the second part of the last post

continued from last post.........We changed our route a bit to get south of the rain. I did not wear my rain gear, and I didn’t get very wet either. Chad comes over the radio and asked if I could find a site with a view of the ocean that it would be good. While looking for chad site nate and I had some near death experiences (always watch where you are going when riding on a narrow road with a large chasm to one side). Anyway after going around a gate to find an amazing campsite (with a view of the ocean I might add). 

sausage that Daveys sent along with us

my camp dinner of mash tators sausage and a beagle

camptsite

a banana slug right out side my tent/hammock

getting around in the morning

i road to the top of a ridge and looked back at the guys way down

looking out at the pacific ocean from on top the ridge

headed down from campsite in the morning

It either was the heaviest dew that I ever saw or it rained a bit. Either way I had my hammock on the round be cause there was no trees around. I stayed dry but I don’t like sleeping on the ground at all. Anyways I awoke to look out my front door to a massive slug crawling around. Sick. So we after enjoying our view and nate and chad worked on chads bike a bit we headed out and down rt 101 and towards crater lake. We had one of our best camp sites though not very private, we did camp along a rushing creek that was begging to be kayaked, and some very large redwoods. As it was nates birthday we sang a little ditty for him, had some good talks about respecting each other among other things.

nate looking at his bike in disgust

some good roads. i think RT 1

cooking up a storm

to chilly fog on the way to crater lake

In the morning we headed for Crater Lake. It was cool and getting colder as we climbed up through the foggy roads. Once at the lake we paid our fee to get in and then sat and waited for a while well they used a helicopter to lift a truck out of the lake that had slid in a few days before. We snapped a few pics got some stickers for the bags and headed out as it was still on the chilly side. 

some little crater we saw

We headed for the place I was looking forward to the most. The giant redwoods. It was sweeter then I remembered them being. As we drove through and around the massive trees it was impossible not to feel small. It was also impossible to capture even a hint of there majesty with some piddly little camera. Though I tried over and over again to no avail. 

one word: BUFFET!! and no it wasn't a food chain

the twisties

redwoods

more trying to no avail

We had planed on camping in the redwoods only to find the campsite cost over $35 plus $8 a motorcycle! Oh and the camp ground was full. So we headed to the out skirts of the national park and up some little paved road with some crazy semi drivers ripping around like they were in race cars. We hunted around for a bit to find a spot to camp when all the sudden we found a small logging road that headed down into the valley. Bingo, I was sure we had found a winner. We had a number of casualties on the way down. Laban did a slow motion dump in a little bit of slimmy mud, and while looking over my shoulder to watch him go down I ran my bike up a small bank and tipped over as well. Dwayne soon followed suit with a drop in the same spot as laban. After a bunch more rain runoff ditches and some sparks off chads bags we made it to the end of the road.

nap time!

a little slim

dwayne in a little slim

Literally to road ended in a bit of a flatish spot that we decided was good enough. I had to scail a small cliff to get to trees that might be of any use for my hammock, since the night before I had slept on the ground (if you can call it sleeping) and woke up stiff and sore I was set on using my hammock as it was intended to be used. Which in this case meant getting a running start to get up the very steep and probably 15 to 20 foot high bank. Then clearing enough dead trees to have room for my hammock, all while on the steepest hill I have set my hammock up on. It was a bit interesting and after a bit of huffing and puffing I had things set up. After returning to base level for some fine dinning and chats, it took me not once, not twice, but three tries to get back up to my sleeping quarters in the dark. Once I had arrived and weaseled my way into my cocoon all I could think about was that mountain lion sitting and watching me till I was sounds asleep. And as there was nothing for me to do but try and sleep and hope that the thin layer of bug netting would keep the sharp toothed kitty away. After a nights sleep and almost rolling down the steep bank during my little midnight adventure to got tinkle tinkle little star, I awoke to the sun shining and packed all my stuff up and tossed it down the bank as I had no desire to scamper up there again. 

my perch

We had a quick breakfast and headed up the trail stopping to video people falling over, ok so it was just Dwayne this time we continued up the trail only to have laban ummm shall we say “tip” his bike over the edge of the road. It took all of us one and a half hours to set her on the road again but with some team work and a lot of grunting and groaning she was ready to continue on.

the rescue

not very impressed with himself

So this marked the beginning of my most favorite day of riding. With a late start we headed on south ward. We road on the avenue of the giants that was amazing.........to be continued...........