Crescent City, United States - Polarsteps

55mi or 90km trip ending just over the border in California. First off I can’t leave Gold Beach without taking a selfie in front of the McKay’s supermarket where, apparently, we bought an alarm clock 22 years ago when I was there as a little boy with my parents. After an exhilarating downhill ride where the gps recorded 63,5km/h (40mi/h) we stop to look at the ocean. There a motorcyclist with bagpipes gives a chilling mini-concert. We also make a fist-bump photo in front of probably the last Dutch Bro’s coffee joint we’ll be seeing. We’ve seen a lot along the way but never managed to get something from there or take a photo. Hannah says they offer mediocre coffee so we shouldn’t feel bad. Just before we enter California and exit Oregon where weed is legal, we encounter this cannabis shop. Vildana has a warmshowers host for us in Hiouchi, a town not far away from the state border. Here we have a rest day and a hike in the redwoods National Park. Trees with trunks as wide as several people in diameter. Both hosts Misty and Thomas join us on the hike. It’s nice to be off the bike some days, even though the hiking isn’t always as light as could be, either. The hosts live right next to the park on a really steep hill so at the end all we have to do is climb up the hill on a trail and we are back home. Just before we find ourselves back at the house, Hannah spots two “banana snails”. Licking them gives you a tingling sensation in the tongue, according to her. Nobody feels like putting that to the test, though.