Day 34 Driving The Lost Cost was an amazing feat; 36 miles, 5 hours. We didnt stop much, too steep and no pullouts. Isolated. Desolate. Comprised entirely by a few incredibly large ranches, I think. We accessed it from the north, at Ferndale. Im not sure of the total milage; the drive culminated with us traveling the smooth narrow lane amongst the tremendous redwood trunks supporting the high canopy in the Avenue of the Giant. At the west end of Ferndale the road suddenly becomes impossibly narrow and steep. No...narrow and vertical. Tight. The most AWSOME road I think I have ever been on, anywhere. Challenging. Difficult. I will never haul a trailer over that road again, (Well, maybe.) It twists, and turns, and winds like a snake. Mostly it is paved. Gravel would be better. It is rough; hairpins, switch backs so tight that you can check out your trailer hitch before you are through the turn. Which you need to do because while your truck is tilted 30* to the left, the trailer is leaning 33* to the right. Pot holes, washboard that rattles your brains, loosens nuts & bolts, and naked you want to pee. There are no turnouts. Steep up, steep down. The crests; how is it the front of your truck can be headed downhill while the rear is still climbing? Really. 12 miles per hour and you want to already have your transfer case in low. Keep your revs up. I didnt realize this until the diesel stuttered, lugged, & nearly choked to death in granny. Looking straight ahead out the windshield at eagle nests perched atop dead, gray giants... Stand up on the break, find the clutch, find the transfer case stick, find low, find low on the other stick too, and hope that no other vehicle comes (from any direction) because they arent getting by, under, over, or around. Not even a bike! Of course another vehicle does come. The tricky thing is to successfully operate break clutch, and accelerator pedals with only two feet! This is not the time to stall [again], or roll backwards... Steep. I mentioned steep. White knuckle driving. I have twice as many contoured finger grooves in my steering wheel than I had before. It would be a good road to hike, with a stout walking stuck. After some hours you will finally break the cover if the forest. Golden, honey brown hills hill, far, far, far above Californias Lost Coast. Its down hill from here!, can have many meanings... Many. On the coast, at the bottom of the hill, parked well to the inside edge of a most welcome turn out. I indulged in a brief moment of congratulatory, moment of imbibment. The coast line is breathless & unspoiled. Mostly owned. Some cattle, a few horses. One or two places where you can camp, undisturbed. This is an all to short stretch of coastline. Abruptly we were confronted with another 2 1/2 hours of washboard, twisty, winding, hairpin, switchback, tilting, thankgod the fog wasnt heavy at the time, steep, bumpy, trailer jostling, nut & bolt loosening drives I have ever driven. Best to put off the congratulatory celebration until you have thus last part behind you. Yeah, Id do it again. ;~D
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 18:44:16 +0000
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