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Yreka Tour, 1992
by Scott Seligman (Scott.Seligman@eng.sun.com)

Day 0

Seven hour 400 mile drive to Yreka. Drove a few miles up Yreka Walker Rd. (gravel) for nice view of stars and city lights. Got police permission to leave my car in a day lot across from the police station.

Day 1

South on 3 (AKA Main St.) 1500' 7% climb to Forest Mt. Summit. There are a couple of water pipes along the climb, but I wasn't sure they were safe. Down to Fort Jones. Got water at a Forest Service station, where I was told that the water from the pipes was OK. Then NW along the Scott River to Scott Bar -- "subtle" downhill. A few logging trucks, all courteous. NW along the Klamath River. Got water at a small store in Hamburg. Interesting white roundish rock formations it the river. A couple of people panning for gold(!) Slightly rolling hills, then a 500' climb just before Happy Camp. Large store and cafe. A steep 1/2 mile climb and then a steep gravel descent to Elk Creek campgound -- a private campgound with water and hot showers for $6. 84 miles.

Day 2

North on Indian Creek Rd. 1000' feet of gentle climb. They were resurfacing this part of the road so it was covered with gravel. While I was stopped, a logging truck thought it would be fun to pass me as closely as possible, spraying me with gravel -- the only bad experience with logging trucks I had on the whole trip. Campgroup map said West Fork campgroup has water, but it wasn't "turned on" this year. Next comes a 2500-3000' 6% climb up Little Grayback, and it was *hot*. I definitely should have carried more than two bottles of water (I did at least have a couple of oranges). The 17 mile ride down on the backside was probably the most fabulous descent I've ever been on -- excellent road, gorgeous forest, zero traffic, steep enough to keep me at 25-30 without pedaling, no braking required. Lunch at a small store in O'Brien, Oregon. The first person I asked about Patrick's Creek Rd. didn't even know where it was. The next person told me it was a steep, unpaved logging road, so I decided to take 199 instead. They warned me about the trucks on 199, but it wasn't bad at all. A tunnel had a button to push which caused a sign to flash "Bicycles in tunnel". A descent into Gasquet ("gas-key"), then a long stretch of rolling hills along the Smith River to a campground at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. My odometer reached 10,000 miles, and it reset to zero. :-( Got a map of Redwood Nat'l Park from the information center just outside Jedediah Smith. The hiker/biker site was very isolated and I was the only one there. Bear-bagged my food, and had a great dinner in the dark alongside trees whose trunks dwarfed my bike. Water and hot showers. 80 miles.

Day 3

Went back to the information center and asked the ranger about Bald Hills Rd. She hadn't been to the dirt section, but warned me that the first stretch was 15 or 17%. Uh oh. Backtraced a couple of miles on 199 to Douglas Park Rd., a gorgeous dirt road (easy riding) through the redwoods. Never got near enough to Crescent City to see any sign of it. A zig and a zag on Landhill and Humboldt Rds. brought me to 101 and fog. A 1500' climb got me above the fog, but the fog below didn't allow for much of a view. The Vista Point on the descent is supposed to be a nice one, but I couldn't see anything from there. Saw the first recreational cyclists of the trip -- a mountain biker going the other way and a tandem that played leapfrog with me. Finally I got down to sea level and saw the beach. Lunch in Klamath, then back onto 101 for a 1000' climb. Construction crews had the road closed off and were leading streams of cars through at low speed and at long intervals, so most of the way I had all of 101 to myself -- fantastic! Then a long gradual descent through the redwoods to Elk Prairie campground in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. Bear-bagged my food. Later a half dozen or so small groups of bike tourists arrived. One guy from Germany was traveling from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. All were sticking to the coast, so I didn't see them, or any other bikies, for the rest of the trip. 46 miles.

