October 5th & 6th
The Lost Coast lies between the Kings mountain range and the Pacific coast and became ’lost’ when it was deemed too expensive for a highway to be built due to its steepness. They weren’t joking!! It should actually have been called the lost mountains since we spent a good hour and a half getting to the coast and then another hour and a half back to the highway. The views along the coast though were fantastic, but there is nothing else along it but cows.
Back inland from the Lost Coast, we hit the Humboldts Redwoods State Park.
These massive coastal redwoods dwarfed our car from the word go, but we were on the hunt for the biggest and tallest of these trees, so we stopped off to do a quick circular walk to the certified biggest tree, then onto to the tallest tree (which was very difficult to photograph).
We left these giants to head back out over another mountain range to highway 1 which runs alongside the Pacific coast, driving south to Fort Bragg. Here we stopped at the excellent North Coast Brewing Co taproom and grill for something to eat and to sample the local brew. They had about 14 beers on the menu so we decided on a pint of Red Seal (5.4% vol) and an California Acme IPA (7.1%).
Unfortunately it was my turn to drive so I only had a half of the Red Seal, although I did try the IPA - both were delicious (like proper beer!) but I preferred the IPA. They also do an Old English Ale here which is made from imported hops and sold in 6oz glasses for $6, but we didn’t think it was worth trying anything made from hops imported from Kent!
We stayed about 35 miles east of Fort Bragg in Willits, which meant another trip over the windy mountain roads last night and another one back to Fort Bragg this morning to continue our journey along highway 1 besides the Pacific Ocean.
This is a truly scenic route winding alongside the coast which harbours hidden creeks and secluded coves. We followed this coast-hugging road for about 3 hours travelling south before cutting inland to get to Santa Rosa which is our base for the next 4 nights so that we can fully (and I mean fully) explore California Wine Country.
