On 7/24/2018, we finally got to fly to California and pick up our van. Apparently there was some miscommunication on when we would be there to pick up the van, but after several hours, we had the van back in our possession! It was in the same condition that we had left it when we put it in the shipping container: a bit scraped up and in need of fuel, water, and rear brakes. Another forum friend offered his relatively-flat driveway for allowing us to change out the brakes and fix our water leak, so we took him up on that offer.
Some of the water damage.
After some wonderful sleep back in our comfy bed, we went to visit family in town and then started our slog northward to escape the heat. We discovered why everyone wants to live directly on the coast, as soon as you get past a hill that blocks the ocean breeze, the temperature rises from 60s to 100s. Driving from LA to Bakersville and past, we experienced that change from 65 to 109 and back again in less than hour!
We stayed on Relay Ridge that night and watched the sun rise over a sea of clouds, making islands of hills.
We made a beeline to San Francisco, where we met another forum friend and exchanged ideas on builds. Then went northward again. They had given us 3 suggestions on cool places to check out, and we had planned to start in Mendocino NF and hit them up. But, when we got to Lucerne, CA, near Clear Lake, the smoke was too bad for us. We tried to get to higher elevation, to see if that would help, but not seeing it ease much, we decided it was best to move on. It was a good thing too! As we drove out, we saw a small fire on the side of the road that had looked like it had just started. Fire fighters were already on the scene, protecting the nearby buildings. The next morning, we found out that entire valley had been evacuated. And, as the days went on, we found out that it was to become the largest fire in CA history.
Next day we made it to the Lost Coast State Park, which had been recommended to us. Supposedly this is a very popular multi-day hike. The name comes from the fact that the coast is very nearly inaccessible. You have to enter from the north or the south, or at one small part in the middle. The middle part is barely accessible by road because of the steep mountains that block the way. However, as we spent time there, I did wonder if the name might have something to do with the fact that you can’t see the coast most of the time because of cloud buildup along it…
There were these pretty trees with peeling red bark and bright green skin.
We had blue skies here, but we could see the smoke encroaching in the distance.
You can see the leading end of the smoke cloud on the left in this picture.
The Lost Coast, again shrouded in clouds.
Ooohh! A peak at the coastline!
Jonathan had a snake pass in front of him as we left the summit.
Slightly different peeling bark.
On our way out, we passed through the Humboldt Redwoods forest.
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