The Humboldt / Lost Coast / surrounding areas thread

[MeefZah]

Your Taco is looking great man! Are you able to keep up with those 2 big dogs?

"Keep up", what am I, like 100 with a broken hip? LOL. Yeah, the dogs are a motivating reason to get / keep a truck; it's just easier and cleaner to move them around in a truck, plus they love riding in the bed.

We got a decent sized backyard so they are always wrestling around with each other there; when they get bored of that I run them to the dog park on Del Norte St by the bay and let them tear it up for a while, we walk them through Sequoia Park a lot, too.

Here's a funny pic of the male (Bosco) that Meredith took yesterday when I was reorganizing the closet and tossing some old uniforms:

 

[xwake4lifex]

"Keep up", what am I, like 100 with a broken hip? LOL. Yeah, the dogs are a motivating reason to get / keep a truck; it's just easier and cleaner to move them around in a truck, plus they love riding in the bed.

We got a decent sized backyard so they are always wrestling around with each other there; when they get bored of that I run them to the dog park on Del Norte St by the bay and let them tear it up for a while, we walk them through Sequoia Park a lot, too.

Here's a funny pic of the male (Bosco) that Meredith took yesterday when I was reorganizing the closet and tossing some old uniform stuff (not the hat!):

"Keep up" hahaha :rofl:. I guess I meant space-wise for the dogs! I bet they need lots of exercise to tire out.

That is a golden photo! Lol.

 

[MeefZah]

Just came back from 20 days / 8100 miles in the 4R to Alaska.

Blog (bad words and thoughts abound) here:

August 2019 Alaska trip - MeefZah

 

[MeefZah]

If anyone is interested, we are doing a loop of some FS roads off 36 on the south side of S Fork Mtn on 10-23. Nothing super tough. A girl who works with my wife has a pretty sweet lifted / armored Subaru and wants to tear up some dirt. We'll likely do Picketts Peak trail and some sporty one lane dirt off of NF23 / Horse ridge lookout road. Probably be an all day thing what with the 36 closure.

 

[MeefZah]

If anyone is interested, we are doing a loop of some FS roads off 36 on the south side of S Fork Mtn on 10-23. Nothing super tough. A girl who works with my wife has a pretty sweet lifted / armored Subaru and wants to tear up some dirt. We'll likely do Picketts Peak trail and some sporty one lane dirt off of NF23 / Horse ridge lookout road. Probably be an all day thing what with the 36 closure.

^ trip pics:

October 2019 Shasta-Trinity NF - MeefZah

 

[2112 R]

^ trip pics:

October 2019 Shasta-Trinity NF - MeefZah

Looks awesome, keep up the pics, we miss the area so much.
Wife and I are trying to plan a trip with the 4runner up to Arcata to see the in laws next June or July.
Since it's been 10+ years since I was last up there on the trails I'll need a few recommendations to take them all on as the time approaches, seems like new gates and closures pop up all the time in eastern Humboldt and Trinity from some of the early research I'm been trying to do.
Again, love the true NorCal pics and adventures. Keep 'em comin'.

 

[MeefZah]

Got a Christmas tree up S Fork Mtn on Tuesday... got to use my winch...

December 2019 South Fork tree trek - MeefZah

 

[MeefZah]

Bear River Ridge Rd a few days ago

 

[MeefZah]

Some other recent pics. Kneeland Rd, Petrolia zebras, Showers Pass Rd

 

[MeefZah]

Hope everyone is doing okay in our pre-end times existence!

I was planning on going to Moab for 2 weeks in April but all vacations have been cancelled.

I guess there's worse places to be "stuck" than our area!

Made a fast 13 hour run yesterday to (location not listed for security reasons) and had a pretty enjoyable time experiencing all the seasons in one day...

From this

to this

to this

to this

...

let's see, in other news I pretty much have the Tacoma exactly how I want it... just in time to sell it and start over again with a '19 4R ORP...

 

[RY-ZAH]

Where did you go? I have G-14 security clearance.

 

[MeefZah]

Where did you go? I have G-14 security clearance.

Didn't I tell you??????????????

 

[MeefZah]

S Jetty - & sand road that runs south to Eel River

 

[MeefZah]

Keeping my thread on life support...

A buddy from Ohio bought a used 2013 4Runner and drove it out here. He met his wife, who flew in, in Portland. Meredith and I then drove up and met them in Coos Bay, and we spent the next 4 days picking our way south along NF routes and camping out. Great fun!

