Michael Long-time newsletter readers know what the "Lost Coast" is, namely a remote coastal strip 200 miles north of San Francisco, almost near Eureka. Not even Highway 1, which runs along the entire West Coast, goes through here, too mountainous and inaccessible is the area there (Rundbrief 08/2004, Rundbrief 10/1998). Why we're always drawn back there, is probably because it inhabits a special kind of people, superficially perhaps a bit aloof and eccentric, but on closer inspection very warm and helpful.

To get to Shelter Cove, the adventurous tourist must drive about 25 miles from the small town of Garberville, located on Highway 101, crossing a hill range, and down to the ocean. Once there, they must make do with what is available; they can't just quickly go to the nearest grocery outlet or make a visit to the emergency room of a local hospital. For any undertaking, they must overcome the 25 mile winding road back to civilization. There is only one restaurant with a brewery attached, and only one supermarket of the "Mom-and-Pop" variety in the area. The "General Store" at the entrance of Shelter Cove is small but surprisingly well-stocked, from vegetables and bread to fishing gear, it has everything one needs for daily life. Sure, the goods there are slightly more expensive than in the big city, but not unreasonably so, considering the remoteness of the place.

Regarding supplies, there is electricity and Internet in Shelter Cove, but only weak mobile phone reception in some places. For example, we had no connection at all on the entire drive over the hills, but luckily you can't get lost there due to lack of alternative routes. Most of the residents there heat and cook with gas, which they store in large tanks in their frontyard, and the gas truck comes from time to time for a refill.

Since only very few tourists find their way to Shelter Cove, you'll hardly see anyone while hiking along the legendary several miles long Black Sands beach. Instead, you can find all kinds of washed up sea creatures, such as the otherwise rather rare sea urchins and starfish. Every half hour, we saw pairs of backpack-laden globetrotters, hiking south on the legendary "Pacific Trail" on multi-day tours that can only be done at low tide.

With our Honda Fit, nicknamed "Brummi", we took the time this time to explore small mountain roads along the coast, driving through remote villages with just a few houses. Especially the particularly potholed and amateurishly patched coastal road south of Cape Mendocino had caught our attention. Such tours, however, require good stamina, because sometimes you can't drive faster than 40 km/h due to the potholes, and occasionally even over unpaved sand tracks. We spent a great week, but then a rainstorm broke out, which, absolutely unbelievable for California, even brought a few inches of snow.

It was unusually cold this time during our visit. Despite being so close to the coast, the temperatures dropped to 32F during our stay, which was also a record for California. When a few raindrops came down as snow, which even stayed on the ground due to the cold weather, newspapers and news channels were filled with breaking news! Also, typical for California, this was enough to cause total traffic chaos.

The only road connecting Shelter Cove to civilization was temporarily closed due to storm damage, and no one could get down to ShelterCove or back up to Garberville on 101 to connect to the rest of Northern California. The only business in town had only one server the next day, who pointed out that the fish dishes on the menu were unfortunately not available due to lack of fresh fish. And when I ordered a burger, I was told that I could have avocado on it but unfortunately no bacon, as that was also out. We like the simple life!

When we wanted to drive home when our vacation ended after a week, the next problem came up: Although the connection from Shelter Cove to the main Highway 101 was now open again temporarily, on Highway 101, the only connection south, a few fallen trees, power poles and stuck trucks led to a complete closure.

It was no longer possible to drive down to the San Francisco Bay Area, unless one was willing to put on snow chains and crawl over adventurous small mountain passes to the east to reach I-5, which would have extended the four hour tour to more than eight hours.

We had booked a cottage in the town for a week through AirBnB, and had originally planned to drive back to San Francisco on Saturday. Our landlord, who was not on site but had been following the situation in the news, suggested that we just wait until the situation normalizes and generously offered to let us stay in the house for free for one or two more days.

It was also interesting that all communication by government agencies like the state road maintenance authorities was happening exclusively through Twitter and Facebook. We signed up on the Facebook group for Shelter Cove and read about daredevils reporting their adventurous and failed attempts to cross the mountain range back to Highway 101. "Caltrans", the state agency for traffic in California, reported on Twitter with photos about the closures of Highway 101 and recommended to monitor the situation and wait.

On Sunday morning, a favorable window of time opened up for us; the weather had cleared up, Google indicated that 101 was open with just one small detour, and brave local drivers had reported that the road from Shelter Cove leading over the hills was now passable despite some fallen trees and icy spots. Now or never, we thought, and set off, and it was no big deal. I drove our Honda Fit with summer tires slowly over the few icy spots on the mountain pass and pulled over twice to wave pickup trucks with balloon tires through and to let them barrel down the road past me. As readers can imagine, under normal conditions I would have mercilessly snubbed such vehicles, but these were not normal conditions!

Except for a few places where Highway 101 southbound had only one lane open, and Caltrans employees directing traffic with "Stop/Slow" signs, letting traffic through in one direction while cars had to wait in the other, we made it through fairly quickly and then arrived safely back in the Bay Area.

• More topics you might be interested in:

  	Heavy California Rain
  	Superbloom
  	Top Product: Selfie Mirror for the System Camera
  	Corona finally caught up with us
  	Declaration of goods upon entry
  	California, the Nanny State

  
  

• More topics you might be interested in:

  	Heavy California Rain
  	Superbloom
  	Top Product: Selfie Mirror for the System Camera
  	Corona finally caught up with us
  	Declaration of goods upon entry
  	California, the Nanny State