Driving The Wildcat..

It was so dark this morning we got up really late! We couldn't see sunlight until 9:30 am. It was so dark last night we couldn't even see the trees next to the coach when we looked out the window. The sunlight stays out so the ground which is a mix of moss, redwood needles and dirt is very soft and the air is very damp.

Today we'll explore a place called The Lost Coast. The fabled coast is the longest stretchof wilderness beaches in the continental U.S. Following the Avenue of the Giants to the end we turned back onto Rte 101 N to the town of Rio Dell 20 miles from camp. This was the closest place to get gas! Nicknamed "The Warm-Hearted City" Rio Dell is a small rural community of about 3200. It sits in a beautiful small valley surrounded by the Eel River and wooded mountains. It grew from the lumber industry, but today it thrives as part of the visitor industry. From Rio Dell we used the GPS to find Bellvue Rd that would take us through a lush valley along the Eel River. We passed ranches of sheep and cattle. At one point the road made an L turn. It looked like we were going to drive right through the cows lining the side of the road!

The road led us to the Victorian Village of Ferndale. This wonderful farming town has barely changed for 150 years. We parked in front of the spectacular turn-of-the-century Victorian Inn. For over a century the building housing the Victorian Inn of Ferndale has been a keystone of this famous village. The area around Ferndale is rich and has sustained a thriving dairy industry since the late 1800's. The ornate homes built by successful dairy farmers became known as "butterfat palaces." Meandering down the sidewalks we felt like we were strolling through the past. The town has a great array of curio shops, ice cream parlor, galleries, blacksmith, and dry goods stores. Many of them are housed in colorful green, pink, and white victorian buildings. We stopped at the Creamery Cafe and had really good clam chowder. After lunch we walked through some of the side streets admiring the victorian houses. Soon we came upon Ferndale's pride and joy.. The Gingerbread Mansion Inn. The mansion is exquisitely turreted, carved and gabled, and is landscaped with lush English gardens. It's like nothing you have ever seen before. It really is a visual masterpiece!

We drove out of Ferndale and followed the signs out to the Lost Coast Headlands. This is a lookout point high on a cliff looking down on the coast through a valley. A ranch sat below us and we could hear the cattle lowing. This was our 1st view of the Lost Coast and we had no idea what was in store for us. We headed back up Grizzly Bluff Rd toward town until we found the sign for Petrolia. Turning onto Petrolia Road we started our trek to the coast. The Lost Coast is California's only coastal wilderness, where no development or major roads come near the ocean. The road led us over the Rainbow Ridge of mountains. Constantly making challenging twisty turns and then sets of switchbacks that would start to climb in the middle of the turn! The road was narrow and we travelled through forests, redwood groves, and then it would open into pastures that ran along the ridges of the mountains. Quickly back into the forest and more twisty roads and crazy switchbacks. We didn't know until we saw a sign going over one of the ridges that we were driving what is locally known as "the Wildcat". It's a thrill ride! Finally we came to the top. We could see the huge rock formations in the water and could also see the road winding it's way around the mountain and steeply down the side to the ocean below. Wow was it a ride!

Driving along the coast was gorgeous. We stopped and walked the black sand beach and looked for agates. There was a rock on the beach so we perched on it and watched the surf. One large rock formation had a flag pole and was shaped like a ship. We wondered what it was.... we found out later it was a Vietnam Veterans War Memorial -- very neat!

Back in the car... what comes down must go up.. so we headed for the town of Petrolia climbing through a new set of switchbacks and mountains. One part had 4 switchbacks in a row and the compass in the car didn't know which way it was going. The road turned in Petrolia and took us over the Mattole River on a bridge that gave me the creeps. It had boards for the tires to drive on across the planks of the bridge - eh- once across the road we arrived in the hamlet of Honeydew. A woman and little girl sitting on a bench in front of the general store stood up and waved as we drove through. Passing mostly farms we continue up and down the mountains with fantastic valley views of the Mattole River below. The road led us back through a section of the park called Rockefeller Forest and past some of the parks campgrounds nestled in the groves. As we drive through the sun finds openings in the tree canopy and shoots beams of sunlight into the dark woods and onto the road - it's magnificent.

We got back to camp after our 5 hour excursion. Hamburgers made an easy dinner and we sat outside for while and talked about our trip. It was great and we were glad we did it - but some of the roads were scary!

Pictures: Ferndale Victorian Inn, Ferndale Main St, Gingerbread Mansion, Lost Coast Headlands, Wildcat Mountain View, Down the Wildcat, Looking back up the Wildcat road, Lost Coast Highway, Lost Coast Beach Rest Stop, Mattole River Valley