California - Day 22 - northern California country

Benbow KOA, Garberville

Tuesday, 22 March 2022

When the dogs and I were out for our just-about-to-leave walk this morning, Dexter pointed out 3 deer to Gracie and me.  I tried to avoid bothering them by taking us back the way we'd come, but one of the deer ran away, which prompted the others to do the same.  They were grazing on a big grassy area near the office in the campground.

today's route

You can see on the map that I drove through the interior of the state, mostly on US-101 with some side trips into towns along the way.  Google told me the drive would take less than 3 hours, but it took me 5 instead.

I drove first through Cloverdale, pop. 8,996, elev. 331'.  Seemed like a nice little country town with gasoline at $6.45/gallon - about the highest I've seen, and I hoped that wasn't what to expect in other towns here in northern CA.

On the highway, I saw a sign saying: Experience Mendocino County - Wilderness   Waves   Wineries.  Which is actually a pretty good summary of what the county has to offer.

I crossed the Russian River, which runs through both Mendocino and Sonoma Counties.

I saw a few llamas mixed in with a small herd of cows - and thought I was imagining things at first.  I also saw a large herd of horses.

All day I saw signs for the World Famous Skunk Train.  They have several historic trains and offer 2 different routes for folks who want to ride through California's redwoods.  I don't know where the name came from, but here's the website if you're interested.   https://www.skunktrain.com

Also all day I drove by wineries and vineyards, bluebonnets and yellow lupines.  You might be thinking of US-101 as an interstate-type of road, remote from its surroundings.  Instead it's more like a well-maintained state highway.  In today's drive, as so often in my travels in California, I went up and down a series of steep hills, sometimes on a narrow winding road, even though US-101 is a major road in the western US, complete with tractor-trailers.

We got off the highway to drive into the town of Ukiah, which the locals call the place "where the redwoods meet the vines."  It has 16,607 residents and lies at 627' elevation.  It's also the county seat, and almost the only place I could find for us to park and walk was in front of the courthouse, which turned out okay.  

I can't find an uncopyrighted photo of the Mendocino County Courthouse, but if I tell you it was built in 1950 in the Modern/Art Deco styles, maybe you'll be able to imagine what it looks like.  It takes up a whole city block, and it's surrounded by grass and flowering plants and trees, and is really a very attractive place.  In the front of the building stand 2 huge old magnolias, and around the sides were blooming azaleas and camellias and other garden flowers.  I walked the dogs all the way around the block, and then we came back and ate lunch.

Lots of the local businesses in Ukiah seemed to be doing well, even with the pandemic, which means to me the town's alive.  And for some reason, gasoline was exactly $1 cheaper here than it was not all that much farther south in Cloverdale.

I saw a sign on the highway warning that tomorrow there'll be a tsunami test from 11:00 to noon.  I looked that up because I thought we were way too far inland to have to worry about a tsunami.  But I guess we're not.  Every year about this time the counties of Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte test their tsunami communications systems.  The tests can include sirens, phone alerts, TV and radio warning broadcasts.  I guess it makes sense they're doing this, because they surely don't need these systems all year long, and they want to be sure everything's working okay in case it's needed.

We continued our drive mostly north and came to the Ridgewood Summit, elev. 1,953', which is pretty high compared to this morning when we were at only 331' in Cloverdale.

A little farther along we came to Willits, pop. 4,988 and elev. 1,391', that calls itself "Gateway to the Redwoods."  Gateway being a fairly broad term, I guess, since the redwood state and national parks were still quite a way farther north.  Willits looked like a normal, small, somewhat isolated American town. 

Past Willits I came to a series of steep hills - a 7% grade, another 7% grade, a 6% grade for the Next 2 Miles.  I'd stopped seeing vineyards but did see a sign warning of elk within the next 5 miles.  And another warning sign saying, "Trucks - Tight Curves Next 9 Miles - Reduce Speed."  They didn't have to tell me twice.  The road has a view way down into a canyon with the Eel River running through it.

Somewhere in there we passed Laytonville, pop. 1,152 and 510' elevation.  There I saw the "World Famous Tree House - Believe It Or Not!" per their sign.

The road began to be lined with redwoods, so I guess Willits' claim wasn't that far off.  For a while I'd considered heading to the coast from Laytonville and driving along CA-1 for 45 miles until I swung back toward US-101.  But I've driven that road before many years ago and remember it fairly well.  It offers fabulous views of the Pacific Ocean and CA's coastal scenery, but it's sometimes a narrow road with no shoulder and rocks jutting out into the road, as I recall.  That means I'd have less time to enjoy the view because of trying to keep from dying as we drove along.

After Laytonville, I saw another warning sign: "Trucks - Tight Curves Ahead - Next 3 Miles - Reduce Speed."  Followed in a while with another one: "Road Narrows."  And that narrowed road threaded between giant redwoods that grew right up to the road, making me worry about my right rear-view mirror.  It was beautiful country but I was glad to make it to the campground in one piece.