Closed the loop.

October 31

20 miles. Samuel p Taylor to Larkspur

We are in a car with all our gear and a kind stranger we met at a park just north of San Francisco. We stopped at a park to eat lunch for old times sake, we had lunch at the same park back in our first week of the trip. We were approached by a man and his two kids who asked us about our trip. A few miles down the road he pulled up beside us and offered us a ride up to Tahoe. So here we are, on our way back with mixed feelings. I'm so happy with what we have done, I'm proud of what we have accomplished and happy with all that we have done, seen, and experienced.

I have loved our life for the last 7 months and although I'm ready to go back and have a home and see friends and be with dahlia, I know it will be a very short time before I'm aching for our simple hiking and biking life on the go. 

It's been the most wonderful amazing challenging experience and I hope I have many more like it in the future. Thanks for everyone's love and support!

Taking down our little home for the last time

Navigating the Bay Area

An anti climatic ending to our long journey. 

A cruisey ride into the Bay Area

October 30

47 miles bodega bay dunes to Samuel P Taylor state parks

Just enjoying the end of our trip with beautiful scenery and delicious foods in the cute towns north of San Francisco. 

Last day on the coast

October 29

50 miles. Gualala to bodega bay

The coast is so beautiful! Rugged cliffs with smashing waves. I think it's just as beautiful as big sur. We did a lot of climbing today but we also had a strong tail wind pushing us along.  The miles flew by. 

Today was our last day of riding on the coast. Now that we are in bodega we will be riding along bays and then east towards the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco. 

Clay and I have decided to end our trip there rather than biking back up to Tahoe. Getting back to San Francisco completes our loop! So we feel like we are off the hook for having to redo the 200 miles of urban riding and then biking up 10,000 feet into the mountains which this week are supposed to recieve snow. 

So we have two days of riding left. 

Last night Clay was asleep by 7. I was soon to follow but my head was full of all the real life things we have to do upon our return. I am going to miss our simple life. No rent to pay, no dishes to do, I have everything I need right here. 

Beautiful scenery and a day off

October 27

45 miles Navarro beach to gualala regional park

October 28

The last day off

I am ready to keep moving and get home but clay wanted a day off. It's our first since we went to Colorado for sierras wedding before we even started biking Oregon. 

It was a good idea and it gave me a little time to figure out how we are going to get ourselves and our bikes back to Tahoe from San Francisco. It's all happening so soon. 

The coast gets busy

October 26

42 miles. Westport union landing site state beach to Navarro river state beach

Last night we pretty much camped at the very northern part of hwy 1 where it's still by the ocean. It was quiet and beautiful. Today we travelled south past the town of fort Bragg. The coast is still beautiful but much less quiet.

We were in the fog most of the day being lightly drizzled upon but our campsites both last night and tonight are perfect. 

We are listening to the crashing waves with views from our tent, trying to figure out how we feel about being so close to the end of our trip. We have about 150 miles left until we reach San Francisco. We have biked over 1,900 miles, hiked over 2,650 and have been sleeping in our tent since late march, about 200 nights. We are both having a hard time figuring out how we feel about it and seem incapable of using words to describe it. 

The beautiful nor cal coast

October 25

40 miles. Richardson Grove state park to Westport campground

We biked out of the redwoods up and over the coastal mountains and returned back to the sea side. On a Sunday afternoon in late October the roads were empty and perfect for biking. We summited the infamous leggett hill which was a long but mellow climb with a sweeping smooth descent all the way down to the ocean. We were hit with a drizzle at the top but this rainy day turned out to be a beaut. Now that we are back to the beautiful coast, we aren't in such a hurry to get back to Tahoe anymore!

Avenue of the giants

October 24

70 miles. Ferndale to Richardson Grove state park

Next time we do a 70 mile day we need to get an earlier start. The days are getting short. We have been waking up around 7 or 7:30 when the sun rises and going to sleep around 8 or 9, long after the sun goes down and after we set up camp and eat dinner. 

I wasn't looking forward to this section of the ride. When I rode this section years ago with friends, one of them got sick and this is where we bailed and went home. I think that experience left me with the feeling that this area is something we just have to do to get back to the coast, but that was all wrong! 

We rode through beautiful farmland and then through miles and miles of redwoods on the Avenue of the Giants. We are off the 101 as much as possible. I was having a little anxiety about riding on it but it's really not that bad. It's never as scary as I think it's going to be. 

Fellow bikers! 

Tonight we got into camp after dark with two other bikers and found about 7 more bikers at the campground!

Where the forest meets the sea

October 22

52 miles. Crescent city to Patricks point state park

I can breathe out of my nose again! So glad to be feeling better. Yesterday I still felt pretty rough but today I'm definitely in the path to recovery. 

Instead of ocean front riding most of the day was spent winding through redwood forests. I felt ages from the coast under the dense dark damp canopy of giants. We climbed up out of crescent city, passed the trees of mystery (you might recall an episode of This American Life from within Paul Bunyan), and rode through redwood national park. 

After passing an elk herd and town of orick, we popped back out into the sunshine on the seaside again.

In Northern California the main road, the 101, is less like a windy coastal road and more like an inland freeway. The traffic is faster and the views less scenic. I am looking forward to the beginning of hwy 1, which in a couple hundred miles splits off the 101 and goes west to run along the ocean. 

Biking through the redwoods 

Studying the maps

Camping at Patricks point

Arcata, Eureka and beyond

October 23

56 miles. Patrick point state park to Ferndale county fairgrounds

Yes, we are sleeping at the fairgrounds. We spent most of the day meandering past farms on quiet roads. This peace was punctuated by biking on the side of the freeway. The shoulder is wide, the highway really isn't that bad, but it is loud and hectic. 

Ferndale was a surprising end to the day. After riding through miles of fields, the town with a thriving main straight plucked out of the 50s is a pleasant surprise.

At the fairgrounds we met a couple about the same age as clay and I who are driving the pan American highway from the US all the way to Argentina. It was nice talking to like minded people who have quit their jobs and gave it all up for adventure. It reminded us of how lucky we are to be able to be out here, doing exactly what we want to do everyday. Lately we spend a lot of time thinking about getting home. We miss our dog mostly but it's also getting cold and rainy and it's time to find a home with a real roof and walls. We do still love being out here letting our little legs take us where we want to go everyday. 

Foggy Trinidad

Back roads

Catching the high school homecoming parade in arcata. Go tigers!

Ferndale

Still grateful to have access to fruits and veggies everyday. Fixing up dinner in our warm little house. 

California!

10/21

42 miles.  Harris beach state park to camp spot outside of crescent city. 

We made it back to California! We hiked north on the pct from California into Oregon about 73 days ago. Since, we have hiked through all of Oregon and Washington, turned around and biked back while traveling to two family weddings. Seems like a lot of time has passed. 

Most of today's ride was on empty country roads roughy paralleling the 101. Crescent city is lovely. There's a road right along the beach with beautiful cliff side homes. Reminds both of us of a more affordable west cliff drive in Santa Cruz. 

At the post office we picked up maps I ordered for this point south to San fransisco and then If we want to, continuing east to Tahoe. We will see how far we make it. San Fran is another 400 miles and Tahoe would probably be another 300 both busy and very steep miles after that. So far I think we have probably gone about 750 miles since northern Washington. 

Watching long boarders on crescent beach 

Awesome secluded beach and camping at the end of Enders beach road

Crescent beach from above