When the premise of your tour day is one big giant 250-mile loop, and they close the roads due to fires, it changes plans a bit.
Highway 299 is closed due to the fire west of Weaverville...
Monument Fire on both sides of Highway 299
....So we spend all day with an out and back, and retrace our route over Highway 3 Hayfork Pass. Ridden the opposite direction, it's a whole new road, but just as twisty.
Hazy, but nowhere near as bad as the smoke was a few weeks back.
I had the crazy idea for the next day to test run a tour idea I had. I haven't ridden The Lost Coast in quite a few years, although we've done a bunch of times on tours. It's an extreme road and a bit overwhelming for some, a 50-mile loop that bumps out to the ocean and back. It's called the Lost Coast because it's the last piece of California Coastline that remains virgin & undeveloped. Furthermore, it was named the "Lost Coast" after the area experienced depopulation in the 1930s. In addition, the steepness and related geotechnical challenges of the coastal mountains made this stretch of coastline too costly for state highway or county road builders to establish routes through the area, leaving it the most undeveloped and remote portion of the California Coast.
On the bike at first light. Across the Eel River at Fernbridge.
The Eel River was the site of the Great Flood of 1964. The 1964 flood killed 29 people and injured 1,700. At least 4,784 homes, 374 businesses and 800 farm buildings were destroyed, 5000 head of livestock were lost and 16 highway bridges were destroyed. Numerous towns along the Eel River were washed away and never rebuilt.
Not as much water today. Same spot as the 1964 pic above. I'm parked in the same spot as the truck in the pic with the clamshell crane trying to dislodge the buildup of all the lumber that floated downstream. This bridge at Fernbridge was one of the few bridge in 1964 that wasn't destroyed and survived the flood.
Mattole Rd begins at Ferndale which I reached at first light and opted to try to photograph some Victorian homes here despite the low light. As the area dairy farms prospered in the late 1880s, dairy farmers built ornate Victorian homes which came to be known as the Butterfat Palaces of Cream City. Ferndale quickly became one of the state's most productive agricultural regions. Many of these dairy farms are still in operation today. Ferndale is tiny, a mere 1300 people, but it's famous as a touristy destination. It's made up of just a few streets and perfect for walking.
Same spot, but in spring. It's so green around here in spring!
Capetown (formerly, Gas Jet and False Cape) is a locality in Humboldt County, California. The Gas Jet post office operated from 1868 to 1876. The name referred to escaping gas from an oil well. The False Cape post office opened in 1870, changed the name to Capetown in 1879, and closed permanently in 1937. Capetown is the westernmost settlement in the state of California
Sprawling metropolis of Capetown. There's one (looked to be) abandoned house. That's it.
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