Day 5 - We took the scenic route

Yesterday was super but it was time to leave the coast behind and forge into the "other" Northern California, the mountains. Along the way I had arranged a visit to my friend and former student Carey at her summer internship at Pepperwood Preserve, a nature education center located between Santa Rosa and Calistoga, which is also right between Napa and Sonoma counties. We found the place without trouble and we were treated to an insider's tour. The views were really outstanding, the place is on a high ridge with a commanding view of the valley. They also do some excellent work with nature education, and I took a lot of inspiration from their projects.

With a long drive ahead of us we pushed ourselves out and back onto the road, through Calistoga and over some very twisty roads over the mountains and down to the Sacramento River valley. By the time we got there, slightly delayed by road construction, Benna really had to "go." We found stopped at a farm stand and found a potty that seemed to be there just for her.

Looking around was pretty interesting, this was the first really large scale agriculture we had encountered.

This went on for many miles. The valley was really flat and obviously fertile. The farms were huge, the crops that I recognized included sunflower, watermelon, table grapes, peaches, some kind of nut trees, pumpkins and rice. The highway crossed the Sacramento River many times, a tiny bit like the Connecticut but with fewer meanders.

Eventually we passed the town of Red Bluff, and that was my cue to exit and head for the hills. I ignored the advice of the gas station attendant and followed my instinct to take local roads toward the northeast. We were rewarded with a totally cool drive of about fifteen miles on a curvey backroad past cattle ranches and stone fences, eventually coming out onto highway 44 just like I planned!

The highway took us to our destination, a Forest Service campground in the Lassen National Forest. The place did not take reservations so we had to drive through and find a spot. We lucked out and found a great spot near the river.

Our neighbor was a single guy with no car, just a bicycle. I went over to talk with him and discovered that sure enough he was traveling on two wheels. He had started in Seattle, and southbound he rode as far as Big Sur. He was now making his way back up to Seattle. I haven't checked the map but that's a lot of miles! Later in the evening two women walked in to join him. They had big backpacks and no car. Turns out they were hiking the Pacific Crest trail which crosses the road about a quarter of a mile away. They had started at the Mexico border, destination Canada. These people impressed me very much! I hope Benna realized what they were up to.

We had cup-o-noodles for dinner and hit the sack early.