California Coast – Salt Air At Last

First glimpse of the Northern California coast from our RV

The drive along the coast

Spacious campsites at Westport-Union State Park on the northern CA California coast

The campsites in our campground

Spacious campsites and beautiful views at Westport-Union State Park on the northern CA California coast

Checking out the scenery

Route 1 erosion Westport-Union State Park on the northern CA California coast.  Not good for an RV

California is falling into the ocean. This used to be the

coastal highway that Mark drove his motorcycle on 33

years ago.

Route 1 erosion Westport-Union State Park on the northern CA California coast.  Not good for an RV

The coast

Route 1 erosion Westport-Union State Park on the northern CA California coast.  Not good for an RV

The coast

Steep hill climbs by bike on the northern CA California coast at Westport-Union State Park

We climbed up this thing -- in street clothes!!

Northern CA California coast at Westport-Union State Park great place for solar panel installation on an RV

Mark installs the solar panel on the roof of the trailer. This

gave us all the electricity we needed and set us free.

Northern CA California coast at Westport-Union State Park great place for an RV solar panel installation

Not a bad place to do a job like this.

Solar panel installation completed on the roof of our RV at Westport-Union State Park CA California

Finished product, situated between a roof hatch and the

folded down TV antenna.

Gorgeous beaches at Westport-Union State Park CA California

The beach below the bluff where we were camped (150 miles

north of San Francisco).

Gorgeous beaches at Westport-Union State Park CA California

These "ice plants" are house plants in Phoenix but grow

wild here.

Redwoods along northern California coast.  You can drive through, but an RV won't fit!

Drive-through giant redwood tree.

Redwoods are very tall and sequoias

are very wide.

Redwoods along northern California coast seen from our RV.

Driving through the redwoods in the northernmost coastal tip

of California.

California Coast

June 24-30, 2007 - We drove west from Yosemite towards the

California coast, taking the small scenic roads through the

mountains, skirting past Sacramento, and finally reaching the

coast at Fort Bragg, north of San Francisco.  The weather was

cooler and more moist than in Yosemite, and it was so startling to

see the ocean after all those woods, streams and shear rock

faces.

We stayed at the Westport-Union State Park Campground right on

the coast.  What a beautiful campground.  It stretches along three

miles of the coast.

Most people camp at the most northern end where they can perch

right on the edge of a cliff overlooking the crashing surf on the

beach below.

We camped at the more southerly end where there is a huge

grassy field with spacious sites that were largely unoccupied.

We walked along the old Route 1 that snakes along the coast.

It is badly eroded and is no longer used.  The campground has

been pushed further west, away from the eroding cliff edges,

but you can see where some of the sites and toilets used to be.

We used our days here to install our new solar panel.  Mark

installed the wiring from the roof down through the front closet to a

charge controller and on over to the batteries.  Once it was installed

on the roof we were amazed at how much freedom it gave us.  For

the rest of our travels in this rig -- another 10 months -- we rarely

had hookups.  We got all of our electricity from the panel.

We got in a little cycling,

although I don't think Route

1 has a big enough

shoulder in this area for

bikes.  Instead we climbed

the crazy mountains

heading inland from the

coast.  The climb seemed

to go on forever!

The northern California coast is lined with sheer

cliffs and stunning views.  There are also

towering redwood trees and occasional

sequoias as well.  We had a stunning drive up

northwards to the Oregon Coast.

The roads are very hilly, with tight

twists and turns and insane

logging truck drivers that barrel

along as if they own the road.

Actually, I think they do.  It was a

white-knuckle drive that was

definitely worth doing once.