The last day of our trip. We were all feeling a bit haggard and just a bit anxious to complete the trip. We actually had some choices on where to go for the day. We could have crossed the Coastal Range one last time back to Santa Rosa and complete a proper loop, but since we were driving back to Terry’s house after the day’s ride we could really ride to anywhere. We chose Point Reyes Lighthouse as we had all seen Santa Rosa….. Terry was a trouper and sagged the entire day.The morning was just a bit misty, the first bit of rain we had all trip. We said our goodbyes to the hotel caretaker and rolled out into the fog. Fortunately, the sun burned off the fog by 11 am so we had nice sunshine for the remainder of the day.
The traffic along Hwy 1 was also pretty light – the lightest we had encountered. We take a detour off Hwy 1 (Valley Ford Franklin School Rd.) to endure more climbing. The traffic on Valley Ford Rd. was reeeeally light. By the time we rejoined Hwy 1 we were rolling along Tomales Bay and couldn’t see the ocean. Again, the scenery along the coast was just incredible. The terrain was pretty barren and no redwood forests here.
We stopped for lunch at Cowgirl Cremery at Point Reyes Station. At that point we had two choices; we could go south to the lighthouse or north into the peninsula along the ridge of Point Reyes National Seashore. The peninsula looked a bit hilly so we opted for the lighthouse. The locals said there was a short climb and then down and flat to the lighthouse. We were also advised to take our rain gear as it was probably raining.
The climb over the ridge was pretty easy, about 1 mile in length. We then descended to the ocean side of the peninsula and expected the rain to start. But… wait. The sun was hotter than in the morning. In fact, the route to the lighthouse was quite hilly and rolled through a high desert. Rain? Ha!
We finally made it to the lighthouse about 4 in the afternoon after 4500 feet of climbing on about 16 miles of rough road. The weather was sunny and gorgeous and not that cool. The ranger at the station mentioned weather like we had in September was rare. We end up watching the seals and birds and other tourists for about an hour.
Pictures all around and then we start for home.
We stopped a few miles up the road and take a diversion to a beach for the traditional wheel dipping. No one wanted to dip their bicycles into the salty water so we took turns dipping Dave’s busted wheel into the surf.
And that’s it. Ride done. Sort of anti-climactic. But it seems that all of our trips end this way of sort of a resignation or finality. No celebration (wait, that’s tomorrow).
We piled back into the van for the ride back to Terry’s house. We hit San Rafael about 7 pm and looked for a burger joint for some grease and a beer. A couple of tries and queries later we ended up at some vegetarian joint that was having staff problems. It took quite some time to get our first drinks and when our food arrived, Dave decided that cold vegetarian pizza was not was he wanted. I agreed.
He and I left and went next door to a real burger joint for some grease, but no beer. Oh, well. We all finished our meals at the respective restaurants and we piled back into the van and drove back to the Valley. We dropped Robin off at his work (that’s where his car was) and we continue on to Terry’s house and arrive about 10:30 that evening.
Some quick hugs, a glass of wine, a hasty emptying of the van and unloading of the bicycles and we all hit the hay.
Day totals:
- Start: Bodega Bay
- End: Pt. Reyes Lighthouse
- Distance: 52 miles
- Climbs: Rolling through Point Reyes National Seashore
- Total gain: 4597 ft.