Damn those devils!

10/11/11
At an hour when most people are deep in REM and the late night bartenders of the world are just getting ready for bed, my camp was visited by thieves. You know the kind, with their bandit eye covering and their sneaky little hands. Those furry little critters with triangle ears that live in the trees. There were three of them and they somehow managed to get into my food. I'm still trying to figure out how they were able to reach behind the rain cover, up and under the top lid, inside the small collapsed hole at the top and from there rip a hole in the trail mix bag and scoop it out.

When I heard the rustling I was worried that it might have been one of those raccoon's larger cousins, but as soon as I shined my headlamp in their direction and saw those six reflective eyes staring back at me, I was relieved to say the least. I got up and decided I should probably hang my food bag from a tree. As I searched for my paracord in my front panniers I was amazed at the fearlessness the raccoons had, as they reappeared and tried to get back into my rear pannier! Those little devils! Haha. What's even more silly is that as I searched for a strong limb to sling my bag from, the raccoons followed me and watched for about two yards away as I hung their treasure just out of reach. I guess trail mix is the crack of the raccoon world.

After the fun little debacle with the raccoons, I returned to sleep...and sleep did I ever! I decided to stay relaxing in my hammock until 10am. By the time I finally got up, packed my stuff and hit the road it was close to noon. I suppose I needed the rest, but was worried about how I'd ever ride the 50 miles to Bandon before sundown.

Before leaving Winchester I rode by the lighthouse again and marvelled in the view. From there I rode down the hill and by Salmon Harbor again and saw some fish jump. I talked to some of the fisherman there and they said they were fishing for Salmon (hence the name of the harbor). One of them was proud to announce that he pulled an 18lb chinook out of there last week. I left the harbor and rolled through the rest of town, hit the highway, and headed up and over the hills out of town. For some reason I liked this little rundown town at Winchester Bay. Not as a place to live, buy it's a pleasant place to experience the outdoors and take in some gorgeous views.

I hit the next 20 miles to North Bend in more or less one shot. I was again riding through beautiful forested terrain, with a few hills and sand dunes to my right. The temperature was about 68F, a little wind, and blue skies with white puffy clouds blocking the sun. It was really good riding weather to say the least. The ride was very peaceful and although I felt pressed for time, I decided to just ride at a comfortable pace.

Before crossing the bridge into North Bend I stopped at a small veterans memorial on the side of the highway to take in the view. I was super hungry at that time and was looking forward to getting a good meal. The bridge that crossed Coos Bay into North Bend is a decent length. I would have considered taking the walkway, but it was under construction so I had to ride on the roadway, which had no shoulder. Luckily there was a button that I pushed which flashed lights to warn motorists of my presence. Most everybody was understanding including a logging truck, but I did get honked at out of anger once or twice. Calm down people...I bet if you were on a bike you'd be smiling. =)

In North Bend I began looking for a place to eat. I had seen a sign about 10 miles back that advertised Charleston Crab Shack, which sounded really good at the moment. The problem was that Charleston was still another 10 miles away. I decided to get a snack in North Bend before I would feast on crab, so I stopped at a small bakery and got a really tasty panini.

The bike route to Charleston is off of 101 and rides mostly through the city. It leads all the way out to Cape Arago and dead ends at the lighthouse out there. I wasn't going to take it that far, I just wanted some crab. I followed the signs to the crab shack all the way back to the fishing piers and much to my dismay, the place wad closed on Tuesdays. Oh well. I decided that the panini had been pretty filling so I stopped at a little market called Davey Jones Locker and got a clifbar and an ice cream cone.

I finished my cone and looked at my watch, which told me I better get a move on. The place I wanted to camp near Bandon, called Bullards Beach, was still about 20 miles away and it was just about four o'clock. I decided to try listening to some music thinking that it would help me keep my pace up, so I grabbed my iPod nano, put an earbud in one ear and set off down Seven Devils Rd.

I was wondering where that name came from...Seven Devils? I was thinking at first that maybe the road was seven miles long, or maybe there's some funny story about 7 devilish raccoons. I'm sure there must be a story behind it. I soon found out that the devils are the hills. I counted more than 7, but according to the graffiti on the road, that's where the name comes from. Those were probably some of the steepest grades I've had to deal with thus far, but the views from above are amazing. This road has one of the best examples of forested coastal mountains that the sunset coast has to offer. From the top of some of the hills you have 360 degree views of the South Slough National Estuarine Sanctuary. There are no houses out there, very few people, and just a lot of land. It's the kind of place I'd imagine Bigfoot would like to settle down in. I passed by a visitors center for the Sanctuary which I would have stopped at if I wasn't racing against the daylight. Although the hills wore me out (why does if seem like I'm always doing hills at the end of my day?) I was glad to have ridden through the area, and I made back onto the highway in record time...about an hour and a half. From there I only had two flat miles to go until Bullards Beach.

I rolled into Bullards at about 6:30. I was relieved that I beat nightfall. The campground was nice, but bigger and busier than I was used to. The campground was a long way from being full, but I think I had just grown used to setting up camp away from other people. The rangers were very nice to me and wanted to know all about my trip. I put my tent up quick, cooked some dinner, took another long warm shower, made a few phone calls and headed off to sleep. I was really pleased that I didn't have to deal with any rain today, and in fact it was really beautiful. The forecast is showing the next couple of days should be just as nice, if not nicer. I'm really enjoying seeing the world 10mph at a time.

Progress: 50 miles

Random roadside debris: a television

-D
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