Saturday, June 03, 2006
Redwoods Highway
Wow, I didn't think it could get much better than yesterday on the PCH, but traveling the Redwood Highway, really did upstage the PCH. It was fantastic!!!
I started out early from Ukiah and headed north on Hwy 101. At Willets, I entered the Redwood Highway, upon which I would remain for most of the day - what an incredible road! It takes you through redwood forests that look like they've been there for eons, untouched by man -except for the road. Sometimes these monster trees are within a foot of the road as if to say,"I've been here longer than you and I'll be here long after you're gone..." This isn't a road for beginners because if you blow a turn, you buy a tree and the tree is gonna win.
In the forests, I lost GPS reception more than a few times because of the canopy, only to regain it again in the open areas. No matter, there weren't too many options as to where to go...
In a lot of cases, the road follows a river, it being the lowest part of the valley, so you are winding down ther valleys with these huge granite(?) walls and monstrous trees surrounding you. Makes you feel a bit insignificant, to say the least. These forests have been here forever, but you're only a visitor in time.
As you follow the river on the older sections of road, you begin to wonder how in the world someone actually decided to bulid a road, decide on the construction details and then actually build the damn thing. I've thought the same thoughts about railroads and the incredible man-hours that were needed to build these infrastructure pieces that glued this country together. Because of these thoughts, I'm planning to read a little more into the history of railroad building and road building to see how they really did do it. Without a doubt some of the small towns and villages along the way are a result of exhausted road and railroad builders who were simply too tired to continue.
In some areas, you can see where the road has been "improved", upgraded to Interstate quality - I call it being "sanitized" because the really tough corners are gone and a lot of the interesting sections are gone. The Redwood Highway does still incorporate parts of the original road (as far as I can tell, anyway) because the road again follows the curves of the river (often right next to it) and the curves are tighter and more demanding at todays speeds - but man-o-man are they fun!!! This is what motorcycle "sport-touring" is all about!!! I generally ignore the speed limit signs and use them only as a guide as to how fast or slow I should be going into a corner. If the sign says 15mph, it's pretty sharp and I throttle back, looking for a switchback type of turn; if it says 30mph, It's still a slow corner, but I can usually take that one about 40-45mph with a good: set up for the corner,lean angle, countersteer, watch the vanishing point and when it starts opening up, roll on the throttle again - great fun! So far I've not had any oncoming vehicles get into my lane, but I'm always watching for that as well. You simply cannot run out of a corner because if you do, you'll meet a tree up close and personal - not a good thing. Err on the side of conservative.
However much fun riding these roads are, there is no possible way you can "make time" on them. You can spend hours twisting and turning and be only 50 miles closer to your destination. But in all truth, who cares? The journey IS the destination. If you wanna make time, take the Interstate and be bored to tears - your choice.
Got stamps at Redwood NP near Crescent City and at Cave Junction, OR for Oregon Caves.
Entered Oregon at 1407 local time. My first impressions are not kind. The first five people I saw all were overweight, had rough, scraggly beards, multiple shades of plaid overlaid on each other, long unkempt hair -dirty, agin hippies, IMHO. On top of that, I saw a shooting range advertising "Shoot a REAL Thompson submachine gun!!!" Made me feel really creepy...
All in all, though, this day goes into the memory banks forever along with 1.) Ouray to Durango,CO, 2.)Hwy 8 in from Jackson Hole, WY to Salt Lake City, and 3.) Hwy 160 in southern MO as one of the very best motorcycling road in the country.
Called it quits at Springfield, OR, just outside of Eugene
Some thoughts today about what to do next as this trip starts to wind down...
- Alaska and the Canadian Rockies are definitely on the short list
- another NPT visiting parks I've not seen this year is possible
- 48 states/10 days is a maybe
but there's time to dream about those things this winter.
