Leggett is supposed to be the hardest climb in CA- or at least thats what everyone says. But in all honesty- it was a breeze compared to OR and the steeper climbs. We rode about 6 miles to Leggett the town where we grabbed some food for lunch (bread to go with our peanut butter and cookies)-then left to start climbing. From here we turned off of 101 and onto 1- a smaller road that winds along to the coast, then along it all the way to San Francisco area.
Leggett was at about 900 ft- right after leaving we descended to 750. The summit was at about 1900 feet in 5 ish miles- the highest by far we've gone on the trip. But- we started much higher so the total climbing was less, and it wasn't nearly as steep. There were a lot of switch backs, so it went between an incline, and more level/false flat areas. I paused a few times just to be sure Cook was in sight, but we never had to actually stop and maintained a higher average than on other climbs. The decent was less fun though- again, winding so had to keep it slow since we didn't know what was around the next switch back. It lasted about 12 miles-we had to stop a few times to rest our hands from squeezing the breaks! They cramp up and makes it hard to keep it slow...
There was then 'Leggett, Part Deux' which was much shorter, only a 2ish mile climb, but steeper. I would certainly call it harder even though it was only about a 700 ft climb. Going up Leggett the traffic was very light. Up the second hill it was a little heavier- but people mostly took it pretty easy. Except for one giant RV driver. He saw us on a straight away- and as we turned right on a switch back he decided he couldn't wait any longer and had to pass right then! ...meaning he almost went off on the other side of the road. If there had been an oncoming car he wouldn't have known. To make it worse, he towing a Jeep behind his tour-bus style RV. Going around the next turn, a left, we saw him cut into the other lane when there was a car...luckily that car stopped and pulled over. Urgh. I don't get what the hurry is when driving an RV?? After this climb's decent we FINALLY got back to the beach! It was GORGEOUS! The water bluer than ever before.
Our campground was just a few miles down the beach- at Westport Union Landing State Beach. Again, it had hiker/biker sites so we only had to pay $3 each to camp. We took Surly down to the beach to run. She did her thing- chasing birds, running in crazy circles... It was really sunny all day which warmed everything up (but we were mostly in the shade of the trees while climbing) so we also got to see the sunset! We've only seen a few, and haven't been able to really watch any because its been too cold, or too cloudy. After we set up camp, a super nice couple- Lee and Susan pulled up to a site near us. Usually we dont like anyone near us :) but they provided great company for the evening, had a sweet dog who Surly had fun playing with, AND gave us beer. Can't complain one bit! Oh- and that big RV that passed us before--when they passed Lee and Susan (who were traveling North) they cut it close and made them have to pull off the road too.
Post Leggett Views
On the beach near the campsite
Climbs we did leaving Crescent City, CA
Leggett
Sunset from our campsite
No comments:
Post a Comment