Discovery Ride

Every October Redwood National Park closes the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway to vehicle traffic for its annual Discovery Ride. I arrived today before 8 a.m. and pedalled north through the redwoods. It was darn chilly, and being that I was wearing only shorts and a short-sleeve bicycle jersey, I didn't dare stop to take photos out of fear that I would instantly turn to ice and break into little shards.

Fortunately I warmed up as I approached Coastal Drive at the north end. This road wasn't closed to vehicles, but it didn't matter because because very few cars travel on it anyway.



When I reached the coast, I took this shot. That's Gold Bluffs Beach. I get the same feeling on Coastal Drive as I do in Maple Creek – a sense of total relaxation. I suppose it has something to do with being in paradise.



My next stop was the old WWII radar station, which includes two buildings decorated to look like farm houses. After watching portions of "The War" on PBS, I'm convinced that this was the best place to be stationed during WWII. If this photo looks familiar, it's because I shot one just like it about a year ago. Back then this trip seemed like a big deal. But today it was a piece of cake and didn't seem difficult at all. I guess all this bicycling is paying off.




Everything north of the radar station was new territory for me. Here's the mouth of the Klamath River.



I stopped at a section of the old Klamath Bridge, which was destroyed in the flood of 1964. I always assumed that the old bridge was just an old, rickety piece of crap, but it wasn't. It was substantial.

Then I took Alder Camp Road, which loops back to Coastal Drive. Once back at the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway, there's a short climb followed by a really sweet descent back to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. I was going to stop and take photos, but I was speeding along nicely and didn't feel like stopping.

I counted about 100 bicyclists on the road. The crowd was mostly families and kids. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning, eh?