WHEN BLACK FRIDAY COMES

DAY 40

FRIDAY 13 MAY 2016

EUREKA KOA - ELK PRAIRIE CAMPGROUND (REDWOODS NATIONAL PARK)

1050 - 1845

84.78 km (52.68 miles)
Av. Speed: 15.5 km/h (9.6 mph)
Max. Speed: 60.9 km/h (37.8 mph)
Time On Bike: 5h 27m 43s

"When Black Friday comes I'll be on that hill
You know I will" (Steely Dan, 1975)

I'm not especially superstitious so Friday the 13th was neither here nor there.

As with any day on this tour however, the goal has always been to stay upright so today was not really any different.

Though as Steely Dan intimated 41 years ago, I was likely to be on that hill....somewhere.

Eureka had generally been an underwhelming experience (aside from the Samoa Cookhouse) so I was happy enough to be pushing north out of there.

I made the point of stopping in Arcata to stock up.

It's a big shame I didn't know about this place beforehand, because I almost would have been happy to fork out a little extra to stay here for a couple of days as it is a very hip little town.

For whatever reason, the larger and uglier Eureka is actually the "dot on the map" and the smaller but much nicer Arcata doesn't even rate a look-in.

Pushing out of town, I was barely 1 mile onwards when Exit 714a directed me to follow the "Pacific Coast Bicycle Route", as it has done since leaving Los Angeles nearly 6 weeks ago.

So this is what I did.

Immediately, the route cut directly through the campus of the impressive Humboldt State University (HSU) and continued through some very tidy suburbs of the Arcata metropolis.

Within a period of 20 minutes, I was trundling beyond Arcata through a wide expanse of peaceful farmlands, somewhat unsigned but after asking directions of a local, determined that I was indeed headed in the right direction.

I eventually reached a junction which provided a detailed map and led me across the oddly-named Mad River Bridge and along the Hammond Coastal Trail that proved to be one of the choicest of the coastal trails I have taken on this trip so far.

MAD RIVER RD

MAD RIVER BRIDGE

MAD RIVER

NORTHERN CALI ARCHITECTURE

In spite of the Steely Dan forecast, it was a pretty cruisy days' riding.

The coastal trail surely soaked up the morning and early afternoon prior to a brief snack stop in Trinidad around 3 pm and a final supply stop in Orick just after 5.

Elk Prairie in the Redwood World Heritage National Park approached around 6 miles north of Orick and this is where I made camp for the evening.