The Lost Coast

We ventured out to "The Lost Coast" of California for a few days - an aptly named, extremely remote part of the coast. The road out to The Lost Coast was the worst we have seen; steep, narrow, and seemingly one continuous pot-hole, sometimes filled, sometimes not. Quite the adventure in our van!
We ventured through the "town" of Petrolia where there was no petroleum or much else to be found. But we did stumble upon these amazing creatures grazing on a farm that we passed. What a surprise!

And these more common creatures were grazing by the sea.

We found a great campsite on BLM land (in a tsunami zone) where we stayed for 2 nights. The coast here is wild. Just look at the size of these waves.

We also stumbled upon this labyrinth in the sand.

We met some interesting folks while we were here. One wily, beach-encrusted fellow we met was bursting with excitement because the seasonal lagoon had just breached the sand bar that separates it from the ocean. He said that in the fall, when the rains return, the river rises and makes its way to the ocean, turning this summer lagoon into a wet-season estuary, allowing the salmon to spawn up the river. A sure sign of fall he assured us. Here's the lagoon / estuary with the breached sand bar in the background.

We also befriended a neighbor who was camping there with his 3 horses. He was on a hunting trip, and he shared some fresh black-tailed venison with us one night. It was delicious, but definitely tasted different than the white-tailed venison we are accustomed to.

Another guy we met was about to take a new job as one of the scientists assigned to build a machine that can measure a newly conceived particle called a neutrena. Who knew? You meet all kinds of folks on The Lost Coast!