Great bird watching too - Acorn Woodpecker, (with an acorn in its beak), Western Scrub Jay and Gambols Quail, as well as the ever present Turkey Vultures. We pick up provisions at Gaberville, at the only supermarket for miles, and with more than its fair share of vagrants, mostly men, in groups or begging.
We camp just before Leggett in another great State Park, and like old hands we make a camp fire in a lorry-hub firepit, and listen to the crickets, high above the River Eel. We put our food in the wooden bear-proof larder provided, but it was not squirrel-proof, and they sample our next days lunch!
It is a good job we had not decided instead to spend the night in Leggett, as we pass through the next morning to find it a sad collection of derelict, abandoned shops.
Todays ride is advertised as the biggest hill of the trip, on narrow Highway 1. Several well meaning locals try to put us off, to send us down the big dual carriageway instead. It is a good job we are stubborn as it is a fantastic ride, hardly any traffic, winding through forest for 25 miles to tiny seaside Westport. Many of the houses here are also derelict, but there is a typical old wooden general store where the locals collect on the verandah for a coffee.
A bit further on we watch 3 White-tailed Kites mobbing an American Kestrel.
White-tailed Kite.
American Kestrel.
The narrow road continues undulating through fields, then alongside dunes, covered with red and orange succulents. There is a dedicated cycle route the last few miles into Fort Bragg, including a long new wooden bridge over the estuary.
To our relief Fort Bragg has a long, bustling high street full of handsome 19thC wooden houses. We stay in a pretty blue b&b, set in a cottage garden, full of lavender.
Tour miles to date: 1,489
Location:Burlington Campground to Fort Bragg
