Redwoods National Park

8/3/07
I got out the door about 7 and rode a little bit before I found a
bagel shop for breakfast. I was only about 1/2 hour from Redwoods and
was a little early so a sit down breakfast would be nice. I called
Ruth and she'd sent me an email about a problem we have with the Yukon
River Camp in AK. It seems that someone there stole our credit card
information and was using it to purchase online subscriptions. She'd
discovered three charges from them already. She'd called them and
gotten them cancelled but I had to call the companies to tell them I
didn't authorize the purchase and they'd then reverse the charges.
One company provided me with the email and the IP address of the thief
so Ruth is going to file a police report also.
I got to Crescent City about 9 AM when the visitor center opened. A
volunteer named Ruth suggested a drive to the Stout Grove but she was
worried about me on a bike with it because it was a gravel road 7
miles long!!! Little did she know!! I also got a NPS Passport stamp
there. I headed the short distance out of town to the road and
started out. It was AWESOME! There was quite a bit of fog in the
woods but it was a dense rainforest. The weird part was size. The
trees were gargantuan! I stopped for photos but none of them can do
the trees justice because of how close you are to them. I did do some
size ones with the motorcycle but the drive was fantastic.
The drive comes out north of the park near a visitor center. I
stopped there and saw an excellent video about the redwoods and the
park. I also took some photos of both a Coastal Redwood and a Sequoia
(which doesn't actually belong there) for my biology classes. I then
headed back to Crescent City along another Redwood Grove.
In Crescent City I stopped at a hardware store to get some cotter pins
for when I need to tighten my chain. Since I stripped the rear axle
bolt, they put the stock nut back on which requires a cotter pin. My
Dual Star nut did not need one.
It was now noon and I'd not gotten very far. I drove south continuing
into the park driving down Hwy 101 and through more redwoods.
There was another visitor center on the south side of the park which I
stopped at but it had the same NPS stamp as Crescent City also.
There were signs for elk everywhere and near the southern visitor
center I saw some stopped traffic. Sure enough, it was for a herd of
6 elk. I took some photos and moved along. In about two miles, there
was another herd lounging at an entrance to an RV park and it had
about 20 members.
I found a CA Welcome Center and stopped for a good state map but they
didn't have one (although they had the official state one they gave me
in Crescent City). They did tell me where a AAA office was so I could
get maps. It was only 7 miles away so I went there.
I also stopped at a library in Eureka to post pics but I've run into a
snag. Ruth took my other memory card back to MA and the one I'm using
was never formatted so I can't read it with a USB reader. THis is why
I've not posted any pictures lately. Sorry about that....
After that, I just headed south. About 6 PM I turned onto Rte 1 from
101. It starts off with a 22 mile twisty road to the coast that was
tricky. It well all directions with lots and lots of turns while
inside a forest so you can't get a good idea of how the road is going.
It was fun!
Then I reached the coast. It was a rugged coastline much like OR.
The light was wrong for most photos but I tried a few anyway but I
made it to Fort Bragg before I stopped. I'd seen LOTS and LOTS of NO
VACANCIES because of it being a Friday night so I tried a couple of
motels but none were reasonable. I was given a suggestion and tried
it and ended with a $90 room. That is a bit high for me but it got me
out early this morning...
Today, I should make San Francisco about noon...

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Todd Ryan; Hudson, MA
Westborough HS Science Teacher
MSF RiderCoach