The Hammond Trail

The sun returned for a day and I headed north to Trinidad. First I had to cross the rusty old Mad River bike bridge. It had survived another storm...



At the Scenic Viewpoint above Clam Beach, I found these earnest young birders. Somebody had to speak up for the endangered Snowy Plover. Choosing to reach out to people who are actually in touch with birds, they set up on the cycle path, not in the nearby parking lot. And not a moment too soon--the Snowy Plover population on Clam Beach (in the background) has shrunk to just 15 birds.



I pressed on against noticeable headwinds. The short stretch ahead is the only remaining unpaved portion of the Hammond Trail.


The paved portions of the trail look like this:







The last three miles of the ride are on Scenic Drive, south of Trinidad. It never fails to take my breath away.



















The trip home across the Arcata Bottoms was fast and beautiful.













I took these photos with my iPhone camera, thus the rough edges and indefinite color. Much as I loved the Canon G10, it proved too bulky for day-long cycling. The new Canon S90 is close to the same camera in a much smaller package. But a slippery body with no handgrip, a free spinning selection dial and a popup flash sent my ergonomic warning dial into the red zone: this is a camera that fairly begs to be dropped in the middle of a pleasant bike ride. So my search for the ideal cycling camera continues.