NorCal holiday loop: Santa Cruz -> Mendocino -> Eurika and back!

[JRD]

Spending a week cruising up north, visiting some friends, feeling mixed feelings about America, and riding back.

Highlights to include cruising up hw1, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, detouring down The Lost Coast to Shelter Cove, and carving through The Avenue of the Giants.

My longest ride since getting the CB about 6 months ago. I’m expecting about 800 miles and 13 hours in the saddle, just getting there and back. Probably a bunch more in day rides while I’m up there. 

The CB is kitted for touring with its windscreen in place, rear rack and saddle bags loaded, highway pegs installed, and GoPro mounted. Ready eat up some miles!

I’ll be back with some updates and photos throughout and after the trip!

[Cormanus]

Something to look forward to. Have a great ride, JRD.

[rdprdp01]

I can relate to everything you shared. I also use my motorcycle to find solace. Highway 1 is a great ride, and it usually makes the bucket list for most motorcyclists in the Western United States. I have never traveled on Highway 1 as far as I would like. What I have seen is life-changing: incredible beauty,  twisty roads, blind switchbacks, ocean views, and affirmation that life is good on a motorcycle. Occasionally, the real world interrupted my sojourn with heavy tourist traffic, accidents, and road closures. I found it better to rise early and finish a ride before noon. The afternoons can get a little intense.

The route can also feature heavy tourist traffic and frequent closures. I found Caltrans Quickmap helpful in dealing with the distractions.

I have never made it to the Chandelier-Drive-Thru Tree in Leggett, but hope springs eternal. If you take the small detour, do take a picture of your beautiful motorcycle framed by the Redwood. I am living vicariously through you, JRD! Location Address: 67500 CA-271, Leggett, CA. Safe travels. David

[JRD]

Trip will be two of my favorite biomes to ride through: coastal bluffs and redwoods groves. I’ve done plenty of each, but I’m looking forward to getting a glut of both!

I will be passing directly through Leggett on my way up from Mendo to Eureka. I’ve done the Drive Through Tree in a car, but it is probably worth checking out on the bike.

[Gone in 60]

I love that ride. I used to come up from the L.A. area to Portland or San Francisco at least once a year, and would take that route going North.
Haven't had the chance to for the past few years, and I'm overdue.

Riding through the redwoods will set anyone's mind straight. Here's a video I made on one of my passes through the forest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2slmX5VA8Pg

[JRD]

Santa Cruz to Mendocino today.

First leg was hw1, up Half Moon Bay to Pacifica. Strong headwind but beautiful. Pumpkin patches and artichokes. Mustard and wild radish. California poppies and pampas grass. Lines of Brown Pelicans over the water. Peered at the ruins on Ano Nuevo island. Stopped by Pigeon Point lighthouse to spot migrating humpbacks. Coffee in Pacifica before turning inland, through Daily City and across the Golden Gate.

The Golden Gate Bridge, like the Taj Majal or Yosemite Valley, is one of those places that everyone has seen a million times in photos, but you can't actually know until you see it in person. You just can't appreciate the scale and artistry and presence of it until you're there. The bridge is loud and cramped as you cross it, but you can see kite surfers jockeying with freighters on the bay, The City over your right shoulder, the bridge pilons towering above you in art deco iron.

Temperature started ratchetting up as I moved from Merin to Sebastopol. There is some nice country up there, but I mostly saw freeway sliding by at 80mph. The CB ate up the miles. The weight and smooth power of the bike inspire confidence, even among the cars and trucks. I was glad for my new freeway pegs that let me shift around in the saddle a bit.

Stopped in Sebastopol to say "hi" to some friends. Cute town. Was expecting more dreary freeway as I continued North, but was happily surprised when, instead of sending me back up the 101, Google routed me due North up some beautiful rural backroads (116 -> Laguna Rd -> Trenton Healsburg -> Eastside). Straight runs past vineyards and rolling curves along small waterways and through groves of California Bay Laurel and Tan Oak. Goats and turkey vultures. Horses and quail.
   

