Hi Emily, First I would check w/ the local CDF in the area and check the road conditions. If you are going off road that much make sure that you get good BLM, CDF or USGS maps of the area. I have seveal that my Grandpa gave me of the western part of the state (my family has been here over 120 years). The terrain in the areas you are going to generaly preclude cell phone usage so it's best to make sure someone knows your preposed route and return times. Also a hand held radio (CB) can be some help. In the parks make sure you check in and out w/ the rangers. In Humbolt there are several dope growers and it can bedangerous if you happen onto one of their little "farms". I gather from your questions that this is not your first time out here, that being said the same nasty weather that occurs on the eastcoast happens in these areas as well. The current weather has not had any floods but Humbolt, and surrounding areas flood often. A RAV4 should do the trick for the most part specially if you keep to the better fire trails. As far as Sinkyone or the "lostcoast" is concerned that is still on my hit list but here is what the cal parks website says about it. Also like many camps in this area they have no water supply of their own so plan on bring some in. http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=429 Sinkyone Wilderness SP State Park The rugged wilderness that once characterized the entire Mendocino Coast can still be explored and enjoyed in the 7,367 acre Sinkyone Wilderness State Park. Since there are no main highways near the coast in this vicinity, the area has come to be called the "Lost Coast." Location / Directions 36 miles southwest of Redway/Garberville on Briceland Rd. Take Briceland Rd. off Hwy. 101. Park is 36 miles southeast of Redway/Garberville. The last 9 miles are unpaved. Road may be impassable in wet weather. Latitude/Longitude: 39.9231 / -123.9422 Seasons/Climate/Recommended Clothing Summer 45-75 degrees. Morning and evening fog is common. Winter 35-55 degrees. Rainfall up to 80 inches per year, mostly occurring between November and May. About the park For thousands of years before the first Europeans arrived, the Sinkyone Indians lived in this part of the coast. They occupied permanent villages alongside streams and rivers, and moved out in family groups to hunt and forage in the hills during the summer. They spent time along the coast fishing, gathering seaweed and shellfish, and hunting seals and sea lions, and harvesting the occasional dead whale that had washed on shore. Fish were an important source of food during the winter. All kinds of fish were caught, but the seasonal salmon run was especially important. Most park visitors today assume that human beings have had little impact on this area. But every trail, road, or flat spot has been modified by human activity. Game trails were turned into pathways for pack mules loaded with tanbark for the tanneries of San Francisco. Roads were carved and graded for lumbering operations. Open areas and marine terraces were farmed and used to pasture sheep and cattle. Occasionally, what appears to be a wagon road or a modern jeep trail is actually an abandoned railroad right-of-way. Logging operations continued until well into the 20th century and wood products of various kinds were shipped to market from Usal, Needle Rock, Anderson's Landing, Northport and Bear Harbor/Morgan's Rock. Northport was not much of a port, but lumber schooners were able to take on their cargoes by means of a "wire chute," - a cable and block system that could run wood from the bluff to waiting schooners. Built in 1875, the Northport "chute" was one of the first of its kind on the coast.
