Touring * Slalom *

From U.S. 101 fifteen miles north of Arcata, take the Trinidad exit west, which puts you on Main Street. Bypass the little shopping mall area close to the freeway and continue west until Main terminates at the intersection with Trinity Street. Turn left on Trinity and left again when you reach Edwards Street, which runs alongside the cliff. Park on the shoulder next to the cliff.

As a skating tourist in the quaint seaport village of Trinidad, you can cover more ground and see more sights than you can on foot. It seems like less effort, too, as long as you don't skate down (and back up) the steep hill to the beach.

Start your Trinidad tour on scenic Edwards Street, skating east up the street along the cliff. Test the fine pavement on one or two of the streets that lead north back up to Main Street, and check out the tourist shops along the way. If you enjoy taking a turn now and then through shopping center parking lots, by all means do a little trick practice if you spot one that's empty enough. Return to Edwards via Main and Trinity, the way you drove in. Buy some fresh salmon at one of the seafood shops, or inspect the old lighthouse and its gigantic fog bell preserved for posterity atop the cliff overlooking the harbor.

Expert down-hillers will want to take the steep descent down Edwards to the gravel parking lot near the wide beach next to the marina. Climbing back up the hill with a decidedly anaerobic effort, you'll appreciate the always fresh and cool ocean breeze.