southern humboldt rides

Yeah, burgers, BBQ type stuff. It was a pretty cool place. Good food. Eclectic vibe. Free bumper stickers.

Finally got my wife, Meredith, to take a ride. We just did The Wildcat down to Petrolia, lunch at the Yellow Rose, then over across Honeydew to Avenue of the Giants and up the back way through Scotia and Rio Dell home. 99 miles. 6 fucking hours. I just absolutely cannot grasp the scale here. 99 miles would have taken me under 90 minutes back home, minus the lunch stop. Granted, we did stop a lot, but still...

I've seen the same two dudes on KLRs on two rides, now. I know they are brothers and live in Fortuna, because I talked to them briefly on Upper Bear River the other day. I think they said their last name was Sanders...? Saw them again today coming over Honeydew. One red KLR, one green KLR. Anyone know them, or are you guys on here?

Do you mean "back east"? To this transplant this is is home now.

Where's that bridge?

Honeydew

Two great choices at this bridge. Hang a right and head over to Shelter Cove, or cross the bridge and go over Panther Gap then down into the Giant Redwood area. Either way and you wont be disappointed, Thanks for posting theses photos MeefZan. I have taken the same route you posted and it took as long or longer, funny how that works.

Lol, yeah I guess. I'm only 7 months here, I still feel out of sorts sometimes.

I think home will always be Ohio, this is just the next step.

It took me a year. Just watch the weather forecasts for next week and beyond. No thanks. I just got a little reminder of back east. A neighbor got a flat and needed a tire changed. The crank down spare tire carrier didn't work and I had to grind the damn thing off. She then told me the truck was from Chicago. I told her I spent the last half century doing shit like that. She is a native here and had no idea of what she was getting when she bought that.

Hah. Ive ridden from Ferndale to ave of giants,up Panther Gap through Honeydew,camped at Mattole Grange hall,then done the unknown coast and the climb back up to Ferndale,about 100 miles only it took 2 days. On road bicycles. Brutal climb on panther gap and up to Ferndale from coast. Local club organizes the ride.
Think Ive done it 5 times,great ride. Sierra Nevada provided beer at Mattole.

I spent a few hours a couple of days ago basically exploring all the "dead end" roads south of the Eel River in the Ferndale area. Some interesting old buildings and bridges here. All roads dead end into the river and most are public roads but it's quite obvious the property owners think of them as their personal property. I got a lot of long, sullen looks; and one guy followed me and told me not to vandalize his property. I agreed not to and he seemed content with my promise and left me. No weed farmers out here, just old dairy farms. Camp Weott is out there north of Ferndale:



Also had my first negative experience with lane splitting yesterday morning. I only split when traffic is totally stopped because I don't want some last minute lane changer to take me out. I was south on Broadway in Eureka at Wabash, which is a long light because it's a 5 way intersection. Traffic in both southbound lanes was totally stopped and was like 20 cars deep, and I was rolling up the middle. This fucking dickless shitheel watched me coming and then as I was at his rear bumper, he deliberately moved left to block me from passing. Unfortunately for him, his timing was shit. I was actually right next to his window when he hit me, and as soon as we contacted he had a "oh fuck, now I've done it" look on his face. The barkbuster broke the top off his mirror. I already knew the bike was totally fine from the way he had hit, and it's well armored, and I hadn't been struck, so I didn't even get excited or pissed. The driver next to him moved left so I could continue on through and I just kept on splitting until the light, then proceeded on without incident. I made a mental note of the car and the driver's description. Light purple PT Cruiser, skinny white guy with glasses, prepubescent reddish facial hair, and a fat and ugly woman in the passenger seat. I was next to him when the shit went down, so I couldn't get a plate... but those cars are not super common anymore, and are usually only driven by old gay men or tweakers, so I'm confident that I'll find it and vengeance will, eventually, be mine.

Today I ran down AotG to get a picture of a "general store" for the Stromtrooper photo game. I'd seen this place in Redcrest a few times and it's pretty cool. Windy as hell today.

>"I got a lot of long, sullen looks; and one guy followed me and told me not to vandalize his property. I agreed not to and he seemed content with my promise and left me. No weed farmers out here, just old dairy farms. Camp Weott is out there north of Ferndale:"

Yeah, you're on a dead end county road through a ranch or two...
I suppose they (owners) would wonder what you're doing out there.

The Eel river... 'delta' or stream bed was used by lots of folks for 'partying', shooting, 4WD, motorcycles... etc.
One land owner closed off a main access (Fernbridge). Not many places left to go.
I suppose there are people looking for other 'routes' to get down to the Eel.

>"Also had my first negative experience with lane splitting yesterday morning."

People in NW California aren't used to lane splitting. I usually avoid it.

Yeah, we had just gotten here when the owner shut down access under Fern Bridge. You can still access the river delta at the end of East Ferry Rd, and if the water is low enough, run that all the way to Fern Bridge. Some old cars and an abandoned boat out there, lots of old camp fires, and lots of target shooting areas into the west riverbank.

Of all the other roads that end in the river north of 211, I haven't really seen "river delta access". The water basically laps the end of the road and there is no ready access to the bank for anything other than maybe boating.

Would I be chastised greatly if I post pictures from Northern Humboldt? Or is anything north of Ferndale against the rules?

Go for it!

Took a ride on Maple Creek and Butler Valley Roads a few days ago. I had done it in a car, but never on my bike. With the bad weather coming, I raced the rain to get through it.

One of the many unpaved sections of Maple Creek Rd. between Bald Mountain Rd. and Butler Valley Rd. I still haven't figured out why there will be a small section of pavement followed by a mile or so of dirt, then another small paved section, followed by dirt. Maybe there's a historical reason I'm not aware of.


Bridge over the Mad River on Butler Valley Rd.


Alpacas?!


Looking downstream on the Mad River


The road is on the move


Looking down toward Eureka from Kneeland Rd.


Not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Total Distance: 60 miles (Starting and ending in McKinleyville)
Deer seen: 2
Oncoming vehicles avoided: 3 (including a right-hand-drive Ford Ranger)
Potholes dodged: 6.02X10^23

That's a lot of potholes!

years ago I had bicycled a lot of humboldt. A buddy lives in Arcata. At times I head back up on one of my motos and repeat some the loops that i can remember.

Rules are made to be broken, go for it. Kind of like these.......... this ride started around Kneeland ended in Blue Lake.

Love your photos and stories MeefZah. That photo of the Redcrest Store is like a Post Card, beautiful.

When I worked at the mill in Redcrest we would sit on that porch and drink beer after work. The tourists would stop and take pictures of us.
Oh and Maple creek road was all paved back in the day, but it is cheaper for the county to tear it up and make it gravel then re pave it.