Making Hayfork while the sun shines

The forecast today was for more rain and when we woke up, there it was, right outside our window.

We got straight into the wet weather gear and headed back into Ferndale to see Marc Davis again and spend a bit more time exploring the town. The rain was mostly just a drizzle, but there were some ugly wind gusts that blew us all over the road, especially on the very exposed bridge over Eel River

Ferndale is a very well preserved Victorian town, with beautifully preserved period buildings. The great highlight for us was when Marc introduced us to the Blacksmith Shop and Blacksmith Shop Gallery, decidedly one of the best collections of forged iron and other works by a variety of artists, including Peter Fels, whose distinctive work we recognised instantly. For more info see: http://www.ferndaleblacksmith.com/

We had to get going, so we said our farewell to Marc and headed back across the Eel River and south east onto Highway 36 heading for Hayfork and thence Weaverville where we planned to spend the night. The traffic going in our direction was very light, so we were able to amble along at a relatively slow and comfortable pace given the conditions. The road wound up a picturesque valley with stands of giant redwoods and climbed across some high ridges until we reached Dinsmore where we stopped for coffee and a break. Despite the apprehensive start of wind and rain we were protected from the worst because we were riding through the forests. Only on the crests did we feel a sudden rush of wind.

(That's Chris and our motorbike at the bottom right corner of the photo.) At one stage the road narrowed to a little more than a single lane with no centre line marking, and it was prudent to keep well right on blind corners. There were sheer drops overlooking pine covered mountains on the other side. On several occasions we encountered on-coming vehicles, when our caution was rewarded.

From Dinsmore the weather briefly deteriorated, but as we approached Hayfork it slowly improved, with patches of blue sky becoming more frequent and larger the further we rode, so by the time we got to Hayfork the sun was shining and the road dry. We stopped there for a late lunch before continuing the final 30 miles into Weaverville where we settled into the 49er Gold Country Inn for the night. This is a pretty town, surrounded by mountains - with those to the east still snow capped. The crisp, cold  air came with the scenery.