2024 Range of Light – Day 2 to Laytonville

I always get a chuckle wondering if ride planners get a kick out of bringing the group to far, out-of-the-way places. In the 2012 Range Of Light, the ride organizers ended the ride in Yreka, all the way at the top of California. This year was a similar motion in Klamath. We are at the same latitude, just on the western side of the state rather than in the center.

Fortunately, going home was part of the ride, making the Sunday finale a much easier proposition than a long freeway ride home. So here we are: Klamath, California – just 7 miles out of Crescent City and about 300 miles north of San Francisco.

I’ve been a big fan of Pashnit’s work forever. He is one of the most extensive libraries of California roads I’ve ever seen. One in particular, Bald Hills Road, has always caught my eye in this neck of the woods. Since it’s so far from home, I haven’t yet been able to ride it. Now, Bald Hills is in my backyard. I didn’t know many of the riders on the Range of Light, and of those that I came across, none were interested in venturing outside of the preplanned route. The north coast outside of Crescent City is a sight to see with it’s rugged good looks and very few people!

As I was getting gas, I asked one of the locals about the condition of the road. Smack dab in the middle is a 3 mile dirt section that I wanted to learn about. The other person gave me a forlorn look and mentioned, “Don’t go there. A buddy of mine saw a chainsaw in the middle of the road, got out of his truck, and was a victim of an armed robbery. Plus, the dirt section is rough.” I nodded in defeat, knowing that the right answer was to take the freeway south with the rest of the group. Bald Hills is also on indigenous land which can have slightly different norms and customs for visitors – so I passed going solo for that reason as well.

It was time to explore the Redwood Country with Bald Hills out of the picture. There are a few great areas to see redwoods in the state. Over the past few weekends, I’ve hit almost all of them. What did I learn? Where should you go? In priority order:

Mattole Road in Humboldt Redwoods State Park – the most intimate road tightly mixed in the trees. Dan’s favorite! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Avenue of the Giants – a 31-mile road that runs parallel to Highway 101 with plenty of on and off points and a gift store. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Newton B. Drury Scenic Route (pictures below) – a 10 mile road with some nice groves, but not as intense as the first two. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Richardson Grove along Highway 101 – A nice way to wet your palette heading north, but the traffic on 101 takes away from the majesty of the trees. ⭐️⭐️

The Newton B. Drury scenic alternate inside of Redwood National Park feels very different in the Avenue of the Giants. The foliage is definitely thicker in the trees are much closer to the ocean. It was raining today in the water definitely made the forest, live in ways that I’d not seen the past couple of weekends.

Pushing further south out of Redwood National Park, I was surprised to see so many elk in the area. I didn’t expect these beautiful animals to be so far south in Northern California! While I expected to see them out in the fields, I didn’t expect to see them all huddled next to a charging station. When I arrived, there were near 100 humans crowding around the 30 or so elk sitting under the redwoods. Eventually, the Park Service scattered all of the people and left the elk.

Ferndale is a quaint Victorian town nestled amongst the redwoods in Humboldt County. The town sits right next to California’s Lost Coast – a remote, virtually untouched section of coastline. The Victorian charm shows up all through town and the weather could not have been better on a glorious Sunday afternoon.

I had lunch at Tuyas Mexican restaurant and Cantina. The food was solid and the price was more than reasonable. I could tell the staff was a touch overwhelmed with the number of Labor Day visitors blowing through town. A little bit of patience and empathy goes a long way in these moments. Plus, it was a fantastic day to be sitting outside and enjoying the holiday weekend.

I’ve done the Lost Coast a number of times in my motorcycling career – and it’s truly fantastic. Each time I went, the ride always had a common thread: gray skies and cool weather. This trip could not have been more different. The weather was fully sunny, and the coastline was alive with experience. It felt like riding through the area in an entirely different level of resolution. The pavement has degraded over the years, with lots of gravel and deep potholes dotting the pavement throughout the drive. It didn’t take away from the experience. Just a hard thunk and a squirrely rear wheel every once in a while.

I wanted to take a few moments soaking in the coastline as it’s rare I get up to this part of California and truly have a solitary experience out on the coast. A few minutes later, another caravan of bikes rolled up. Since it was getting late in the day, I asked the other convoy of riders about their adventures. The ride lead talked about a fantastic road that was a mixture of pavement and dirt, these amazing hills, and a 30-mile stretch of Highway 96 with absolutely glorious twisties. You could see the smile radiating from his face and my own heart. I asked him, “Was that Bald Hills Rd.?” His whole face perked up and exclaimed, “Yes!”

My heart sank a bit as his experience in my guidance at the gas station this morning couldn’t have been more different. Maybe both could have been true. Maybe the person at the gas station didn’t want more tourists on the road he found special. Maybe his friend had a coincidentally bad experience. Either way, I was going to get back there somehow and bring friends with me.

I get the sense this area is a relatively new beach, geologically speaking with its rocky shoreline and notable black sands. This ain’t Florida!

The late afternoon was a lazy freeway ride back down to Laytonville. All 300 of us BMW riders took over the county park with tents all over the baseball field. I give massive kudos to the ride organizers for their beer cooler. It’s an awesome piece of engineering!