Pacific coast North to south, taking in the California lost coast trail.

[Soulboy#1]

Hi everyone.

I hope all is well with everyone. Planning on the Pacific coast route in 2021 (Vancouver to Tijuana) and I’ve just discovered the lost coast trail in California. I’m potentially looking to follow the route verbatim as below.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/12307187

Is anyone familiar with this route., maybe ridden it before? I can’t find much online about anyone who’s ridden it. Trying to get an understanding of difficulty if it can be ridden with a touring bike with relative tyres etc. I can see there are a couple of shops and campgrounds along the trail so it doesn’t seem that desolate!

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[hikerjer]

I did that route a couple of years ago on my Kona Sutra touring bike (700 x 32 tires) with about 32 lbs of gear. I debated whether taking it at all since I'd heard it was tough. Ended up doing it and it's one of the best mistakes I ever made.  All told, the first thing I'd say is that's it's incredibly beautiful, especially the portion where it parallels the coast. Second thing I'd say is that the hills are absolute killers, with some incredibly steep grades. Truth be told, I did get off and actually walk my bike up on several occasions but I made it. One other thing, the traffic was very light, almost non-existent. It's well worth it in my opinion. Another thing, water can be a bit hard to come by so make sure you have plenty. I ran out and had to "borrow" some from the outdoor faucet of an unattended home. Some nice little towns in route and a couple of good campgrounds. The hosts I dealt with were incredibly friendly. One even refused to charge me for camping saying I'd earned it by riding the hills. Bear in mind that I had extremely nice weather for my ride. I reckon it can be real nasty if the weather goes south. But, overall I would highly recommend it. It's great but it ain't easy. I'd say go for it, depending, of course, on the weather.

[Soulboy#1]

Hi Mate

Thank you so much for the encouraging words. Id heard (from what i could find online) that's its a proper naughty bit of climbing. Funnily enough I've just bought a Kona 2014 for the trip. I believe that the 2014 was changed to more of the Rove geometry allowing for bigger wheels and just this afternoon have priced up some 32"s.

I understand that its incredibly beautiful place. Its my girlfriends first tour and we're not about to break any records, so walking ourselves up a few hills isn't a problem. Ive read some of the campsites are a bit hit and miss with Tolkan i believe to be the better one? Is that true?

Did you ride the exact route that I posted from RWGPS? I am aware that there is a spur that goes closer to the shore but the one in my original post doesn't seem to do that. I hear that to Honeydew from the 101 there is asphalt? I just want to make sure that the trail itself isn't boggy/muddy at all and its ridable the whole way, bar the steeper hills?

Any additional info will be greatly appreciated.

[PeteJack]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZXDdFaI1rM

[Soulboy#1]

Thanks for the reply Pete. Great video, and some serious miles in those legs!! They take a different route to the one I’d posted. It’s the bit between Honeydew, Shelter Cove and beyond down to route 1 just north of Rockport (I think between these points is where it gets slightly more remote).

Maybe I should contact the Humboldt Randonneurs. Thank you for the post it certainly helps to put the jigsaw together.

Best regards

[PeteJack]

I considered the Lost Coast when I was going down the coast myself but I was credit card touring and there's no accommodation that way. There's some pretty fierce hills going the regular route! At least for my old legs.