The Lost Coast

[pmatusov]

Aaron Shrier took the group of SoCal Grenadiers to the trip to the Lost Coast of California. For us from San Diego, it was about 1800 miles-long trip, 320 of which were on dirt (out of which, I believe, nearly one-half was in low range).
I put our photos here - https://3rj.org/TheLostCoast ; the gallery takes some time to load, so I might put up some of the pics here.


Pismo Beach / Oceano Dunes:

Mandatory wine tasting near Paso Robles (I need to remember to cancel that wine club before they send me anything):

A One-Ten and a One-Fifteen, side by side:

Waterfront in Eureka - waiting for the tsunami:

Still waiting:

 

[pmatusov]

Still waiting:

Ferndale: Grenadier sighted:

Oh, there is more:

And more:

Ferndale, California, is a quaint little town very proud of its Victorian architecture:

Coffee, groceries, fuel - all done. Now we can go:

 

[pmatusov]

We're starting from PNW rainforest:

Getting closer to the coast:

Group photo #123 (or so) out of 789 (or so). Look how clean the trucks are: you can tell they are of different colors!

Somewhere near Capetown, California:

Have to share the road, unfortunately:

 

[anand]

Lost Coast is such a gorgeous and un-popular area I don't like to tell people about it

 

[pmatusov]

Capetown traffic jam:

We are getting close:

Ocean-side group photo:

Do you know how to say "WTF?" in rural Bovine? I don't, either.

Still pavement, but less of it. Still water, more of it.

Local automotive rarities:

 

[pmatusov]

Lost Coast is such a gorgeous and un-popular area I don't like to tell people about it

I've been mum about Owyhee Wilderness for several years, till someone under the handle of AdventureTaco flooded the Instabook and Facegram with all sorts of info. It'll be out eventually, like Epstein files.

 

[pmatusov]

That's... plain awesome.

Most of our progress is under the canopy, safe from a prying eye and SAR of CBP MQ-9B (which is probably the predominant MO of the most population of Humboldt Coast):

Look, ma: I found a campsite! Right behind the dune at Mattole Beach! There's more - oh, there are five of them, side by side:

Later, a couple of Agile Offroad guys in Sprinter vans told us that the campground was completely full - right until the phones lit up with tsunami warning. That M8.8 Kamchatka quake cleared up the space for us really well.
The beach is awesome:

My passengers were ecstatic of us setting up to camp not even at 2 in the afternoon. It'll cost me a lot of "are we there yet" bitching tomorrow and later. But now?

 

[anand]

I've been mum about Owyhee Wilderness for several years, till someone under the handle of AdventureTaco flooded the Instabook and Facegram with all sorts of info. It'll be out eventually, like Epstein files.

He takes some awesome photos though I've been following his travels for years

Edit: I mean AdventureTaco.... Just in case I need to specify based on my statement....

 

[pmatusov]

In the words of Forrest Gump, "the morning is as the morning does" (or something like it):

My crew is busy taking photos of me packing the shit up:

This kind of views on the way in or out:

The coastal fog totally spared us during the night, but not when we get higher up the bluffs. If not for the fog, how would the dust stick to the trucks?

Forest is different: no moss anymore. Still, ferns all around.

The trucks are still moderately clean, but starting to acquire that desert tan:

 

[pmatusov]

Looks promising:

The road to the lighthouse is closed, so we have to park and proceed on foot.

That was one very decent hike - 1.5 miles one way with about 700 ft elevation loss and subsequent gain.

Along the way, you walk past a large colony of seals, sea lions, and elephant seals:

 

[pmatusov]

An obligatory view from the lighthouse lantern room:

Up on the hill, there's that great place to fill up your Nalgene bottle with water with some single-cell organisms:

This bluff is just too good to leave soon:

But... off to the fog we go:

Not willing to risk facing the business end of the shotgun, we are forced to retrace our steps and get another look of Mattole Beach:

Then we do a detailed exploration of many dead ends - but, honestly, a 16-ton capacity steel bridge leading to two houses? Who'd have thought...

He takes some awesome photos though I've been following his travels for years

Edit: I mean AdventureTaco.... Just in case I need to specify based on my statement....

He does, definitely. I just wish he had a more-photogenic vehicle

 

[pmatusov]

We spend a good deal of time meandering in the woods - which was fantastic - and size up our prospects at the Dennis The Menace Park (in the words of John Lee of Expedition Exchange) in Shelter Cove.
A brewery across the fence is a definite plus, everything else is a definite minus.

