Lost Coast

Ramblin’ during COVID

I drove north without a plan and ended up at the Inn of the Lost Coast

In the heart of Humboldt County, a stone’s throw from Murder Mountain, there’s a road called Avenue of the Giants, CA Highway 254, where the largest trees in the world grow including Giant Tree, Flat Iron Tree, and the fallen Dyerville Giant.

Drive east from Avenue of the Giants and there’s nothing but tall forest and marijuana empires for five hours until Redding. An hour into that there’s a bar that’s not on Google maps.

It’s a dilapidated shack painted forest green. A martini with a red cherry on a peeling blue sign: “Mad River OFF SALE.” Hammered into the white plastic door are the three black letters B A R. There’s a neon Raiders logo in the window.

It was the height of early Covid, drinking-only establishments were closed inside and restaurants reduced to various capacity percentages, but I could hear the seal barks of a lively B A R inside. Outside the door I found a dirt-covered old man sitting on the ground, …