When we woke up, as expected, it was foggy outside. We had some ‘continental breakfast’ from the front lobby and headed out towards our big climb of the day. We had both our front and back lights on for maximum visibility. Traffic was very light since it was early in the morning, and we climbed the hill slowly, delayering our clothes as we climbed higher so we wouldn’t overheat and sweat under our layers.
There were some very impressive Redwoods, and we were in awe as we climbed through the trees. We stopped at Klamath for lunch at Subway. While having lunch a patch of blue sky came over us and we had beautiful sunshine instead of the fog. Shortly after lunch we stopped at our first “drive-thru tree”. This was a Redwood tree that they had carved out so that a vehicle could drive through it. You couldn’t do such a thing today, but since this was done many years ago it is still in existence as a tourist stop. They had a discounted rate for cyclists, and we each paid a dollar to check it out. While we were there several large pick up trucks came and some were able to squeeze through the tree while others would obviously not fit and did not attempt. When it came time for us we had so much extra room we could have fit many more bikes! There was no more line up and we got to enjoy the occasion taking many pictures and going cycling through the tree a few times.
After the drive-thru tree we had another hill to climb. This was not as high as the other, and there were very few cars that passed us. It was also nice to not have fog! We entered a beautiful section of the Redwood forest. It was amazing to see so many tall trees all around us as we cycled up, then eventually down the hill. We had a long steady downhill all the way to our campground. It was a tremendous ride. Miles and miles of incredibly large trees all around us. We stopped at one tree where we could fit all three of us and our bikes in to its hollow trunk!
When we arrived at our campground we visited the information centre and had a chat with the lady there. We were a little chilled from the long ride down and hung out in their heated book store to try to warm up. We had several hours left of daylight to set up camp and cook dinner, which was a nice change from our usual rush or need to set up in the dark with our flash lights or headlamps. The days are just getting too short to do everything! Rob picked up firewood from the visitor centre by loading it onto the back of his bike to bring it to our hiker-biker site so that we could stay warm and hang out by a fire for the night. Later in the evening a few elk visited the campground.
The hiker-biker site was in a nice spot, slightly tucked away from the rest of the campground (as usual). There were water taps throughout the campground, but unfortunately none of them worked! We had a couple hundred meter walk to the shower building to get water which was a bit of an inconvenience. There was also only one shower operational as the other 4 were out of order. The humidity in the shower room must have been 120% because there was water literally dripping from the ceiling, and everything was soaking wet all the time. It doesn’t help when the outside humidity is also saturated!
Later in the evening fog and mist rolled in. We were under a large redwood tree and were able to stay warm and dry by our fire, but we had set our tent up away from the tree and the outside of the tent became quite wet. Lesson learned is to pitch your tent under a tree in a foggy / misty area!
My camera has not been cooperating all day and I was only able to get one photo today with it. I think I have come to the conclusion that I am going to have to get a replacement somewhere somehow 😦 I had checked it out last night and there is a Target store in Eureka, which appears to be the only place until maybe San Francisco where I could buy a replacement. I am a little disappointed as I was quite attached to my camera and I won’t be able to pick up the same one around here. Meanwhile we are thankful to be cycling with Rob who has a water-proof shock-proof camera that has been chugging along just fine the entire time. He took many great photos which we’ll be getting from him shortly so we can share the pictures on our site later!
The only photo of the day is Rob and Katherine delayering (Rob calls it a wardrobe change). An activity we’ve been having to do very frequently in the ever-changing climate and climbing and descending of hills.
Less than 326 miles to San Francisco!
Trip Around The World 
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