PCH - Day 18 to Elk Prairie Campground, Redwoods National Park

​We awoke early for what turned out to be a 70 mile day. Crescent City was a route flat and cold with rain at 51 degrees. Immediately leaving the city we ascended a 1500 foot hill to enter the lofty mountains of Redwood National and State Parks. We pushed above the clouds and were treated to a summit awash in sun and blue skies. A harrowing descent into the dank fog brought shivers as we crafted our way across highways towards a 1000 climb at Prairie Creek Redwood State Park. I just couldn’t figure out how to thermoregulate. Keep my jacket on and sauna my saunters up climbs or jacket off for cool breeze on flesh that began to freeze on downward rides. However, approaching Elk Prairie Campground, we left the main traffic and had 6 miles of downhill all to ourselves through the heart of the original old growth stands of redwood. It was shocking to see the girth of trees in comparison to bikes.