05/18/21 - Mount Shasta to Portland and Home

The next day, we pressed on to Portland. We expected the worst. Downtown was quiet. Our hotel, the Heathman, was open, but minimally staffed. There were two people who worked the desk, parked cars, assisted with the luggage, answered the phones, made reservations and so on. Our suite was designed to be a corporate hospitality suite with a fireplace, television monitor, heavy duty LAN router, wet bar and a wine cellar. Wine is a big business in the area.

We ate nearby at Southpark Seafood. They had set up outdoor dining on the street. We were under a marquee and had a powerful electric heater for added warmth. Wanting variety, we had the Chilled Seafood Feast, a collection of oysters, shrimp, dungeness crab and ahi poke. Then we had the paella with halibut, clams, shrimp, peas and bomba rice. Maybe we were missing the seafood of home.

We wandered around the neighborhood and dropped into Kinokuniiya, a Japanese book store where we bought wrapping paper and pencil cases. The streets were quiet, but not deserted. It felt like the central business district that it was, after business hours.

05/17/21 - West County Trail from Forestville

We saw lots of grapevines all neatly trimmed, nice and tight on their supports. We also saw a hellebore in bloom, several butterflies and a patch of dill gone feral. It always pays to keep one's eyes open, even on a tame trail like this one.

05/16/21 - Mount Taylor

The lower part of the hike was dry grassland, but here and there the trail passed through wooded areas. We climbed the broad grassy hill to the stile and then passed into a shaded forest with short knotted trees. The shade was a welcome relief from the brilliant sky.

The trail turned, and we could see Pacific Ocean mist in the distance and the open land for miles around. Datura was in bloom in among the grasses, and there were ripe wild strawberries waiting for us in one of the shaded patches.

We made it to the cairn at the summit. It was a pretty view. It was dry, and we were glad we had brought water. The descent was easier. We just followed the land. We used to be regular visitors to Napa and Sonoma Counties, but it had been years since our last visit. We were rewarded for our return with familiar sights and familiar land.

05/15/21 - Farmhouse Inn in Sonoma

05/14/21 - Mad Dash to Garberville

We headed south on 101 with a detour through part of the Avenue of the Giants. The giants in that name were more redwoods, and this stretch of highway was lined with them. Instead of shoulders, there were redwoods. This was not a highway built for speed, so we slowed down and enjoyed our last sojourn in a redwood forest.

We stopped in Garberville which made us feel naked arriving by car rather than motorcycle and lacking a leather jacket and a guitar. The photo of the view from our room is a cheap shot. The hotel was clean, quiet and well air conditioned. The beds were comfortable. In fact, we had our best night of sleep for the entire trip, all twelve hours of it. We recommend the Best Western Plus in Garberville highly, and it is probably even better if you arrive on a motorcycle wearing a leather jacket and carrying a guitar.

05/13/21 - Lady Bird Johnson Grove and Trinidad Head

Then, we headed down to the town of Trinidad on the coast and hiked the Trinidad Head Loop. This started right in town, but we quickly ascended and entered a garden maze of high bushes and thick foliage. The trail climbed, and we felt we were alone on the trail as it twisted and followed the terrain. Here and there, we had views of the sea, the beach near town and the coastline.

We considered trying yet another hiking trail. The redwoods are full of trails, and there are other trails along the sea and around the various coastal lagoons. There were even trails that led from the coast to the higher forests or the other way around. We didn't try any of them. We were plumb tuckered out.

05/12/21 - West Ridge and Prairie Creek Trails

The trail climbed quickly at first, then more slowly. Some of the trees were immense. There is no way to capture their size in a photograph. We have some big trees back home in Olympic National Park, but the scale here was different despite the familiar ferns and flowers.

We descended on the appropriately named Zig-Zag trail, then entered an overgrown section with high bushes and some swamp land. We headed back on the Prairie Creek Trail which followed the road at some distance. We crossed a few bridges, but one bridge was completely out. Luckily, the stream wasn't high, so we stepped from rock to rock and crossed dry shod.

The trail was busier as we neared the end. Since it followed the road, people could stop at one of the parking lots and head a short way to see some fantastic trees. There were several fallen trees as we neared the end of the trail, each carved with a tunnel high enough and wide enough for the trail to pass. It was a wonderful, exhausting hike.

Dinner was takeout, a pair of New York strip steaks from the The Larrupin Cafe. We started with a salad, roasted garlic, tapenade and toast points. Then there were the steaks with mushrooms and marsala and a blue cheese dressing. It was a great meal to celebrate a great hike.