Time sure has flown by this winter. I planned to get this final Pacific Coast Highway post up weeks ago, and failed miserably. I guess I was distracted- southern Arizona will do that.

Anyway, we’re in our final week here in the desert and plan to head northeast this coming weekend. Need to get caught up!

Thursday, January 30th was the last day we’d be spending exploring the Pacific Coast Highway (CA1). We stayed the previous evening in Santa Rosa, planning to make the beach at Manchester State Park, two hours away, our first stop as we tracked further north along the coast. 

The first part of that ride was an unremarkable one along CA101. The fun really began when we reached Boonville and turned onto Mountain View Road, which we’d follow for about 60 miles until we reached the coast.

We’ve transited some challenging roads in our travels, but Mountain View Road was quite the surprise. I knew from studying the route we would have to cross some hills and small mountains, but I wasn’t prepared for the incredible winding of this road. Very tight turns all the way, both uphill and down. Not much margin for error, as the shoulders were quite narrow when they existed at all. There were few guardrails as well. I think the speed was posted at 50MPH, but I don’t think I exceeded 30MPH across the entire road. Fortunately the weather was dry and the traffic light!

It was mid-morning by the time we reached Manchester State Park. While the day was dry, there were a lot of clouds in the sky. It was a gray day by the seashore. The temperature was comfortable in the high 50s/ low 60s, and there wasn’t much wind. We found the parking lot behind the seaside dunes and hopped out to see the beach.

The beach was obscured by a high dune that needed to be climbed or walked around to the north. Once that was negotiated the Pacific Ocean was there as expected. The water was fairly calm, with Point Arena lighthouse visible to the south.

The beach was deserted save for us, and the mid-tide waves made good noise. Not too loud, but noticeable. Here’s a short video:

Wife and I spent the remainder of the morning cruising north, watching the surf meet the sand. We traveled through Elk, Mendocino and some other small places before landing at Fort Bragg, where we figured it was time for lunch.

After driving around the small and touristy downtown area a bit, we decided to stop at Cucina Verona. Wife had a meatball sandwich while I opted for the beet salad. Both meals were good, as was the service. A perfect break from the road.

Before continuing north, we stopped by Glass Beach. This is an interesting place, and is located within the Fort Bragg downtown area. There’s plenty of parking by the short trail that heads down to the rocky bluffs by the ocean. It was pretty down there, and we met an interestingly colored squirrel.

The day got a little bit brighter as we continued our way north. Traffic was extremely sparse now, and the towns and settled areas we passed through were very small. The PCH was still hugging the coast, and on several occasions cut inland a touch to drop down and then climb out of a ravine. We also passed through several construction sites dealing with slides. Fortunately there weren’t any road closures.

Shortly after we passed Rockport CA1 turned northeast, and began the traverse of the hills and mountains as it headed inland. The tree-lined road was full of hairpin curves and twists, but a much better road than the morning’s drive along Mountain View Road. We spent some time following logging trucks transporting very large logs. I’d never seen this type of logging truck before. The rear wheel carriage was not attached to the tractor directly. The logs themselves connected the tractor to the wheel truck in the back. The logs were redwoods. Very big logs.

And redwoods were the last thing on our itinerary for this day. We planned to close the day visiting the stately evergreens along the Avenue of the Giants, and then continue on to Eureka for the evening.

Once out of the hills CA1 deposited us back on the 101 in Leggett. We followed that road north, and the further we went, the more redwoods we saw. They seemed to get larger and taller along the way, too. Eventually we came upon the exit for the Avenue of the Giants, and we left the 101 to drive amongst the big redwoods. Here’s a short video:

We stopped at several turnouts along this road. It never strayed far from CA101, which we planned to return to for the ride into Eureka.

Those trees are huge!

This brings to a close the most enjoyable part of this winter’s California sojourn. Aside from the PCH, I wasn’t very impressed with the state (again). It is exceedingly, and oftentimes unreasonably expensive and full of overly aggressive drivers. Driving along the roads in the populated, congested areas, as well as along the heavily trafficked Interstates the odor of marijuana was very prevalent. In fact, it was noticeable when we didn’t smell it. We enjoyed a couple good meals along the way, but most of the food was unremarkable. The Mexican food in Arizona is better, I think. 

I’m glad we made the trip, for we’d had planned it for many years. I’m also glad it’s done.

We completed our trip back to Arizona through Nevada. I may be posting something about that soon- there were some interesting moments!