Day Total - 42.1 miles
Trip Total - 1,068.1 miles
We're camping less than 10 yards from the Columbia River.
We got out of the motel on the late side, around 10:30 in the morning. The weather looked good though, with scattered non-threatening clouds and a nice westerly wind for our eastward jaunt up the Columbia River. Getting out of Astoria was not as pleasant, however. Narrow streets with lots of traffic made the first couple miles a white-knuckle affair. Everyone was driving slowly though, so we got through without any serious scares. On our way out of town, we stopped at Safeway for groceries, which took a good half hour. With that out of the way, we pedaled east on US Route 30.
It wasn't long before we stopped again. Kevin was getting serious play in his cranks, so he stopped to try to fix the problem. At first, he thought he had a loose cassette, so he removed the rear wheel and tried to tighten it. That turned out not to be the problem though, so he tried tightening his pedals. It seemed to work, or at least lessen the problem, so we were on our way after a 45 minute stop.
The road through this area was actually fairly hilly. Despite generally following the Columbia River, US 30 stays away from its often marshy banks and instead runs through the forested hills a bit to the south. The shoulder was mostly good, and because of the tailwind, we made great time. However, Kevin was figuring out that his pedals weren't the issue with his bike, nor was it anything to do with the crank arms. More likely, it was his bottom bracket, a part that would need to be fixed at a bike shop. The problem was that the next one was two days away in Centralia, WA. The bike was still rideable, at least, so we continued on, albeit at a slightly slower pace.
That pace was fine though, because after a long, steep descent off of Clatsop Summit, we arrived in the town of Westport at about 2:40. From here, we would be taking a ferry to Puget Island (nothing to do with the sound) on the Washington side of the Columbia. We had half an hour to kill before the ferry left though, so we used the time to refuel and rest on the roadside.
The ferry came in at 3:15, at which point we and the waiting cars loaded up for the ten minute journey. The ship was very simple - just a flat deck with a pilot's tower on one side. We paid the $2 bicycle fare and stood off to the other side until we docked on Puget Island at about 3:30. After letting the cars go ahead of us, we stopped for the required picture at the "Welcome to Washington" sign and then rode north across the island. It was a flat few miles through agricultural land, so even with a slight headwind, we hit the bridge to the mainland in no time.
On the north side of the bridge, we entered the town of Cathlamet, where we made a right turn upriver onto State Highway 4. Other than the frequent lumber trucks, it was an excellent ride along the north bank of the Columbia. There were a couple climbs in the remaining 10 miles to camp, but they weren't especially difficult. After a final drop, we turned into County Line Park, right on the Wahkiakum/Cowlitz border, at about 5:00.
We were about to pay the $5 tent camping fee when the camp host came up and told us that they don't charge cyclists! We were pleased with that, and we set up our tents in the narrow space allotted between the highway and the river. We weren't more than 10 yards from the bank, which gave us excellent view of the humongous ships passing on their way to and from Portland and other river ports. Road traffic, although fairly light, was even closer than the river though, so it wasn't exactly a quiet campsite.
Trip Total - 1,068.1 miles
We're camping less than 10 yards from the Columbia River.
We got out of the motel on the late side, around 10:30 in the morning. The weather looked good though, with scattered non-threatening clouds and a nice westerly wind for our eastward jaunt up the Columbia River. Getting out of Astoria was not as pleasant, however. Narrow streets with lots of traffic made the first couple miles a white-knuckle affair. Everyone was driving slowly though, so we got through without any serious scares. On our way out of town, we stopped at Safeway for groceries, which took a good half hour. With that out of the way, we pedaled east on US Route 30.
It wasn't long before we stopped again. Kevin was getting serious play in his cranks, so he stopped to try to fix the problem. At first, he thought he had a loose cassette, so he removed the rear wheel and tried to tighten it. That turned out not to be the problem though, so he tried tightening his pedals. It seemed to work, or at least lessen the problem, so we were on our way after a 45 minute stop.
The road through this area was actually fairly hilly. Despite generally following the Columbia River, US 30 stays away from its often marshy banks and instead runs through the forested hills a bit to the south. The shoulder was mostly good, and because of the tailwind, we made great time. However, Kevin was figuring out that his pedals weren't the issue with his bike, nor was it anything to do with the crank arms. More likely, it was his bottom bracket, a part that would need to be fixed at a bike shop. The problem was that the next one was two days away in Centralia, WA. The bike was still rideable, at least, so we continued on, albeit at a slightly slower pace.
That pace was fine though, because after a long, steep descent off of Clatsop Summit, we arrived in the town of Westport at about 2:40. From here, we would be taking a ferry to Puget Island (nothing to do with the sound) on the Washington side of the Columbia. We had half an hour to kill before the ferry left though, so we used the time to refuel and rest on the roadside.
The ferry came in at 3:15, at which point we and the waiting cars loaded up for the ten minute journey. The ship was very simple - just a flat deck with a pilot's tower on one side. We paid the $2 bicycle fare and stood off to the other side until we docked on Puget Island at about 3:30. After letting the cars go ahead of us, we stopped for the required picture at the "Welcome to Washington" sign and then rode north across the island. It was a flat few miles through agricultural land, so even with a slight headwind, we hit the bridge to the mainland in no time.
On the north side of the bridge, we entered the town of Cathlamet, where we made a right turn upriver onto State Highway 4. Other than the frequent lumber trucks, it was an excellent ride along the north bank of the Columbia. There were a couple climbs in the remaining 10 miles to camp, but they weren't especially difficult. After a final drop, we turned into County Line Park, right on the Wahkiakum/Cowlitz border, at about 5:00.
We were about to pay the $5 tent camping fee when the camp host came up and told us that they don't charge cyclists! We were pleased with that, and we set up our tents in the narrow space allotted between the highway and the river. We weren't more than 10 yards from the bank, which gave us excellent view of the humongous ships passing on their way to and from Portland and other river ports. Road traffic, although fairly light, was even closer than the river though, so it wasn't exactly a quiet campsite.
View Day 29 - Astoria, OR-Cathlamet, WA in a larger map
WASHINGTON!!
ReplyDelete