Daily stats:
odo: 49125
GPS miles: 470.1
Driving average: 56.4 mph
Overall Average: 44.0
Driving time: 8:20
Stopped time: 2:20
Total time: 10:40
Cumulative miles: 8043
Later,
Mike
I started out early from Ukiah and headed north on Hwy 101. At Willets, I entered the Redwood Highway, upon which I would remain for most of the day - what an incredible road! It takes you through redwood forests that look like they've been there for eons, untouched by man -except for the road. Sometimes these monster trees are within a foot of the road as if to say,"I've been here longer than you and I'll be here long after you're gone..." This isn't a road for beginners because if you blow a turn, you buy a tree and the tree is gonna win.
In the forests, I lost GPS reception more than a few times because of the canopy, only to regain it again in the open areas. No matter, there weren't too many options as to where to go...
In a lot of cases, the road follows a river, it being the lowest part of the valley, so you are winding down ther valleys with these huge granite(?) walls and monstrous trees surrounding you. Makes you feel a bit insignificant, to say the least. These forests have been here forever, but you're only a visitor in time.
As you follow the river on the older sections of road, you begin to wonder how in the world someone actually decided to bulid a road, decide on the construction details and then actually build the damn thing. I've thought the same thoughts about railroads and the incredible man-hours that were needed to build these infrastructure pieces that glued this country together. Because of these thoughts, I'm planning to read a little more into the history of railroad building and road building to see how they really did do it. Without a doubt some of the small towns and villages along the way are a result of exhausted road and railroad builders who were simply too tired to continue.
In some areas, you can see where the road has been "improved", upgraded to Interstate quality - I call it being "sanitized" because the really tough corners are gone and a lot of the interesting sections are gone. The Redwood Highway does still incorporate parts of the original road (as far as I can tell, anyway) because the road again follows the curves of the river (often right next to it) and the curves are tighter and more demanding at todays speeds - but man-o-man are they fun!!! This is what motorcycle "sport-touring" is all about!!! I generally ignore the speed limit signs and use them only as a guide as to how fast or slow I should be going into a corner. If the sign says 15mph, it's pretty sharp and I throttle back, looking for a switchback type of turn; if it says 30mph, It's still a slow corner, but I can usually take that one about 40-45mph with a good: set up for the corner,lean angle, countersteer, watch the vanishing point and when it starts opening up, roll on the throttle again - great fun! So far I've not had any oncoming vehicles get into my lane, but I'm always watching for that as well. You simply cannot run out of a corner because if you do, you'll meet a tree up close and personal - not a good thing. Err on the side of conservative.
However much fun riding these roads are, there is no possible way you can "make time" on them. You can spend hours twisting and turning and be only 50 miles closer to your destination. But in all truth, who cares? The journey IS the destination. If you wanna make time, take the Interstate and be bored to tears - your choice.
Got stamps at Redwood NP near Crescent City and at Cave Junction, OR for Oregon Caves.
Entered Oregon at 1407 local time. My first impressions are not kind. The first five people I saw all were overweight, had rough, scraggly beards, multiple shades of plaid overlaid on each other, long unkempt hair -dirty, agin hippies, IMHO. On top of that, I saw a shooting range advertising "Shoot a REAL Thompson submachine gun!!!" Made me feel really creepy...
All in all, though, this day goes into the memory banks forever along with 1.) Ouray to Durango,CO, 2.)Hwy 8 in from Jackson Hole, WY to Salt Lake City, and 3.) Hwy 160 in southern MO as one of the very best motorcycling road in the country.
Called it quits at Springfield, OR, just outside of Eugene
Some thoughts today about what to do next as this trip starts to wind down...
- Alaska and the Canadian Rockies are definitely on the short list
- another NPT visiting parks I've not seen this year is possible
- 48 states/10 days is a maybe
but there's time to dream about those things this winter.
Daily stats:
odo: 49125
GPS miles: 470.1
Driving average: 56.4 mph
Overall Average: 44.0
Driving time: 8:20
Stopped time: 2:20
Total time: 10:40
Cumulative miles: 8043
Later,
Mike
