, you haven't showered in three days and your bags weigh a few kgs more simply because everything inside them is soaking... the road still throws you up some laughs. Len is from LA and is cycling border to border - like so many. We met at a campsite and travelled together for two days. His family is Mexican so he even put chili on the apples that we picked off the trees at the side of the road. He was unable to pass a bakery without purchasing a cinnamon roll or bread and butter pudding and blueberry slice (yum) or chocolate chip cookie. And he insisted on sharing EVERYTHING with me.
Chili on apples, why not!
The first bakery Len couldn't pass.
My first ever oyster. Len is a fine diner and bought us both oysters for lunch.
Highlight:
1. Riding through Redwoods Forest Nat Park
2. Getting out the solar panels
3. Finding out there are also $5 hiker biker sections
to the campsites
Lowlight:
1. Washed clothes sitting inside your panniers wet, because it's not dry enough to take them out.
2. The smell of dead roadkill skunk and vultures hovering around to eat the remains of the carcass.
Enjoyed
listening to:
RTE documentary on One – Roger Casement and
his travels in the Congo.
I took the Max light rail from
Portland out to the western suburb of Hillsboro. There are 4 bike hook ups in
each tram, two at either end. I was imagining myself back in Dublin, being able to take my bike on the Luas. Sadly not a possibility. I chatted away to the girl who had hooked up her bike beside
mine. Her recommendation for my 'coastal' ride was to go crabbing. She
explained how you fish for the crabs, then measure them with a calliper to see
if they are big enough to be taken out of the water. You then have to turn them
upside down to see if they are male or female. The females go back in the water
but the males can be eaten.
After a night with a WS host in Hillsboro came the toughest
day of climbing yet, up and over the mountains to the west of Portland. 10
miles of uphill were followed by 60 glorious but freezing miles of downhill
following the Nestucca river to the town of Beaver. Beaver was one of those one
horse towns. I was expecting a lovely little farmers market type shop and all
there was was a petrol station and a car mechanic. One expensive tomato ($1.36)
and tin of tuna later and I was off again - to the coast.
Camping at Dovre campsite high up in the mountains west of Portland
Porridge direct from the pot. A little baked apple (picked directly from the trees)
Warm Showers hosts in Hillsboro, proud of their legal marijuana plant growing in their back garden.
It's legal in Oregon.
And
then there was two
I hadn't really met any
cyclists in the three weeks of cycling up to this. And then one morning there
was Rob from Bristol/Bath/London, standing at a viewpoint in his high viz
jacket, bright blue smurf coloured leggings, with plastic bags in his shoes. He
looked a little odd but I thought it would be rude not to at least say
hello.
So off we headed
together cycling along and trying to chat through the wind and rain. We were both going south. Both of us
had started in Vancouver and neither of us had met another human cyclist. So I
think we were both delighted to chat. It was so nice to be able to rock up to a
campsite with another person and pick out a good spot together. And then best of all,
open two food bags and see what we had between us to rustle up some dinner. I
had a bag full of fresh stuff (or 'produce' as they call that here) and Rob had a
bag full of treats from the dollar store.
Rob with plastic bags in his runners on the Oregon coast
My photos don't do the coastline justice at all. It's a bit like Ireland but not at all.
Noone was ever IN the sea. No swimmers, surfers, people walking on the beach.
Camping in the State Parks in Oregon
The dollar store
You may not think that
discovering a pound shop (known here as the dollar store or to be precise the
Dollar Tree) is worth having its own heading. But believe you me when you find
a shop where you can buy fresh milk, 12 eggs, 12 fresh wraps, huge packets of
biscuits, a pack of mini twix, ready made pasta and rice dishes, ground coffee,
gnocci, pack of 10 frankfurters, porridge oats and werthers originals sweets….. it’s a
big deal. I'm trying to keep within a budget of about $10 per day. I haven't succeeded quite yet, but I'm getting there. I went completely crazy on my first outing to the Dollar Tree, spending $17 and then of
course realising that I had way too much food and would need to haul it around
with me for 5 days before I’d need to restock. Now we go to the dollar store
each day where I calmly spend 3-4 dollars picking up some delights. I will be
forever grateful. Thank you Rob!
The other tricks I
picked up from Rob was a nifty way of having a hot lunch. Up to this if I had
the time I would get out my stove and gas at lunchtime, heat up some hot water
and make myself a coffee. A real treat especially on a cold soggy day. But Rob simply finds a Safeway all of which have a
Starbucks, asks at Starbucks for a large cup of hot water, which they give
him for free, no questions asked, and then he just pours this into his instant noodles (10 portions
for $1 at the Dollar Tree) and bobs your uncle. Hot lunch. Starbucks also has
great free wifi.
Rob also taught me his trick of bringing a packed bike right into the store.
Here are the 2 bikes inside the Dollar Tree store.
Rob is not travelling with a mug so he picks up a fresh cup in Starbucks each day
Genius idea. As a cyclist you can press a button before entering the tunnels and bridges
which sets off flashing lights. This way cars know there are cyclists ahead.
And then there was three
And sure no sooner had I met Rob and we had settled into a lovely routine of travelling and sharing than we bumped into Mike on a cold rainy day hanging out under a tree at the side of the road. Mike is from Alaska, travelling border to border – from Vancouver to Mexico. Mike sleeps under a tarp each night. So it has been great seeing these wonderful daily inventions he creates. Although this below pic doesn’t seem like much, it is actually a tarp held up with nothing more than a bicycle.