Day 4

South on 101 to Bald Hills Rd. A couple of miles of very steep (15%) climbing. Had to tack a bit uphill. After the Ladybird Johnson Redwood Grove the ridiculous-steep section ended, but the road continued uphill for quite a while. Once again I realized that two water bottles weren't enough. At a vista point I found a Canadian couple with a large water jug, who filled the bottle I had emptied. They also had one hell of a gas tank -- they'd traveled over 3000 miles without stopping for gas yet. Seems they're farmers and get subsidized diesel back home, so it pays for them to avoid gas stations. Continued uphill to a Forest Service station, where the pavement ends. The road continued climbing on dirt, gravel, and rock. There were a few "interesting" sections, but I was able to ride the whole way to the top. Fabulous 360 degree views (though not all 360 from any one spot). The road stayed at the top of the ridge for quite a while: up a hundred, down a hundred, up a hundred, down a hundred.... A few firetrucks passed me, and by the time I was descending I could see smoke rising from a forest fire not far to the north. A steep, rough descent -- not as much fun as the climb on skinny tires. After 22 miles of dirt the pavement returned at the Martins Ferry Bridge. The air was thick with smoke, and it was raining ash. Got water at Weitchpec, then continued on 96 along the Klamath River. Some "significant" rolling hills. I had intended to stop at the first campground I passed, but the smoke and ash were too unpleasant. I continued on to a private campground in Orleans (with hot showers :-) By the time I reached it the wind had died down some, so the smoke wasn't too bad. It turns out that there were several fires -- arson. The owner of the campground thought the Indians set the fires so they'd get paid to put them out. I didn't inquire further about relations between the whites and the natives. The next morning I heard that the Martins Ferry Bridge had burned. I'll have to confirm that. It would have been *very* bad news for me if it had been closed (or missing) when I reached it. 60 miles.

Day 5

North to Somes Bar where I bought some Gatorade at a small store, but I was directed to some Forest Service station when I asked for water. It wasn't important so I didn't bother. I asked for a newspaper to read about the fire, but the newspapers there come by mail and wouldn't arrive for a few days. Turned southeast along the Salmon River. While I was stopped to strip off some extra clothing a pickup pulled over next to me. The driver said she saw me riding past her house and wanted to warn me that -- this being the first weekend of deer-hunting season -- the roads were full of drunken idiots, so I should be careful. I discovered two ways to tell the locals from the hunters: the hunters had gun racks, and the locals usually waved but the hunters never did. On to Forks of Salmon, where the locals were selling BBQ burgers, hot dogs, and fries to the hunters. And to me. One local warned me about hunting season. There were a couple of pickups with antlers sticking out of the beds, and crowds gathered round cooing "nice one" and such. I couldn't look. When I asked for water I was directed to some pipe along the road a quarter of a mile away ("just past the milage marker there's a pile of rocks next to a large tree..."). One guy offered to lead me there, not realizing that I was traveling by bicycle, even though I was dressed in full bikie regalia. To play it safe I bought some bottled water at the small store, then continued along the North Fork. Just out of town two serious looking dogs moved in menacingly. I screamed "No!" as loudly as I could. They were startled, and by the time they regained their composure I had a big enough lead. Great trick! Lots of gentle climbing up and down to Sawyers Bar, where I filled both water bottles, and the bottle I had just bought, at a hose outside a small store. If I hadn't found water here, well.... The sporadic gentle climbing continued for a few more miles, and then one of the little hills didn't level off as soon as I had come to expect. In fact it kept going and going, getting steeper and steeper. Soon I had a good view of the Salmon Mountains that I was about to climb. In all about 4000' of climbing in 9 miles, much of it 10-12%. The grade combined with the heat made this one very intense experience. When I finally reached the top my clothes felt like I had just climbed out of a swimming pool. There wasn't any traffic just then, so I stripped on the side of the road and put on dry clothes for the cool descent. It was getting pretty late and I wasn't sure I'd make it to Etna, with the nearest campground, by nightfall. But most of the way had to be downhill, I reasoned, so I had a fair chance. I was a bit upset when the pavement ended (I asked before starting -- they said it had recently been paved), but it started up again almost immediately. I reached Etna just as it was getting dark. I bought some food at the supermarket, and asked about the nearby Forest Service campground. They were certain that there was no campground nearby, and suggested I pitch my tent in the city park. I called the number of the phantom campground, which turned out to be the number of the Forest Service. They told me that they used to run a campground there, but gave it to Etna to use as a city park on the condition that they let people camp there. The park was nice, and had water and restrooms. 68 miles.

Day 6

An easy ride to Fort Jones, where I got water at the Forest Service station I stopped at on day 1. While I was filling a bottle, a ranger I was talking to asked "What's that sound?" It was my tire leaking. My first mechanical problem, and only 15 miles to go. After replacing the tube I climbed back over the Forest Mt. Summit (1200' at 7%), and then coasted down to Yreka. 30 miles.

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