Day 24 – Bicycle Touring Salt point to Manchester SP. Fields to forests, Deer, Arena Point Lighthouse

This morning the mosquitoes got their revenge on me from hiding out the previous night in the tent. I had to get out to pack and when I did they attacked. To avoid them as much as possible, I walked around and kept moving while I quickly packed.

On today’s ride the terrain went from mostly rolling hills of grass to more and more stands of evergreens, pines and various trees.

Most of the day was sunny skies with no wind early in the morning. The winds did pick up more and more throughout the day. I consider this another headwind riding day but to a minor affect compared to the other three days that I had in headwinds.

Even though most of the ride was close to the ocean there weren’t as many broad views of the ocean. Although it was beautiful, there weren’t quite as many picture opportunities as some of the previous rides.

I definitely am in deer territory. I saw a deer or group of deer on five separate occasions. Judging by this and the fact that I also saw two deer on the side of the road hit from cars, I would say the deer density is high in this area.

The deer don’t seem to mind the cars, so they feed in the grass next to the highway. When traveling quietly by bicycle, the deer often don’t see me until I’m almost on top of them. At one point in the ride, I came up a hill and there were two bucks with velvet antlers next to a barn 20 feet away. When they saw me, they didn’t waste any time and were gone in seconds.

I saw another coyote that was at a edge of a field and as soon as he saw me he disappeared in the woods. I am hoping to see a bear and a cougar (add a safe distance) on this trip.

Today’s ride, similar to yesterday, is rural with not many towns or people. There were a few towns of 200-ish population and the largest was Gualala which has about 2500 people if I remember correctly. I couldn’t even find a market with pre made deli sandwiches. So I settled for a hot pocket that I cooked on my burner stove in camp. It actually came out okay.

I passed many southbound bicycle touring people today. One group was pretty tightly packed so I think it was an organized tour. A few others passed at separate times and on one occasion the person stopped and talked with me. He was traveling from Vancouver BC to San Francisco.

Based on the number of tourers I see, I expect to meet up with more in camp. Where I’m staying tonight at Manchester State Park, it’s only me, the camp host and one other RV camper in the entire park.

The camp host came over and we talked for a while. Where are all the people, I asked. He said the phone message said the park was closed when it isn’t. But even so, I would’ve expected more people here.

I’m not getting any Mobile phone or data at the Park. I can send and receive text messages however.

The hiker / biker set up at Manchester State Park is can accommodate a lot of people, but they charge $10 and only have vault toilets without showers. I’m not sure how California comes up with their fees but it seems strange that no it doesn’t match up with the amenities they provide.

Tomorrow I continue up the coastline with another lower mileage day 44. This will get me close to where I have to turn inland the day after to the mountains for a big climbing day.

Ride summary: 4/10 difficulty, 47 miles with 2750 feet climbing. Started off clear and then transitioned to mostly sunny. Calm to medium headwinds at 3/4 of ride which caused a little more effort. Today’s ride detailed GPS. Tour totals: 1138 miles (47 / day). 65,226 climbing feet.