Lost Coast California

Royce: One of things I really wanted to do after I got free of work was to go spend some time exploring the "Lost Coast" area of Northern California. It is not far from my hometown of Grants Pass in southern Oregon and I had been through the region once before briefly with April. I had been telling my buddy Zane about it for years so he took some time off from work and came up to Grants Pass to meet me for a 4 day camping trip on the Lost Coast. We loaded up his nearly new Toyota Tundra and headed for the coast.

[Notes on buddy Zane: He is my longest running friend - all the way from second grade! We have shared many interests and adventures over the last 25 years. We have been roomates during and after college, traveled together, backpacked extensively and basically been like brothers since we were kids. He has had a profound influence on my life over the years - mostly good, and a few bad ones. Zane is another important facilitator to this overall trip. He has been a tremendous help in handling logistics and technical problems while we have been away. He deserves both our gratitude.]

The Lost Coast is roughly the region of the Northern California coast from Eureka in the north to Fort Bragg in the south. From Eureka all the way to San Francisco highway 101 deviates inland about 40 miles and bypasses a lot of coastline. This resulted in the slow development of the coastal areas between Eureka and SF. The southern part has succumbed a bit to typical California development but this northen area is simply untouched. There are no towns of any size and the landscape is just amazing. Highway 1 roughly follows the coast and it is a twisty-turny, narrow and potholed asphalt track. There is plenty of good camping and no crowds. At all.
We camped the first night just outside Petrolia, right on the beach, near the mouth of the Mattole river. Our intention was to have Zane sleep in his truck in his super pimped canopy/shell setup and for me to tent it. About the time we arrived in the camp it began to rain very hard and the wind picked up about 25 knots. By the time we got the shelter up over the truck tailgate we were soaked to the nether areas and very cold. I abandoned the tent and we doubled up in the truck bed. It was not a great night of sleep.

The next day we explored the back roads until we convinced ourselves we would never be able to drive to a coastal airstrip I was interested in. We then headed for Shelter Cove, a quiet little resort town that is the first significant town on the coast south of Eureka. Once we realized there was not much to do in SC we headed up to the Redwood National park and drove the Avenue of the Giants. We camped right in the middle of a bunch of huge redwoods. Great campsite. I got to use my tent.

Working our way north the next day we kept screwing around in little towns and decided we should spend the last night near Crescent City. We got another great campsite in Jedediah Smith State Park, again surrounded with huge redwoods. I got my first shower of the trip and felt great.

This was great trip for the two of us. We have been camping together since we were kids, and it meant a lot to me to get to spend some good ol' days time with Zane before we leave for Europe.


Zane and I in Oregon