Reno to Mendocino: Day 5 - Covelo, CA

The last day! From Covelo to the Fort Bratt on the Mendocino coast. The whole day was on dirt roads an up-down-up between valleys.

The morning in the camp was freezing cold. The temperature had dropped overnight to 40f. Getting out of the sleeping bag was a challenge.

The day started with a warm up out of the valley where we camped, and into Covelo. 

Covelo is a small town in a large valley just on the other side of the pass. 

Just out of the town we took Poonkinney road and went back to another instance of my favorite sign from the trip: Pavement ends.

Like every other day, the road started to go up, and it was quite steep.

The downhill would provide some respite.

It was a continuous up and down between valleys. 

We finally got to the 101 valley for a quick lunch break on the parking lot of a grocery store, followed by a fast downhill on 101.

As soon as we turned out of 101 we were back in a backroad that quickly turned to gravel. It also started to go up immediately! Even after people had told me to be ready, I was still in my big gears after the descent and I had to scramble to get my wheels moving again.

The road was a continous up and down across hills, until a fantastic downhill through a forest that got us in the outskirt of Fort Braggs. The arrival was fun: I got to dip my wheel in the ocean, and I was rewarded with a good mexican lunch at a nearby enstablishment. The food was delicious, but I think anything would have tasted delicious at that point! I have more pictures of the arrival, at some point I might add them here :)

The bus trip back to SF was fun and I got to chat more with my fellow travelers. This was a great trip!