The Lost Coast Road of Northern California.

California's Lost Coast road in Humboldt and Mendocino counties was named after it lost most it's population in the 1930's. Besides the loss of population, the state and federal government decided it was too costly for too few people, to justify any road construction. What is left is a very old, not quite 2 lane potholed 65 mile road. But first, to get to this starting point we must drive through the Avenue of the Giants, Rockefeller Grove of the Redwoods. 

 Rockefeller Grove is so named because John D Rockefeller saw and financed the purchase of the largest grove of "old growth" redwoods in the world.

This tree trunk fell in 2006 and the rings put it as a seedling in 916 AD.

The grove of redwoods are so tall and thick that light seems to be an option.

South Fork of the Eel River named because the early settlers though the indigenous Indians were fishing for eels but in fact were fishing for lamprey.

Single lane bridge crossing the Mattole River.

The Mattole River is typical for California in that it's struggling to maintain a native salmon population. Unfortunately the Mattole River has gone from a yearly population of 19,000 to 22,000 fish to just 4 in the year 2010-2011...so sad!

With only about eight buildings in the area, I commend the valley on its upkeep for such a beautiful meeting hall.

We were very surprised to see this zebra in a field of horses.

Wow...then we see the mate trot up next to the first one. These are some beautiful animals to view outside a zoo.

Here the Mattole River finally reached the ocean.

Although it was an unusual 82 degrees as the crow flies inland 5 miles, when we got to the ocean it dropped quickly to around 54 degrees.

Now it's time to start uphill away from the ocean.

Hard to beat a lunch a thousand feet above the ocean...because it was cold at sea level!

 Nearly at the end of the 65 mile drive sits the victorian town of Ferndale, California.

While we like walking through the history in old cemeteries but this one was special in that it flows uphill.

This was a very unusual cemetery in that so much of it was above ground.

The town is rightfully called a Victorian Village because of the many beautiful architectural examples.

Both sides of the main street show building after building of this great restored victorian edifices. 

When was the last time you saw a Rexall sign?

The Golden Gait Mercantile store has products on its shelf that are older than me.

Donna found some great bean soup packages.

I was expecting to see some "Dapper Dan Pomade" hair gel...ha ha

Hard to beat an RV park that is this close to my favorite motorcycle at Redwood Harley-Davidson in Eureka, California.