On the way to Oregon

We had considered staying in Arcata a couple days but promptly decided we’d seen one too many 60 year old hobo ranting to himself…so we changed our itinerary instead and kept on travelling north on the 101, which allowed us to cross all of Redwoods National Park.
Even after a couple day riding on the Redwood Highway there’s no way you can become blaze about the giant redwoods and sequoias. We got to see some elk too, although as I passer-by commented, it was hard to choose whether to watch the elks or watch the yanks watching the elks..


It was quite a long ride and we’d decided we would either push to Crescent City or some 100 miles more to Grant’s Pass, Oregon.
The few places we crossed on the way weren’t boding well as they consistedd mostly of a run-down ‘inn’ and petrol stations full of big mulleted yokels who musn’t have many distant cousins. I was a little apprehensive at the thought of stayings in one of those hotels, locking ourselves in the bathroom for fear of being woken up at night by the Deliverance The Movie Appreciation Society.
The we got to Crescent City and in fairness, it wasn’t much better. We’d emerged out of the forest to find ourselves back on the sea-shore, a dense fog not adding much to the atmosphere of the long strip of grimy-looking family sea-food joints and big chain motels that is or seems to be Crescent City.


So..we decided to drive on to Grant’s Pass, a place made famous by some lad manoeuvre carried out by the US Army General and which afforded him a victory against the Confederates.
Speaking of Confederates…one of the bumber stickers we saw earlier that day might illustrate the mood a bit more: it featured a Dixie flag and the words: “Heritage, Not Hate”. Clearly not mutually exclusive in some cases.


Anyway, as gloom was settling in, the road took us up and up into the moutains…and out of the fog. And then right above it. We stopped on the road-side where I’d imagine that normally you’d be peering over a cliff and down at the sea but all we could see at our feet was this canopy of clouds, extending in front and to either side of us all the way to the horizon. I hope the photos do justice to the view because it was one the coolest things I’ve ever seen, like looking out of a plane window above cloud level, but at your feet.


A few miles further, as the scenery was getting increasing alpine we decided to stop at this great little lodge in the forest, at a bend in a river called Gasket. The other guests were very friendly and we finished off the day with half a cow’s worth of steak and a good few beers in great company.


After yet another eggs and bacon breakfast – yum yum – we drove on to Grant’s Pass, possibly the world’s hottest town. So hot that we hid all day in the cinema for the air conditioning. We decided to stay here tonight..because tomorrow: we’re white-water rafting!

Photos day 7: