Day Total - 47.7 miles
Trip Total - 1,026.0 miles
One thousand miles.
We tried to get an early start this morning to beat the rain that was (as usual) expected to start late in the day, as well as to avoid the Sunday RV traffic. Because we had some bike maintenance to do, however, we didn't get out of camp until close to 10:00. We pedaled back to 101, where we immediately started a steep climb up the cliffs we had seen at the north end of Nehalem Bay the day before. At the top, we stopped and looked back south. We could still see the Three Arch Rocks, which first became visible to us from Cape Lookout two days earlier. We also had an excellent view to the south over Nehalem Bay.
From the viewpoint, we dropped back down into Oswald West State Park, where we were slightly inland under dense forest cover. There was no rest for us, however. As much as I would have loved to stop and hike around a bit, it wasn't in the cards today and we started up another climb almost identical to the first. By this point in the trip though, we both had little trouble sustaining a comfortable pace over long climbs. We reached the top with no trouble, then, after entering Clatsop County, started the steep descent down to the Arch Cape Tunnel. It was a good thing traffic was still light when we went through, because there was absolutely no way that a car could safely pass a bike inside, and that wouldn't have stopped drivers from trying.
We proceeded north to Cannon Beach, a seaside tourist town situation in the shadow of Haystack Rock, a gigantic monolith jutting straight out of the water just offshore. Strangely, many of the streets in the southern part of town are named for Alaskan rivers. It also has a steep pitch to climb before dropping into the downtown area and a fairly confusing network of streets. The strange layout gave us a little trouble, as the constantly-changing street names didn't seem to line up with the ACA map. We spent a few minutes trying to figure out where we made a wrong turn before we figured out that there was just no way to label all the times we went down a different 3rd St.
While getting back on the highway, a new obstacle appeared - an elk. It wasn't the elk itself that was the problem though. A few cars had stopped between the onramp and the roadway, and people were walking around on the road (a freeway) taking pictures. It was a dangerous situation for us, but fortunately we were able to get through safely, although Kevin couldn't resist expressing his displeasure at a couple of the gawking tourists.
Shortly afterward, at the junction with US 26 coming in from Portland, we passed the 1,000 mile mark for the trip. My odometer flipped over to 0 and we had a little celebration in motion as we coasted down the hill.
A few miles later, we turned off 101 into the town of Seaside. This would be the final time on 101 for the trip, though we crossed it once more later in the day and will do so again in Washington. We made our way down to the beachside Prom in the resort town. Seaside is something like Portland's version of the Hamptons or Santa Cruz, with expensive beach houses and wide, sandy beaches (likely bulldozed dunes rather than natural, however). The Prom is the beachside walkway/bike path, and we followed it to its northern end before heady out of the ritzy town.
From Seaside, we climbed up and over clear-cut hills to the Lewis and Clark River valley. We were getting close to Astoria at this point, and the Lewis and Clark related sites were increasing in frequency. After a stretch of pastoral countryside, we passed Fort Clatsop, where Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1805-06. The weather was threatening, however, so we didn't stop; besides, it's a reconstruction anyway. Just a few miles later, we turned onto Business 101, which would take us over a pair of bridges into Astoria.
Astoria, at the northwestern tip of Oregon, is built on a point of land between the Columbia and Young's Rivers just a few miles east of the former's mouth. We stopped to check motel locations before continuing up the hill in the center of town to avoid busy Marine Drive. We checked in at the Astoria Dunes Motel, close to the Astoria Bridge over the Columbia to Washington. We would not be crossing that bridge, however. It is about 3 miles long, narrow, and exceptionally steep on the approaches. For all intents and purposes, it's certain death to cyclists.
We decided to get a room for two nights, partially as a reward for passing the thousand mile mark and partially because tomorrow's forecast calls for heavy rain throughout the lower Columbia Valley. Later, we walked up the riverfront for pizza. We saw tankers lined up for passage through the shipping channel to Portland and had to avoid the waterfront trolley on a narrow mixed-use bridge. Finally, after what seemed to my stomach to be an eternity, we got to the pizza place. We both got large pizzas for ourselves, plus a dozen wings to share. Thanks to cycle touring, I think we ended up taking home a combined quarter of a pizza and nothing more.
Trip Total - 1,026.0 miles
One thousand miles.