All pics:

Ti-kki Trek 2020

Select pics:

 

[Rally runner vi]

Hey man! I am heading to the area tomorrow. Any coastline trail recommendations? Good camps spots? I would like to camp on te beach with my 4runner if possible. Thinking Usal beach or Shelter Cove. Thanks

 

[MeefZah]

Hey man! I am heading to the area tomorrow. Any coastline trail recommendations? Good camps spots? I would like to camp on te beach with my 4runner if possible. Thinking Usal beach or Shelter Cove. Thanks

A guy on the NorCal 2020 thread asked similar, here's my response. See below it for other notes.

Hello, just bought a new 2020 Sr5 Premium. I am in the process of getting a 3 inch lift, AT tires... etc. The family and I are dying to drive north from SAC hitting the Avenue of Giants and up to Fern Canyon. Taking in account that we are NEW to off roading and camping, do any of you have any suggestions on where to camp and off road? I plan 3 days! Thanks in advance!

Camp at Usal Beach and drive north up Usal Rd (rough dirt), then link over to Garberville and get on AoG and go north from there. Note - only camp there through the week, on weekends it can get rowdy. It's first come first served.
Alternatively there's some marked BLM campsites along Chemise Mountain Rd (the paved northern extension of Usal Rd) that are pretty quiet, but they aren't on the beach. There's also BLM sites at Lighthouse Beach near Petrolia and a few spots along Mattole Rd / Wilder Ridge Rd which is the main artery through the Lost Coast between Shelter Cove and Ferndale. They are also first come, first served.

There's great camping right south of Fern Canyon at Gold Bluff Beach campground, at the end of a sporty dirt road that takes you into Fern Canyon. Gold Bluff will likely require reservations.

I'm in Eureka and these are my stomping grounds so if I can be of assistance on your trip feel free to PM me. If you have regular questions post them in the thread so the info can be available for others.

There's also a Lost Coast thread (mine) which has some good info. If you come up here, post some pics in it. I'm trying to keep it alive.

The Humboldt / Lost Coast / surrounding areas thread

Have fun! It's an awesome area. Most of these "norCal" guys have no idea what's actually north of SF...

Usal Beach "campsites" are open. At least a week ago the BLM campsites out that way were closed though. There's no "trails" per se but Usal Rd is fun running it all the way from Hwy 1 to Chemise Mtn Rd. You can drop down off it at "4 corners" to Sinkyone State Park on the ocean. Continuing north, there's some fun gravel in the King Range but a lot of those roads dead end so check a map. Continuing north, off Lighthouse Rd in Petrolia there's a campground, but it is also BLM and may be closed. If you take Lighthouse Rd to its end and then drive up the unmarked dirt road on the left just before the end, that winds up the bluff to a gated BLM 4x4 Rd: Windy Point Rd. That road then drops part way down the bluff onto a big plain that overlooks the ocean, you might could renegade camp there (but it's windy as hell). I haven't been up there yet this year. Gates should be open but who knows with the way the BLM is keeping campsites closed.

Post pics!

 

[MeefZah]

^

Asked a buddy who just came through there, he said all BLM campgrounds in the Lost Coast are open, as is AW Way County Campground near Petrolia, and Mattole River Campground at the end of Lighthouse Rd... but all are pretty busy.

 

[Rally runner vi]

Thanks for all the details! I will keep all of that in mind next time we go because there is a lot to NorCal and we have hardly explored any of it. Me and my buddy ended up staying at Shelter Cove the 1st night and stayed the 2nd at a campground that was essentially a parking lot on the north jetty at the entrance of Humboldt bay. All of the other good campgrounds were packed the 2nd night so that was what we were left with. Throughout the trip, we biked and offroaded around the area. Did a river crossing at the Eel River in Rio Del, hit Samoa Dunes and drove on the beach, and drove on the beach at Shelter cove. Almost got stuck on the beach at Shelter because we were not paying attention to the tide like idiots but we made it back. Almost didn't make it back across the Eel river the 2nd time as well haha. Heard some water entering when I was reversing to get another run at it. It was a great trip, but it was hard to want to explore any other roads because of all the farming and sketchy people in the mountains. Also, this is my first time posting on this forum so sorry if I am not doing it all exactly right. My photos are not uploading for some reason. I will post this and continue trying

 

[Rally runner vi]

Where we camped night 1:
IMG_20200802_200730_464.jpg - Google Drive

Shelter Cove:
20200803_101017.jpg - Google Drive

Eel River by Rio Del:
20200803_131508.jpg - Google Drive

Samoa Sand Dunes:
20200804_114247.jpg - Google Drive

 

[MeefZah]

Where we camped night 1:
IMG_20200802_200730_464.jpg - Google Drive

Shelter Cove:
20200803_101017.jpg - Google Drive

Eel River by Rio Del:
20200803_131508.jpg - Google Drive

Samoa Sand Dunes:
20200804_114247.jpg - Google Drive

Unable to see your pics