Day 13: Keeping it simple
(Prairie Creek Redwoods to KOA in Arcata)
date: Saturday August 17, 2002
daily miles: 52 miles (84 km)
total miles: 1,014 miles (1,632 km)
It was a rather cold morning as I stuck my head out the tent this morning. Fortunately no bears came into the campground last night. We DID have elk in the campground, which really woke me up when you hear their snorting. Yes – I got another late start -- 10am -- but planned this time as I only want to get to Eureka today and look around and do laundry.
I was wondering where I was going to stay today as there are no parks (state or federal or county) with hiker/biker facilities. Rolling down highway 101 and I see a cyclist off in the distance. Two miles of some pretty tough pedaling and I caught him – just as he was pulling off to the KOA campground. I figured I would follow him and see what's up. Lo and behold it was Steve -- the good ol' boy from Georgia from two nights ago. It is strange how things work and the people you meet – we split the cost of the campsite between the two of us.
The KOA campground -- note the blackberries over the fence
Time to go do the laundry as we have facilities about twenty feet away and get some food and ACTUALLY plan what sites I want to hit tomorrow. Plus trades stories with Steve -- truly nice guy and fun to converse with.
Update:
Laundry is over and I have nice warm and clean clothes again -- nice!!!! =-)
Still having fun -- just with someone would turn the temp gauge up a few degrees -- please!!!
Porked out on lots of blackberries that Steve and I picked by reaching over the fence. Can you say YUMMMMMMMYYYYYY!!!
Time for me to crawl into my zero degree mummy bag -- it's nice and warm and perfect for sleeping in weather like this -- even though the bulk of it has made me question if it was overkill to bring versus a lighter sleeping bag.
Goodnight!
Mark