Mike from Alaska
Mike sleeping soundly under his tarp.
Bike is being held up by putting the pedal on the helmet. Tarp ropes are tied to the handlebars. Inventive!
Rain
And then it started to rain. For four days and four nights it rained. It’s quite the crazy feeling waking in your tent, putting on your damp hat and head torch, then your damp waterproofs just to be able to go outside your tent… in order to take your tent down and pack it away as a soaking soggy mess. But this went on for four days. As an Irish camper I felt strangely ok in these conditions…. But each day you are just hoping and waiting for a little break – to lay down the tent somewhere at lunchtime to dry it out perhaps. And constantly looking for somewhere with a rood, the gable of a church or a bus stop - just to get a little relief.
But nevertheless the coast of Oregon was great. I don’t know for sure but it probably took 8 days of cycling. When the sun shone and sparkled on the water and the road led downhill. There was no better feeling. At viewpoints tourists we often talk to us and ask where we started and where we were going. They asked how these ocean views compared to Ireland. One of the starkest contrasts I kept mentioning was that in Ireland people use the sea - i.e. there would be surfers on the surf beaches and load of people walking dogs, you might see a wind surfer or a sea kayaker and the odd person going for a dip. In all our days cycling along the coast I never saw anyone in the water. Not even a fisherman.
Hanging wet clothes up overnight in the loos of a campsite
Wet tents in the morning
Wet tents NEVER dry in damp forests
The Oregon coast.
Whale spotting
Some Chinese tourist jump out of their car, and launch their drone to take pics of the Oregon coast.
We spotted whales four
times in Oregon. There were view points every few miles so we would hang out
and hope to borrow binoculars from the passing giant campervan drivers. The giant referring to the campervans (called RV) and not necessarily the drivers... although sometimes... The binocular trick usually worked. It’s such a treat to see a whale perhaps within 100m of the
shore spouting water from its blowhole.
The Oregon coast
Wild camping.. finally As we were three, I was
really keen to wild camp. So for two nights on this coast the three of us set
about trying to find wild camp spots on the beach. It’s not at all as easy as
home. Here all the land is privately owned. So a road that leads down to the
sea will be covered with ‘Private Road’ and ‘Don’t trespass’ signs. On one particular night we had set up camp on a dramatic headland. Mike working his tarp magic yet again and me rustling up a dinner of lentil and spud stew. It’s not easy cooking for three in a small pot. From my Chile days I always travel with a trowel. But I hadn't yet used the trowel as a trowel... so the trowel has now become the pot stirrer. Just as light was fading on this particular headland a small group of people came to take some pics of the setting sun. They complimented us on our choice of camp spot and asked if we needed anything. An hour later they came back with a cold 6 pack of beer. A lovely gesture that topped off a great day.
First proper wild camp spot. On a beautiful quiet sheltered headland.
Where is the wind I keep asking myself?
Marking the first 1000kms
The first day we met Mike, he had a bright idea of sleeping in a yurt in a State Park. It cost $40
per night to share. And it was DRY!
A chalk marking on the road. This was a day of climbing.
Sofas by the fire on the beach
On the second attempt of
wild camping.. there we were… the three of us cooking up a storm directly on
the sand of the beach as the light was fading. Just as it was dark, about 100m
from us a pick up truck arrived. My natural instinct was to be terrified. If
they didn’t see us and they started playing Evel Knievel on the sand with their
supped up pick-up truck… we would be flattened. But all they did was take a
couple of large logs out of their pick-up and set these down against a huge
piece of dry driftwood, throw a can of petrol over it and start a fire. They
then went back to their pick-up and hoisted a sofa from the back onto the beach
beside the fire and sat there beside their fire for about 30 minutes. They then
drove off never to be seen again. So we scurried over and sat on this sofa by
the fire on the beach for the rest of the night. Rob is a musician and is
travelling with his guitar so we even had a few tunes. Random. But great.
Fire on the beach
The morning after the night before. A random sofa on the beach.
Highlights:
Meeting Rob
Rob introducing me to the dollar shop (I spent $17 on
my first visit)
Sleeping in a yurt
Proper wild camping
Random guys rocking up to the beach and setting up a
couch by a fire
Seeing how Mike can make a tarp stand up by using a
helmet to prop up a standing bike… and then attaching his pully ropes to the bicycle
handlebars
First drone selfie taken of us by some random Chinese
tourists
Listening to the All Ireland GAA final on RTE radio
online. Poor Mayo.
Finding a bike shop just there, at the end of the
bridge where I had my little accident…. The shop owner popped Sherpa up on a
bike stand, unbent all the bent bits and charged me $5
The bike man unbending bits of Sherpa
Low
lights:
Camping in forests in the rain. Nothing dries in a wet forest.
Falling off my bike after crashing into the sidewalk
on a narrow bridge. Ripping one of my front panniers, bending all sorts of bits
of my bike.
4 days of rain – waking up in a wet tent, putting on
wet clothes, cycling in the rain, putting back up a wet tent. Praying that the
next campsite will have electric hand dryers in the loos.
Enjoyed listening
to: RTE docs about a female Iranian author, An Open Verdict. Enjoyed also the documentary about the bodhran player Peadar
Mercier.
