Staying on the Lost Coast

[canyonwalker]

North Coast Roadtrip travelog #6
Shelter Cove · Sat, 26 Jul 2025, 9pm

Tonight we're bedding down on the Lost Coast. "Wait, isn't that a brewery?" you might ask. Well, yes, we did visit the Lost Coast Brewery this afternoon, but this is different. The brewery is in Eureka and is named for a place, a really remote place, a bit south. Now we're actually in that place. The Lost Coast.

We've had a good day of adventure so far. We started in Garberville, a tiny town just off the highway that's basically a dot on the map (pop. fewer than 1,000) then drove north toward Eureka, driving the scenic byway of the Avenue of the Giants. We passed through Eureka en route to Sue-meg State Park, where we went rock-hounding on Agate Beach. Passing back through Eureka we stopped for lunch and the aforementioned brewery. Then, it was like, "You've tried the beer, now try the place!" Lost Coast. 🤣

Okay, but seriously, why's it called the Lost Coast? For one, it's seriously remote. There's a mountain range hard against the coast here, the Kings Range mountains. Yeah, there are mountains along most of the California coast, and these aren't even the highest— King's Peak is just over 2,000' elevation, which is lower than the highest peaks in the Santa Cruz Mountains near my home— but they are steep and rugged. The drive down from the peak to our hotel in Shelter Cove felt a bit like going down a roller coaster. The gal who checked us in at the hotel even asked, with a smirk, if we had trouble driving or with the brakes on our car as we came down the mountain. Hawk told me a few minutes later she was offended by the hotelier's almost snide humor about people having car trouble. Whereas I was like, Girl, we have a sports car, and we know how to drive it!

Anyway, long story short, it's seriously remote out here. The name Lost Coast apparently stems from when European settlers gave up trying to live out here around 100 years ago. The mountains isolate it too much from the rest of the state.

So, why are we staying out here? Well, one, because it's the Lost Coast. Just the name sounds awesome. And two, because we want to explore the area & stay at a hotel perched on cliffs overlooking the ocean.



And three, we didn't really want to stay another night in Garberville. Our motel room there was strictly basic accommodations; an 8-hours-and-a-shower kind of place. Here we've got a larger room with a nice little table to sit at, a sofa, and kitchenette, and a balcony. Yeah, it also costs like 3x more, but did I also mention there's an ocean view? Our room in Garberville had a literal parking lot view.



This inn also has a hot tub on its deck overlooking the ocean. That was one of the selling points for us, too; though it turns out it's broken. ☹️ Oh well, we'll just have to enjoy the hell out of our balcony.



And yeah, that's what we've done this evening: enjoyed the hell out of our balcony. We bought dinner at the pizza cafe attached to the hotel (I got a pizza; Hawk got a dish of lasagna) and took it back to our room to eat while watching the sunset. After the sun set Hawk grabbed a spare blanked and curled up with it on the balcony while I stayed inside, stretching out on the bed with the sliding glass door open and the heater running. It turns out the heater blows most of its heat onto the balcony. That seems like a design or maintenance problem, but for this evening it's been perfect. It's kept Hawk from shivering out on the balcony!

Comments

[some_other_dave]

Reminds me a bit of the Albion River Inn, where I and Ella stayed many years ago.