It was just over 100 miles from the Sonoma freeway in my last entry to our campground on the ocean at Manchester Beach. But it was three hours of driving: Off the 101 to a smaller state highway (the 128), winding over forested hills, finally into a large valley; then on an unmarked county road up and down steep 16% grades, serpentine switchbacks, often without two full lanes, through redwood forests, beautiful canopies, an old bridge across a valley river; and finally, the mountains subsided, the forest broke, and we were in soft, rolling, green-brown hills, stretching to the ocean.
Suddenly we came to a highway lined by gnarled trees, and it was our old friend the 1, though like we'd never seen it before. We felt more in some Old World landscape, maybe England or France, certainly not Northern California. We caught a look at the lighthouse at Point Arena as the sun was setting, and scrambled to our campground to try to set up our new tent. Amazingly, it was already nine o'clock! We were definitely getting further north, with its long summer days.
Today, we will follow the coast up to Eureka and the Oregon border, then turn inland to Crater Lake, outside of Medford.
Miles: 903
Posted by yozhik at July 2, 2003 11:26 AM