Salt Point & Santa Rosa via King Ridge Road

On January 19, 2008 I took a long-planned bike trip to the coast area north of San Francisco. The main highlights: Salt Point Pygmy Forest, King Ridge Rd. (dubbed "the best bike ride in California" by some...) and Austin Creek State Recreation Area. All in all over 120 miles of riding and 6 miles of hiking in 3 days.

I caught a 6:50am bus from San Francisco to Santa Rosa, arriving at 9:20am. Heading west I came across several towns with food ... which I did not take advantage of. I stumbled upon Camp Meeker, basically a post office in the middle of nowhere with a swingset and picnic area, and a exciting-looking welcome sign.

By Fort Ross, the old Russian fort, I headed up steep Fort Ross Road 0.6 mi to visit a geocache in a small, unknown redwood grove. Nearby there is the Fort Ross Orchard. The San Andreas fault runs through it, but I didn't see any sign of a fault.

The friendly lady at the Jenner visitor center had mentioned Stillwater Cove, right south of Salt Point, so I decided to check it out. I walked around quickly (the mileages are very overestimated) and returned in time to go down to the actual cove.

I saw many signs near Fort Ross and Stillwater Cove saying "no mushroom hunting". I thought this was a bit odd, but the next day I saw a group of about 20 people from a "Mushroom Camp" hunting at Salt Point!

I stayed in the campground at Stillwater Cove ($5 for the hiker/biker site, vs. $3 for Salt Point). I bought wood in hopes of having a nice solitary campfire, but even with charcoal fluid the camp host gave me was unable to get the wood going.

So far, the trip was going great. Lots of cool stuff packed into the day.

After taking the long route to get to the Salt Point Pygmy Forest (don't take the south trail!), I went to the Salt Point Visitor Center -- closed, but fantastic views anyway. If I had more time it might be fun to walk down to the sea there. Such blue water!

I then started up Kruse Ranch Rd., by the Kruse Rhododendron Reserve (I walked in about 300ft before getting discouraged 'cos I didn't see any rhododendrons!). The road is steep at first, but once it gets to be dirt, it actually isn't too bad. Just steadily up. After taking a left on Hauser Bridge Road, the road goes up, then down down down to the bridge, and then up and up and up and up to King Ridge Rd. I was starting to get quite discouraged. Suddenly I heard "Rider Up!" and looked up to see six riders coming down towards me! They assured me I was almost at the top.

Once on King Ridge Rd, the road wanders through the middle of nowhere by ranches and lots of cows, with many good views of the fairly undeveloped California hills. The road goes up and down and up and down without end. Never flat. I was low on food -- the little food I had was quite unappetizing. Exhausted and feeling I'd rather be home than in this dead desolate cowland, and worried about not making it to the campground in Austin Creek, I eventually got to Cazadero a few hours later, after one flat tire. I would call this "the worst bike ride in California".

In Cazadero I binged on soda, chips, cereal and soymilk, and candy bars. Here someone told me it was only about a 45 minute biker ride to Guerneville, and another 20 minute ride to the campground at Armstrong Woods. It was boutu 4:15. With this I continued on.

I reached Guerneville at about 5:30. The lady in Safeway gave me directions to Armstrong Woods, but I found there was no campground here. The campground was ahead about 5 miles in Austin Creek SRA. Exhausted and not wanting to ride anymore in the dark, I found a nice stealth site not too far away (it would have been near-impossible without my hammock!). Public property always guarantees uninhabited land to afford a nights rest.

After seeing the trees in Armstrong Woods, I rode up to see Austin Creek SRA. The last part is a nightmare: 2.5 miles on a small road, straight up! So steep, I had to walk my bike on a good section of it! It would have been a true nightmare in the dark... There wasn't much as Austrin Creek SRA but a few trailheads, a simple and expensive campground, and a nice vista point where I ate.

With that I headed back to Santa Rosa to catch the bus back. I had a taco in a Mexican restaurant in Forestville just to have the excuse to practice a few words of Spanish. I got back to Santa Rosa at 1:40pm.

All in all a rewarding trip, but a very tiring one. I could have done without the second day.