In Search Of Bigfoot on Valentine's Day

Eric and I went up north for a 4-day Valentine's celebration. Well, we don't celebrate Valentine's Day itself, it was more of a celebration of our first date 20 years ago

Our first stop was the Samoa Cookhouse for breakfast...



This place used to be the cookhouse for a huge lumbermill in the company-owned town of Samoa near Eureka. They'd feed all the workiers at once, then send them back to work. It still looks pretty much the same as it did back in the day...



You get whatever they're serving on that day, and they'll keep bringing you more of whatever you want. Today it was sausage and eggs, biscuits and gravy, killer potatoes, toasted homemade bread, a pitcher of orange juice and a pot of coffee...





Next stop was the hotel in Arcata. Well, whaddaya know...there was a huge bathtub in the room...




I figured this was as good a place as any to try and catch a glimpse of the elusive Bigfoot...




Well, we didn't see him on the road, and we didn't see him on the Klamath River, either...






This road was a lot of fun, but still no Bigfoot...




No Bigfoot sightings on the Klamath, so we moved on to the Salmon River...




Pulled over to check out the view...




And saw this uncomfortable hunk of metal...





I wonder what the story was? Did someone jam themselves under a guardrail here and leave it as an offering to the moto-gods after he was done with it?

No more guardrails here, only wet funky pavement with gravel and stuff in the road. Solid rock on one side and a "sure death" drop down to the river on the other...whee!!











More to come...




WoodsChick

We found a really steep rocky road down off the main road we were on, and it took us to a killer campspot...





We scouted around a bit and found a nice place to have lunch...







Mmm...hot coffee and lasagne...





We decided to explore the area a bit more before climbing back up to the road. There were mining claim signs everywhere, but no Bigfoot, and it looked as though nobody had been down there in awhile...





No matter how much you wish it to be true, no matter the strength of your desires, street tires simply do not work as well as knobbies, especially in wet grass...



Luckily I fell over onto the big mossy rock and didn't have to heave the beast too far...



We continued on down the road to Forks of the Salmon and hung a left...




Ran across 2 graves by the side of the road...




This sign was posted in betwen them...






More to come...






WoodsChick

Well I'll have to go back a look at all the picture again...cuz right now I just have to ask about your "Husky Jacket"

Is it new? Looks like the one that was offered by Husky last year?

Well????

Yep, that be the one

Now, riding around on a Husqvarna SM610 has a pretty high "Hey everybody!! Look at me!!" factor already, but it gets ratcheted up to 11 when wearing that bright red jacket I'm almost embarrassed to wear it



WoodsChick

Well if you really don't like it...I'll give you my address up here in Canada...

Oh no...I like it just fine I just feel extremely conspicuous riding down the road while wearing it

And I probably won't be selling it anytime soon, as I had a friend of mine shorten the sleeves about 6"...and no, I'm not kidding




WoodsChick

Lots of dirt in them thar hills...



Oops...














The post office in the booming metropolis of downtown Sawyers Bar...




This graveyard was wedged between the hillside and the road...





Some of the gravestones were on the hillsides by themselves...




More to come. I gotta go watch the Olympics




WoodsChick

Beautimus maximus ride.

Thanks, Dirtdame! Nothing too exciting, I suppose, but it was stunningly beautiful out there! I can't wait to go back in the summer and do some bike camping. It's in a fairly remote spot wedged between 3 wilderness areas and I've heard it doesn't get much traffic at all, even in the summer

I know! Eric's got an actual honest-to-God smile on his face...can you believe it?? See, he really is enjoying himself

Good eye on the mirrors. I got `em at Motostrano for $36, they're the Elysium mirrors and they don't move or vibrate at all...
http://www.motostrano.com/elmip.html

I must say, I do like the way my bike looks in its running shoes. Much sexier than its hiking boots, for sure. Although, the tires I had on there for this trip could be considered trail runners, not the serious running shoes I'd run a race in




WoodsChick

That's hilarious!

No wonder I didn't see him; he's too busy tweeting



WoodsChick

We found a nice spot to hang down by the river...



Red and green sure go together nicely...






Water water everywhere...





I know, I know..."not another boring picture of a road"
Sorry, but these roads were incredibly delicious. This is the reason the moto-gods gave us supermoto bikes, folks...





Anyway, the sun was setting on us pretty fast and we had a long way to go to get back to the villa. We high-tailed it all the way back without stopping (gotta love that Renazco seat...) and arrived long after sunset.

We hit up the market and loaded up for Valentine's dinner in our room: fresh cracked crab, 2 lbs of clams (steamed in the van with wine, butter, garlic) sourdough baguette with homemade bleu cheese dip, Caesar salad and a bottle of wine Dessert was Cherry Garcia frozen yogurt and a bubble bath

Hard to believe it's been 20 years since I shared my first kiss with this man...






Still more to come...but I'm almost done, I promise!




WoodsChick

We had a real rainy miserable day the next day so we spent it goofing off on the beaches in our rain gear. All the TV stations were broadcasting high surf warnings so we felt it was appropriate to go to the beach We saw a huge herd of Roosevelt elk, too, but it was raining too hard to take a photo.

Trinidad...




Big Lagoon...




The next day was absolutely stellar! (You won't know that, though, because I forgot my camera )Sunny and very spring-like. We took Branscomb Road out to the coast, but it was socked in and freezing so we blasted back over the hill and headed east. The last time I rode Branscomb was over 23 years ago before it was completely paved. Kinda crazy stuff for a new rider on a new streetbike loaded down with camping gear.

Eric took a few photos with his camera, though. Burger Creek Bridge on Dos Rios Road...



Looking down at the Eel River from above Dos Rios...



We crossed the river and headed up Poonkinney Road. Huge loads of fun! The narrowest paved road I've ever been on! It turned to dirt way too soon, but was still great fun. We went over the hill and dropped down into Round Valley in search of fuel and food. We found both...



The last time I was in Covelo was probably 20 years ago. The hotel in town used to be a restaurant but it looks like it's been closed and abandoned for about, oh...20 years. I must be getting old...

This place grinds their own burger and each one is 1/2lb. Excellent fries, too! The cook was proud of his burgers and came out to ask us how our meal was. We gave him a huge Real nice people there, too...



We gassed up and hit 162 outta town. This road is a ripper, and it felt good to stretch our legs after being on dirt and gravelly wet pavement with huge drop-offs and such. We stopped off and spent some time on the Eel River...



We spent most of our time trying to figure out how to get to the abandoned railroad tracks across the river. We've ridden these tracks before, much further north, and it was a rockin' good time...



If you've never ridden abandoned railroad tracks, I highly recommend it

We blasted back to Laytonville and loaded up for the ride home. We had a great time in NorCal and we're really looking forward to hitting it up again once the days get longer, warmer and dryer.


Thanks for coming along with me!




WoodsChick

What a beautiful valley. Here it is only Feb. and that place is so green. Everything up here (in the interior) is still quite brown. I guess once you get closer to the ocean things do get greener.
There aren't to many abandon tracks around here. But I have rode on some back east. Your right lots of fun.

Great report Woodies. Always a pleasure riding with you and Eric. (from my PC seat)

So....when Del stopped to take a whizz, he thought of this?