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Tuesday 21 August 2012

Day 19: Tall hills and big trees - Crescent City to Elk Prairie Campground

Setting off from Crescent City just after 10 our next 10 miles we're uphill... And not just up a hill, up a 1100ft mountain. This is by far the highest climb we have had and also the steepest. There was no shoulder, but the majority of the traffic was really courteous and used the overtaking lane. It was freezing, but when I reached the top I was dripping from both sweat and the fog, which was do thick it was dripping from the trees too.
After having a break we noticed all the amazing Redwood trees around us - they were like giants, big friendly red giants and blue sky.

There were two further climbs before the big downhill, which took us down into Klamath, by the trees of mystery. We were freezing do stopped at the cafe which was a real underwhelming experience, but we just needed to get warm. There were only a few other shops, all with slot machines.

After another 10 miles we reached our second climb of the day. Along the 101 we climbed for about 5 miles, slow and steady, slow indeed as there was a really strong headwind, so even though it was sunny - we were still cold. Our route took us off 101 and along the Newton B Drury Parkway through the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.
This second climb took us up to just under 1k ft, reaching the top we were rewarded by the most amazing view of all the redwoods. The trees are simply stunning and huge! It was all downhill to the Elk Prairie campground, most of which I was looking up at the trees.
Setting up camp in the hiker biker campsite, we are under strict instructions not to leave any trace of food and put all food products even toothpaste into a bear locker. Let's hope we only get woken up by the Elk in the campground and not any furry black bears!
Miles today 34. Total miles 801.





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