Off we go into the Coastal Range, towards Usal Beach. It meets us with a mud crossing and deep sand:

Here, I have to say that a locker-equipped Grenadier is absolutely awesome in deep sand. I'd have no problems with 50 psi in tires - until it is time for a pull. Still won't go below 20.

I have to reluctantly agree that Mattracks are a good addition to the tow strap.

We barely have time to set up the camp before the sun gets very low.

 

[pmatusov]

An obligatory morning group photo at a local Starbucks:

... and it is time to hit that morning fog again:

Goodbye Usal Beach - most likely, it'll be illegal to drive there whenever we come there again.

Back into the redwoods we go:

The road hits the coast occasionally - the views behind seem to be better than ahead.

..... and back into the woods. The shafts of sunlight offer a chance of a good photography, were our windshield a little less filthy.

Here's a round number on my odometer; later in the day, I'll find my friend posting the same number +another 3 in front of it on Facebook.

 

[pmatusov]

The newfangled phones take some really odd-formfactor pictures, but they may be onto something:

Aaron graciously offers a chance to visit the famous Glass Beach.

In Fort Bragg, our coastal adventure ends - and we are headed inland, via Ft Bragg - Sherwood Road. Aaron reminds us that we're in the midst of Humboldt County, where outsiders are regarded with suspicion and only wanted as accidental prey. There are 8-foot impenetrable fences around private properties here and there, but not a single good camping spot for five vehicles along the ~25 mile dirt road.

Every now and then, there's a rusted hulk of a vehicle in a ditch. The road is freshly graded in places.

 

[pmatusov]

In the outskirts of Willits, the dirt yields to pavement - making you wish it was still dirt:

The views are almost mid-state Idaho.

We reach Willits close to 4 in the afternoon, and, feeling the grumpiness of my passengers grow by the minute, I drop a hint of maybe a beer stop. Willits conveniently offers a brewery, which most seem to welcome.
An hour or so later, we fuel up and hit U.S. 101 for a few miles south, and split again into dirt towards Mendocino National Forest. We pass through what was then the largest forest fire in California - burning for two months across 459,123 acres of land.

The road goes through steep climbs and descents often; seeing that the Grenadier mostly bounces between the first and second gears, I drop to low range.
In about an hour and a half, Aaron discovers a huge and almost empty campground, in a beautiful tall pine forest, near a hilltop. We're at liberty to pick whatever place we want, and find a large group area completely out of view of anyone else.

 

[pmatusov]

If you think my truck's paint is Magic Mushroom - you're mistaken. It was Scottish White from the factory.
All other trucks seem to be Magic Mushroom with tinge of other colors as well.

We enjoy the last group dinner and retire.
In the morning, I am woken up by the drone of what seems to be billions of yellow jackets. One of these cases when you think there is a wing of B-29s coming for a bombing run. I can't force myself to sleep, so I get out.
The cutting board I used last night to chop the rack of lamb is covered in yellow jackets. Those who don't crawl over it are airborne, on very low-Earth and highly elliptical orbits. I have to put on a LRCSD club jacket just to retrieve the stuff close to that end of the table.

Maybe because of this, we manage to leave the camp around 8am.
We still have a long way to pavement.

Do you see the Magic Mushroom truck coming down in this photo? It's Eldoret Blue, actually.

We're still in the burn scar from 2018.

 

[pmatusov]

We hit pavement a dozen miles from Stonyford, California. My passengers are elated to see the deer (which they could see a lot, were they not asleep between Santa Rosa and Eureka on the way north).

The little copses of trees we see look nothing like dense conifer forest we saw a day earlier.

We hit Interstate 5 in about an hour, have a generous lunch in Williams (near the end of the rail line from Sonoma), and hit the road.
My school buddy is driving the truck, making me squirm in the passenger seat every time at the sight of brake lights 100 feet away. The Grenadier has very good brakes. I enjoyed the launch of four Samsung phones from their rest at the back seat.

We crash for the night in a crappy motel in Atascadero, have an enormous breakfast, and drive on south.
My way is towards Santa Barbara, so I treat my friends with a stop at Gaviota State Beach.

Half an hour later I can pour drinks and get busy with my daughter's 95 Classic.

That's all.

 

[Nadir5]

Great photo journal, Peter!

 

[pmatusov]

Great photo journal, Peter!

Thank you Nadir!
Enjoyed driving with you, Aaron, Gabrielle, Alberto, Loren, and Tony!

 

[anand]

Fantastic photography and what a great adventure!