Fake pigmy trees and real redwoods

Last night’s B&B in Mendocino was the first place with wi-fi we encountered in a couple days so we took our time to enjoy breakfast, send emails etc..


The ride today was brilliant. We went through all sorts of scenery and types of roads. We started by going back South a little to see a Pigmy Forest we read about in a guide book. We were told to expect – no, not very short native americans who feed on French flesh – a whole forest of very very little trees. The problem with pigmy trees is that they look just the same as…well…saplings..The whole thing was pretty anti-climactic and to be honest I got more excited about finding a last piece of gum in the bottom of my tank bag…


The coolest was probably the last stretch of Highway 1, which took us deep into forest covered mountains, the road winding all directions in and out fom under the canopy of trees.


We eventually got to Highway 101, a ‘freeway’ as the yanks call it, and had to bid farewell to Highway 1, the sea-side road we’d been on since the very start in Big Sur. We exited 101 after a while to take its scenic parallel, Avenue of Giants. It runs through a giant redwood forest, and through part of Humbolt National park. I won’t try to describe it, have a look at the photos we took, I hope it’ll give you an idea of how huge the trees are and how atmospheric the area is.


So as it turns out, we’re ahead of schedule. We pushed on to Arcata tonight, a pretty cool college town full of students, crusty dropouts and ex-hippies.


We’re not too sure what we’ll do tomorrow. We might drive on and use the spare time to go white water rafting in a few days…


Neil, sorry to hear you’re going through withdrawal. I left you a photo in today’s album. You should be able to guess which one it is, I’m showing off my tan, as requested. You’re welcome.

Photos day 6: