6/29
I made the last 30 miles to the Pacific Ocean and Crescent City, California today. End of story.
Friday evening beers at the Patrick Creek Lodge yesterday felt like a homecoming to a place I had never been – it felt like happy hour at Garnet Hill Lodge. The patrons were local fishing guides and they all knew each other’s story. I was welcomed. The lodge even has the feel of GHL; it was built in the 1920s and has a similar added dining terrace. But the crowd was sparse, and the owner looked nervously at all the elegantly set but empty dining tables on a summer Friday evening.
This morning, I took my time breaking camp for the last time and hit the Redwood Highway traffic at around eight. It was a pretty run through the Smith River canyon, making frequent picture stops and pulling over to let traffic by on the narrow stretches. I don’t want any motorist to have to choose between a head on with a truck coming round a bend and a soft target like a cyclist.
Fifteen miles down the road, I left the Redwood Highway for the actual redwood trees on the Howland Hill Road through the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. Unpacked, but hard packed and easy rolling, I was soon lost in the winding way through redwood trunks. For the trunks are all you can take in at once. Or the tops, but that makes you dizzy on a bike.
I stopped at Stout Grove for a slow stroll around the redwood path, among other travelers equally awestruck and silently reverential. The peaceful timelessness of that place will stick with me for a long time.
Back on Howland Hill Road, I went as slow as I could, coasting the flat stretches, braking down the hills, slow pedaling the rises. Unlike the cornfields of the Midwest, the mountain passes of the Rockies, and the sage deserts of the Great Basin, I did not really want to reach the other end of this forest.
But after one last rise, Howland Hill Road burst out of the redwoods onto pavement, and down the tight curves of the steep descent I caught my first glimpses of the blue rim of the Pacific Ocean. I stopped to take a picture, then as it sunk in that I had ridden ocean to ocean across a continent I laughed out loud and whooped, though there was no one to hear my solitary exultations.
At the bottom of the hill, a herd of elk grazed lazily near the intersection of Highway 101. I took my time getting to the beach, riding first to the Crescent Beach Overlook, before riding down to Crescent Beach itself, stripping off my bike shoes, and dipping my tires in the wash of the Pacific Ocean, where I sat contemplating the western horizon for an hour before the afternoon fog rolled in.
Congratulations!!!!!!!
LikeLike
Congratulations – Meeting the 3,000 year Redwoods on the edge of the Pacific is a lesson in ecological sustainability and evolution in itself. Doing so after the biking is extraordinary. I have often (but not enough) walked with and lived among the coast redwoods…since there is an evolutionary time beyond today and tomorrow, the vastest of the ocean and stillness of the redwood groves will anchor it. Thanks Karl, for all you do, in this blog and your trans-continental exploration, and in building our programs at Pace University’s Law School and our Environmental Litigation Clinic. We are a thousand fold in your debt. Nick Robinson (writing from Wellfleet, out in the Atlantic, where Thoreau said one can stand and put all of America behind oneself…and be one with evolution)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sorry for very late reply but CONGRATS! That is amazing.
LikeLike
Bless you! So happy to see you arrive.
>
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congratulations on meeting your goal. I am really going to miss your blogs. I looked forward to them daily. Thanks for sharing your trip.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a monumental achievement. Congratulations, Karl, on having the vision and stamina to make it through. I hope this epic trek eventually ends up on the NYT bestseller list where it can inspire even more people-
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congratulations!!!! What an accomplishment!!! I’ve really enjoyed reading about your journey…thanks for taking us with you!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi, This needs more comments so I’m gonna leave one! I didn’t follow your journey and I just saw someone retweeting you now, but this is an amazing accomplishment. So much respect (and envy) for what you’ve done. Keep the cadence, friend.
LikeLike
A great achievement, Karl. Looking forward to the book!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Holy Cow, you did it Carl!! Safe travels home🌻 From your Garnet Hill friends. Ellen Deprey
LikeLiked by 1 person