I’m not sure if there’s a name for this phenomenon, but maybe you’ve noticed that whenever you’re driving carefully along a winding, narrow, possibly dirt road full of potholes searching for a specific location in the middle of nowhere, three miles can feel more like 50 miles. Just a few miles up Little Lake Road in Mendocino, not far from where we were staying, we went looking for the Forest History Trail (which I found in Bob Lorentzen’s book,The Hiker’s hip pocket Guide to the Mendocino Coast). We got disoriented and eventually ended up on a different trail (the historic Big River Haul Road, running along one side of the Big River) but it still made for an awesome afternoon hike.

We could have easily crossed the broken bridge, but in the end it didn’t matter

My only real regret is that I didn’t manage to shoot photos of two perfectly placed road signs we spotted on our seemingly never-ending drive in. I felt that I had been driving for hours, and we peered eagerly at anything that might be a helpful signpost. We had reached the point of wondering if we had somehow missed our goal and should we turn around and go back. That was when we saw it: Just Keep Going! And a few more doubt-filled minutes along the road: You’re Almost There! Thank you, anonymous sign maker! We did keep going, and it was well worth the drive.

We crossed three bridges before turning around