Wow! Here it is Wednesday already. Yesterday we went to tour the Loleta Cheese Factory and tasted a lot of the delicious cheeses they had displayed. Of course, we came home with a bag full!...Today, we decided to explore the Lost Coast which starts at Weott, Ca. and travels through places like Honeydew and Petrolia and ends up in Ferndale on the north end, just south of Eureka. Since it was going to be an all day trip, we packed a picnic lunch to enjoy at Ferndale's Fireman's Park....
What is the Lost Coast ?? The Lost Coast is a section of the California North Coast in Humboldt County, which includes the King Range. The steepness and related geotechnical challenges of the coastal mountains made this stretch of coastline too costly for state highway or county road builders to establish routes through the area, leaving it the most undeveloped portion of the California coast. Here is a picture taken off our GPS unit. As you can see, the road was not very straight....!
The road begins through a lot of old growth redwoods. It is a two lane road of sorts, that varies from somewhat smooth, to rutty, to downright annoying.... Still, it was a beautiful drive through a lot of wonderful country. We saw lots of wildlife, including deer and birds, but no bigfoot....
The trees were huge as you can see in this picture. This was basically a fairly wide single lane road. We maintained about a 25 mile per hour speed.
As we left the redwood forest, the loop road climbs to over 3000' and the redwoods give way to straw grasses, scrub oak and some sycamore trees.
Here is a view of the Eel River as we dropped down into the town of Honeydew, Ca. Pop. 300. Next up was the Punta Gorda Lighthouse just outside the City of Petrolia. However, we discovered the "path" to the lighthouse was 3.5 miles over sandy hills to reach it. Since it's abandoned, we decided to skip it.
True to form, there are several single lane bridges along this deserted strip of road in the boondocks. The bridge seemed a bit shaky when we passed over it. Glad I didn't have the motor home..!!
We saw many old barns, many of which were abandoned but several that were not. This one appeared to be a recent abandonment due to the newer farm gate along the south side. I wanted to stop and explore but Debi convinced me it might be considered trespassing, so we photographed it and moved on.
As you can see, the huge redwood trees are gone and straw grass is the order here. We did see some livestock grazing in these fields. Very remote and no people....
About halfway through the loop, you round a bend and are greeted with the cooling breezes and aroma of the Pacific Ocean. We thought about taking a plunge and perhaps having our picnic there instead of Ferndale.....
However, the area all the way to the high tide line obviously was privately owned, as evidenced by this herd of cattle grazing along the beach. Sort of spoiled the romantic idea of a picnic....
We did venture onto the beach a little further down from the cows. The beach was quiet and unspoiled. Not too many shells, but lots of agates and beautiful rocks polished beautifully by Mother Nature. Although it was upwind of the cows, there was a lot of wind, so we passed on the lunch until Ferndale.
Here is a photo, taken after we left the beach area and began the climb back over the mountain towards Ferndale. You can see the road behind us that looks like a runway in the picture. The large rock outcropping you see in the middle was the original location of the Cape Mendocino Lighthouse which is now located in Shelter Cove, about 35 miles south of here.
We arrived in Ferndale with it's beautiful ornate Victorian houses. Of interest, was the Ferndale Historic Cemetery, seen here from the top. This cemetery was established in 1868 and is still in use to this day. Because of the lateness in the day, the sun has washed out the view of the ocean in the distance.
After having our picnic at the Fireman's Park in Ferndale, we looked at many of the Victorian homes and churches its noted for. Many are now bed and breakfast ventures, but amazing to look at anyway.
We finished the day with a quick trip into Eureka to see the Table Bluff Lighthouse near the Marina. This is all that's left of this historical building as the Victorian duplex that housed the caretakers, the oil room and all the attached building were destroyed to prevent vandalism. The original lens was shipped and in use at the Point Loma Lighthouse in San Diego.
This home was built by William Carson, a lumber tycoon from the 1800s. Mr. Carson was the first to ship Redwood to San Francisco in 1855 and became rich and famous. He had this home built in 1885 at a cost of over $80,000. It was abandoned by Mr. Carson's heirs in the late 1940s and is now a men's club. If you have the time, this is an interesting read...
http://www.ingomar.org/index.html
Another Queen Anne Victorian across the street from the William Carson house. Aptly named the "Pink Lady" this home was built by Mr. Carson and given to his son as a wedding present. It has been preserved and houses a number of business interests...
That's it for today...another wonderful and interesting experience....if tomorrow presents itself as nice as today, we are going to tackle the road to Shelter Cove. If we make it, I promise some interesting pictures tomorrow night....
No comments:
Post a Comment