Et In Arcata Ego

I'm taking a lazy day in this little college town. After biking through rain for three days, it was time to take a break to let my muscles relax a bit and wash some clothes. I rolled into town around noon along the Hammond trail, a little multi-use trail that took me off of the 101. A local cyclist rolled up next to me and helped me with directions into town. It turns out that he's a geology prof who studies the frequency of earthquakes; I kind of had him pegged for a prof when I first laid eyes on him. I wonder if my profession is so easily guessed. Arcata is a cute little town. The main square is full of dharma bums, and there are lots of cafes and the types of bars one would expect from a college town. The semester let out a couple of weeks ago, so it's fairly quiet. Yesterday I biked through the Red Woods national & state park; it was incredible. A fairly long day to have started in the afternoon, but I made it to Prairie Elk camp ground on the south end of the park. It rained, but this wasn't an experience which is diminished by rain - the trees are epic, but the panoramas are not, and the feeling of closeness and majesty is heightened by the trees disappearing into mist.

I met a cyclist from Michigan with whom I shared a camp fire.

He is dealing with the long-distant cyclist problem of knee pain and is wisely taking it easy, and in the morning I was on the road before he got out of his tent. I'm ready to hit the road again, but, just as I was getting set up the rain came again. I don't think that it will last that long, but I'm happy to delay my departure for a while. The next leg will take me to the Avenue of the Giants, and then down to highway 1 along the coast. If I can figure out a good route, I might try and visit a winery, though the climb from the coast might put me off!