A good buddy of mine reached out in early July and said “hey Dan, want to come on a ride I’m putting on?” I really enjoyed the run I did up to Fort Bragg earlier in the season and figured, “why not?” Another North coast run would be fun. Plus, we are going a good bit further.
The original plan was to do Stewart’s Point Skaggs Springs Road and up to Fortuna, but that seemed to be a lot of riding for my sixth sense, so I suggested we swap Stewart’s Point Skaggs Springs Road for Highway 128. The road is a little shorter, and traffic flows more quickly, which will shave more than an hour off of seat time. Plus, that puts us in Fort Bragg for lunch, which has many more food options!
A quick Yelp search brought us to Noyo Fish Company: right on the harbor! The food and scenery could not have been better. When ordering the fish tacos, I thought about Bay Area sizing and pricing, which was not the case here. Two tacos would have left me plenty full – three was absolutely stuffing!
The Avenue of the Giants is one of California’s truly spectacular places. We arrived in the late afternoon when the sun’s rays were long and the fog was beginning to creep in. Over the trip we rode the Avenue of the Giants three times and the pictures below highlight the diversity of light.
I LOVE EEL RIVER BREWING COMPANY. I don’t know how else to say it. This place is truly amazing. Sure, after a long day of riding, just about any food will taste good – but this place is far beyond that. The location is an easy walk from several hotels in the area, making it easy to have a drink and dinner without being on your motorcycle. The food truly is good, and the beer is fantastic. Eel River is America’s first certified organic brewery with a patio that brings North Coast elements into the dining experience.
I remember checking in with the receptionist at the hotel and asking if it was going to rain on Saturday. She laughed at me and said, “No way! It doesn’t rain that early in the season here.” All of the weather gods and weather stations were pointing to rain on Saturday – but sometimes, local guidance does reign supreme.
Apparently not. It rained overnight. It rained this morning. And it would rain the whole ride ahead of us.
Today’s destination was Shelter Cove. We got turned around on the way in and wound up on Old Bryceland Road rather than Bryceland Road down to Shelter Cove. The road was gravelly, had lots of potholes, and plenty of no trespassing signs demanding visitors like us keep to ourselves in these parts. Apparently, you don’t move to the North Coast to bring in lots of visitors.
All of us noted the lumber on this guy’s truck coming into town. Why have a chrome bumper on your truck when there’s a perfectly good piece of redwood to serve the same function, LOL 🙂
We wound our way down to Shelter Cove, and having done this ride a few times before, I was surprised by how challenging today’s ride was. I don’t have much experience in the rain, and my experience was either on straight roads or in a loop I knew exceptionally well. The steep climbs, hard turns, mud, and steady rainfall did throw me for a loop. They aren’t conditions I regularly ride in, so it took more out of me than I expected.
We had dinner at the Bear River Casino, perched on the hill. Looking out to the west, the weather we had just ridden through all day was clearly evident. Three of us did the True Grit ride out to Shelter Cove. The other two caught a break in the weather, road to Ferndale, and then went back to the hotel – dry.
While the views are beautiful, I can’t recommend the restaurant at Bear River Casino. Looking around our table, the food looked very much reheated rather than cooked from simple ingredients.
The return route on the Avenue of the Giants afforded beautiful morning light!
We also had a diverse crew across all of the different bikes on the ride!
As we made our way out to the coast, conditions unsurprisingly started deteriorating at certain altitudes. I remember seeing a photograph called “The Stormy Rider,” picturing a motorcyclist riding his bike in truly tough conditions. That photo made an impression on me as a rider and photographer – always looking for an opportunity to create something similar, but my own.
The three of us were headed south, wandering down the Northern California Coast, dipping in and out of the thick fog as the road tickled across the terrain all the way home
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