We tried to get an early start this morning to beat the rain that was (as usual) expected to start late in the day, as well as to avoid the Sunday RV traffic. Because we had some bike maintenance to do, however, we didn't get out of camp until close to 10:00. We pedaled back to 101, where we immediately started a steep climb up the cliffs we had seen at the north end of Nehalem Bay the day before. At the top, we stopped and looked back south. We could still see the Three Arch Rocks, which first became visible to us from Cape Lookout two days earlier. We also had an excellent view to the south over Nehalem Bay.
From the viewpoint, we dropped back down into Oswald West State Park, where we were slightly inland under dense forest cover. There was no rest for us, however. As much as I would have loved to stop and hike around a bit, it wasn't in the cards today and we started up another climb almost identical to the first. By this point in the trip though, we both had little trouble sustaining a comfortable pace over long climbs. We reached the top with no trouble, then, after entering Clatsop County, started the steep descent down to the Arch Cape Tunnel. It was a good thing traffic was still light when we went through, because there was absolutely no way that a car could safely pass a bike inside, and that wouldn't have stopped drivers from trying.
We proceeded north to Cannon Beach, a seaside tourist town situation in the shadow of Haystack Rock, a gigantic monolith jutting straight out of the water just offshore. Strangely, many of the streets in the southern part of town are named for Alaskan rivers. It also has a steep pitch to climb before dropping into the downtown area and a fairly confusing network of streets. The strange layout gave us a little trouble, as the constantly-changing street names didn't seem to line up with the ACA map. We spent a few minutes trying to figure out where we made a wrong turn before we figured out that there was just no way to label all the times we went down a different 3rd St.
While getting back on the highway, a new obstacle appeared - an elk. It wasn't the elk itself that was the problem though. A few cars had stopped between the onramp and the roadway, and people were walking around on the road (a freeway) taking pictures. It was a dangerous situation for us, but fortunately we were able to get through safely, although Kevin couldn't resist expressing his displeasure at a couple of the gawking tourists.
Shortly afterward, at the junction with US 26 coming in from Portland, we passed the 1,000 mile mark for the trip. My odometer flipped over to 0 and we had a little celebration in motion as we coasted down the hill.
A few miles later, we turned off 101 into the town of Seaside. This would be the final time on 101 for the trip, though we crossed it once more later in the day and will do so again in Washington. We made our way down to the beachside Prom in the resort town. Seaside is something like Portland's version of the Hamptons or Santa Cruz, with expensive beach houses and wide, sandy beaches (likely bulldozed dunes rather than natural, however). The Prom is the beachside walkway/bike path, and we followed it to its northern end before heady out of the ritzy town.
From Seaside, we climbed up and over clear-cut hills to the Lewis and Clark River valley. We were getting close to Astoria at this point, and the Lewis and Clark related sites were increasing in frequency. After a stretch of pastoral countryside, we passed Fort Clatsop, where Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1805-06. The weather was threatening, however, so we didn't stop; besides, it's a reconstruction anyway. Just a few miles later, we turned onto Business 101, which would take us over a pair of bridges into Astoria.
Astoria, at the northwestern tip of Oregon, is built on a point of land between the Columbia and Young's Rivers just a few miles east of the former's mouth. We stopped to check motel locations before continuing up the hill in the center of town to avoid busy Marine Drive. We checked in at the Astoria Dunes Motel, close to the Astoria Bridge over the Columbia to Washington. We would not be crossing that bridge, however. It is about 3 miles long, narrow, and exceptionally steep on the approaches. For all intents and purposes, it's certain death to cyclists.
We decided to get a room for two nights, partially as a reward for passing the thousand mile mark and partially because tomorrow's forecast calls for heavy rain throughout the lower Columbia Valley. Later, we walked up the riverfront for pizza. We saw tankers lined up for passage through the shipping channel to Portland and had to avoid the waterfront trolley on a narrow mixed-use bridge. Finally, after what seemed to my stomach to be an eternity, we got to the pizza place. We both got large pizzas for ourselves, plus a dozen wings to share. Thanks to cycle touring, I think we ended up taking home a combined quarter of a pizza and nothing more.
View Day 27 - Manzanita, OR-Astoria, OR in a larger map
Congrats on the milestone!
ReplyDeleteLooks like some rain in your forecast. The motel offer still stands...
ReplyDelete