Day 48 – May 21

As we had a long drive ahead of us to our planned stop for the night close to the Oregon border we we moving by 8:30. We were greeted by a beautiful clear morning as we hit the coast. This was the scenery we had been hoping for on our drive along the southern part of the California coastal highway. Although we could see fog banks far off shore, the coast was bathed in sunlight and we had a great panorama of the aqua blue water crashing against the coastal cliffs. In combination with the the vast array of beautiful blooming wild flowers it was hard to focus on the road ahead.

I can see clearly now

After several stops to admire and photograph the many views and after having passed through several of the pristine communities that line the highway we arrived in Mendocino. Mendocino was founded in the 1850s as a fishing village by fishermen from New England who, along with their trade, brought their architectural aesthetic. The gabled roofs and brightly painted shingled walls stood in stark contrast to the monochromatic communities of Sea Ranch that we had passed through a couple of days earlier.

Mendocino

Although now primarily a tourist destination Mendocino has not allowed this change in vocation to overtake its self respect and as we explored the shops and galleries that lined its streets we were impressed with not only the quality of the goods but the understated presentations in the store fronts. We spent some time exploring the town and having found a coffee shop with wifi we took the opportunity to send off an update email to our San Francisco contingent and to hastily update the blog which did have some typo and grammar issues at the time (one of the downsides to retirement is that I don’t have Mary to check my work any more) .

Leaving Mendocino we continued north towards the Red Wood forest that was our planned destination for the night, encountering dozens of oncoming cyclists on the twisting and hilly roads, some of whom had resorted to walking their bikes up the long, steep inclines. Again, as the day before, there was not a lot of traffic on this road, due largely I’m sure to the slow pace that can be maintained, so the slower pace of our vehicles as we rubber necked our way along the coast was not causing a back up.

As we approached the late afternoon we realized that our target of the Red Wood Forest was a bit ambitious so we checked our maps and found Patrick’s Point State Park, just south of Orick, to spend the night. Nestled in a cedar and red wood forest right on the coast the dry camping sites were well protected from the apparently incessant on-shore wind that makes this coast such a surfers paradise.

The beauty of dry camping sites is that there is no set up time, if the site is level you just park and you are done, so we decided to take a walk down to the beach. We dressed for the cool weather and the aforementioned wind but were pleasantly surprised to find that a nearby headland protected us from the worst of the wind as we unsuccessfully combed the beach for the agates it was named for. However there were great piles of sand worn driftwood that provided endless amusement as we identified various creatures amongst their smooth shapes. Jane’s find of a an iconic Canadian beaver warranted its return trip to the LRT.

Patrick’s State Park beach

As the sun set we returned to the BRT dining room to sample a fresh tomato and basil tart cooked perfectly by Diane in our propane oven. Followed with a slice of Mendocino’s finest pecan pie topped with a scoop of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream we brought an end to another great day.