Turned off onto 128, angling back towards the coast. The road rose into golden hills and chaparral scrubland. Windy and one-lane. Very few other cars on the road, and all conscientiously scooted over to let me pass when safe. Road condition was excellent for as remote as it felt. Red tailed hawks watched me from every power pole and dead oak.  

Stopped for an amazing burger and an interesting pickle beer at Jumbo's Win Win in Philo. Highly recommend that spot. Great food. Great vibes. From Philo it's a hard turn to the coast. I could choose between Greenwood Rd., the 128, or Comptche Ukiah. Asked the server at Jumbo's which way was the prettiest. She said Greenwood.
   

Greenwood was a ridge road up, then down, through the coastal range. Mixed woods intermingled with the occasional redwoods grove. Occasionally the trees would open up on a field or vineyard, granting a view to the next ridge over, across the river valley. A rabbit crossed the road in front of me. A raven flew off, carrying a snake in its beak. A coopers hawk deftly navigated the trees, parallel to the road. Madrone and poison oak. Ferns and costal redwood. Oak and wild blackberry. 

Greenwood took me across Navarro River and back to hw1 for the brief jog up to Mendocino. Nor Cal cliffs dropped down to a choppy Pacific Ocean. A red shouldered hawk hovered 10 feet over the grass on the cold updraft, head down, hunting. Wind-whipped grasses and gnarled Monterey cypress. Boulders, stained white with sea bird droppings. Bull kelp and crushed abalone shell.

Got in after about five/five and a half hours of saddle time. I have ridden to Mendo a few times on my RE Int650. It was doable but uncomfortable. The relative ease of the ride on the Honda reaffirmed that the upgrade was well worth it.

[rdprdp01]

What a great start!

[Nachodaddy]

JRD, you write a great story. Thanks for taking us along. I spent a lot of time in California and rode many of those roads. Good memories.

[Gone in 60]

Wow, what a great story! Man, I need to get back up there. Your description of the wildlife makes it worth it. It is truly fascinating.
I love Mendocino. It's beautiful, picturesque... and expensive! I love stopping at Mendocino and strolling around, enjoying a fine lunch (cheap sandwich).
... but I'll go just a bit further to Fort Bragg for a hotel, thank you very much.

[JRD]

Up early for tidepooling. Lot to see along the rocky Pacific coast. Crabs and limpets. Star fish and abalone. Great Egrets stalking the pools for fish and crustations. Over to The Waiting Room for some coffee and the best almond croissants on the West Coast.

Awake and energized, I headed up north. Stacked up with a group of bikers out of Fort Bragg. They were a slow group on matching Harleys, and I was unable to pass in the windies, so I settled in for a slow cruise up hw1 along the coast and then up through the redwoods to Leggett.

Paid 15 bucks in Leggett for a photo op under The Drive Thru Tree. Had a German tourist take my photo under the giant.

Back on the 101 for a bit to Garberville. Passed countless tourist traps and camp sites and bilboards for bigfoot-themed rest stops. Gassed up at Garberville and then headed down The Lost Coast  for a detour to Shelter Cove for lunch and lighthouse passport stamps. Quick jog over to the black sand beach for a walk down one of the most desolate and inaccessible stretches of Ocean in California: the only sign of other humans the summer homes of millionaires who fly their private planes in and out: a real juxtaposition of the natural and unnatural/pristine and corrupted.

Got back on track back up to Garberville again and then North, towards Eureka. Pulled off and ran the length of The Avenue of the Giants. Always stunning. The speed limit is 55 but every vehicle on the road was doing no more than 40, myself included. Rides like that put you IN the environment instead of just riding past it. Stunning ride.

After The Avenue, it was a straight shot up 101 for an hour to Eurika. The highway got fast and cold and windy as I did the last leg. Five hour on the bike and I was happy to stretch my legs when I got in.

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Edit: I don’t know why the photos only ever work half the time. I’ll figure it out later.