Wilder Ridge Rd - Honeydew, CA

Wilder Ridge Rd is an unknown backroad that connects Mattole Rd on The Lost Coast with Shelter Cove Rd to the south. Is it a shortcut? Not a chance. It is remote, narrow, no-center-line goat for most of its length.

At the Honeydew General Store, the main Mattole Rd continues across the bridge, Wilder Ridge Rd splits off and heads due south. The road is paved, except for a steep, loose gravel triple hairpin about three miles south of town. Why this short section has never been paved is enough to stump the world's smartest road engineers. Just take it easy, pick your line, and climb on through—the gravel doesn’t last, and the asphalt resumes all the way to Shelter Cove Rd.

About ten miles in, you’ll hit a fork in the road. Veering right puts you on Kings Peak Road, which is pure dirt. The more traveled (and paved) path is the continuation of Wilder Ridge Rd, which changes its name to Ettersburg-Honeydew Road for the remaining 11.5 miles down to Shelter Cove Rd.

This entire stretch is the epitome of a remote backroad: narrow, no center line, and practically devoid of traffic. You’ll pass numerous hidden driveways along the ridges, proving that a few independent souls do live out here in the dense woods. When you finally hit the T-intersection at Shelter Cove Rd, you’ve arrived in Ettersburg—though don't look for a town, as it's just a lonely intersection in the middle of nowhere.

Once you reach the pavement of Shelter Cove Rd, you can hang a right to head west to the ocean at Shelter Cove, or turn left to head east back toward the Avenue of the Giants.

Not for every rider. But that's my buddy on his CBR1000RR pictured. We're headed north through the Coast Range & Mattole Rd is next into Ferndale. Then Highway 36. https://www.pashnit.com/ca-mattole-rd-the-lost-coast#wilder-ridge