September 11 was not a great day in the
annals of this journey, but I hadn’t really expected it to be so I wasn’t
disappointed. This day was the first day back inland heading from the Redwood coast to
Redding and the mountains beyond.
Since there wasn’t going to be much to see
or do or photograph, I decided in advance that I would simply jot down what I was doing on
the hour throughout the day. If it turned out to be fairly typical account of what I do
all day on this journey, you will read about it next. 12:00 midnight to 6:00am –
sleeping in my tent. 7:00am – awake, but still in my sleeping bag, reading maps for
the day’s travel. 8:00am – wiping off the outside (rain fly) of my tent (lots of
condensation last night). 9:00am – final packing of my stuff on the bike. 10:00am
– eating breakfast (Niveens in McKinleyville). 11:00am – just turned onto
California Rt. 299 which will be my highway of choice for the rest of this plus two more
days. I’m about 38 miles from Willow Creek (today’s destination) and I have two
climbs of about 2000’ each to make. 12:00 noon – reached the North Fork of the
Mad River, which is the starting point for the first climb of the day. 1:00pm – still
climbing. It took another 15 minutes to reach Lord Ellis Summit (2263’ elevation).
2:00pm – started up the second hill 10 minutes ago after a lunch break at Lord Ellis
Summit and a 6 mile (30mph) ride downhill where I "lost" about 1000’ of my
hard earned elevation. 3:00pm – still climbing the second hill. It took another 20
minutes to reach Berry Summit (2803’ elevation). On the way up, I took one rest
break, one restroom (bushes) break and one smoke break. The latter was actually called a
Vista Point, but there have been many forest fires in the area and you can’t see much
besides smoke. I could see the Redwood Creek Bridge, however, far below. It was the
starting point for the second climb, and it sure looked "way down there". 4:00pm
– approaching the town of Willow Creek (seemed to be pretty much the center of the
forest fire activity). 5:00pm – finishing my milkshake after dinner in Willow Creek.
6:00pm – setting up my tent in a smoke-filled valley in the town of Salyer (6 miles
past Willow Creek). A few minutes later, Mr. & Mrs. Megalithic Motorhome (from Ohio,
no less) came over to the pavilion right next to my campsite and started a really smoky
charcoal fire to cook their megalithic steaks (or something). 7:00 – riding my bike
(a mile or so) to the only place open in town (a Mexican restaurant) to see if I could get
a take-out beverage. Best I could do was a soft drink. 8:00pm - in bed. 9:00pm to midnight
(and well beyond) – asleep in my tent.
Special note to my bicycling friend David from
New York – this chronology is based on real time, not "Gary" time. I guess
I’d better explain this to the rest of the viewing audience. I keep my watch set on
Mountain Time (one hour ahead) even though I’ve been in the Pacific Time Zone for
several weeks. I did move it back one hour when I first came into the Pacific Time Zone
because I had it set on Central Time for the whole time I was in the Mountain Time Zone.
Confused? Well I am too, but not about this. It first happened by accident when I
discovered that I had crossed into Mountain Time without knowing it for two days somewhere
in North Dakota. By then I was headed for Theodore Roosevelt National Park (North Unit),
which (according to the sign that tipped me off to this in the first place) is in the
Central Time Zone. I knew the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt NP was on Mountain Time,
but I didn’t know about South Dakota, so I just left my watch on Central Time. A week
or so passed and I got real used to the idea that I had an extra hour in the day beyond
what my watch said, so I have just continued to keep it that way. If I wake up at 8:00am,
it’s really only 7:00am. I know that if I change my watch to the correct time, it
won’t be long before I wake up at 8:00am real time, and I will have "lost"
my bonus hour each day.
(Great
Adventures to Scenic Places)
