Comptche to Mendo, For Real
After our accidental, but no less fruitful detour we got back on track with a shorter-than-usual trip on May 21 to May 23, 20225. It seemed only fitting that since we discovered the Orr Hot Springs Resort during our wayward ramble last time, we should make it our base camp this time, for the walk from Comptche to the town of Mendocino.
We splurged and got a tiny cabin replete with a classic grandma and grandpa style arrangement of a twin bed on either wall covered in floral bedspreads and dull amber lights affixed above each. The resort did not supply knit cotton nightcaps, but they would have been just the touch.
Jo has custom-made earplugs just in case anyone else in the two-person cabin happens to be a snorer.
After each all-day walk, we swam and soaked and prepared a meal in the beautifully equipped commercial kitchen that is made available twenty-four/seven to guests. Each morning, I plugged in my air popper and whipped up batches of popcorn with butter, salt, and nutritional yeast to snack on throughout the day.
One evening after dinner, I waded up the headwaters of Big River, which run through this twenty-seven acre property. In the space of thirty minutes, I saw a turtle, a fawn stepping through the river, ruins of an old brick building with a waterspout, banana slugs, newts. If the sun hadn’t been ready to drain its last light, I would have stayed for hours.
The last walk of the trip we continued to follow Comptche Ukiah Road until it gives way to Orr Springs Road and finally right onto Highway 1 and its busy overpass above the mouth of Big River. We decided to stop for a picnic on the nearside of the river mouth. Jo scouted a perfect lunch spot on the concrete foundation of a long-since erased building or retraining wall, jutting out over the water. As we snacked, we noticed a boat lunch in the water below us.
After we ate, we made our way down to the launch and asked if the two young men working there would consider ferrying us across the river so we could avoid walking at the bitter edge of the overpass. They were overjoyed to help and dismissed the idea of us paying for it. Jo pressed some cash into their hands any way, and in a flash, Ian and Russel handed us life vests and paddled us across. It was one of those moments of serendipity that spring us into joyous incredulity on almost every walk.
One of many tranquil gardens on the grounds of Orr Hot Springs
The Headwaters of Big River along the Orr Springs Resort Camping area
Jo grabbing a shot of Ian and Russel paddling back to their dock, and their co-work who waved to us from the other side of the river mouth.
