Crossed into Oregon from Washington via the Astoria bridge - 4.2 miles with a pretty steep uphill, traffic and an OK shoulder. Being bike-friendly Oregon there was a button to push at the beginning that started a flashing sign to alert cars: "Bikes on Bridge." Cruised down the hill into the cute town of Astoria and found a great brew pub (Fort George) with over 15 microbrews and lots of vegan food on the menu. We love Oregon. After dinner and a few beers, we biked in a semi-drunk state nine miles to our campground.
The next morning, we headed out to Tillamook where our bus to Portland was leaving from the next morning. We rode through picturesque Cannon Beach and checked out the seastacks (big rocks coming out of the ocean) then headed up some serious hills and through our first Oregon tunnel. Immediately after crossing into Tillamook county, the road quality diminished. We googled a campground in Tillamook which ended up directing us to the forestry services building - not a campground. We asked some locals hanging out across the street where they would suggest camping and they directed us to a field behind the fairgrounds down the street (or the backyard of a sibling's former foreclosed house). It was starting to rain a bit and we needed water to cook with and a dry place to cook and eat dinner. Luckily, the Quickmart (though closed) offered all of these things! We made use of their water spout and covered picnic table and fired up the campstove to make a lovely dinner. (This was the first of a few ridiculous cooking spots brought about by rain which also include a town gazebo during lunch and under a bridge with a great view of the ocean.) Then, headed to the fairgrounds to sleep with the slugs and listen to Ranchero music from a nearby barn party. Worked out quite well.
Headed into Portland - hit up one of their fine vegan bakeries and headed out again to bike the Columbia River Gorge. So beautiful! In just 25 miles we saw about 12 waterfalls, hiked through beautiful forests and through the gorge. Amazing views of the river from the vistas along the bike ride. The view of the river valley from the first vista seriously rivaled Deception Pass as the best view of the tour. The next day, our friend Shayne picked us up to return to Portland giving us an extra day of biking (without touring bags) and hiking through the forests. Portland was awesome! Shayne and Melissa were amazing hosts - taking us on a vegan culinary tour of Portland (Melissa introduced Brian to wiffie pies which he continues to dream about every night), hooking Farah up with clipless pedals and shoes at the bike coop and then driving us out to the coast and camping with us at Cape Lookout where we all - including Misha, cutest dog ever - played on the giant sand dunes nearby and saw whales off the coast!
Continuing South along the coast Oregon was non-stop amazingly beautiful. It seems like almost the entire coast is part of the state park system. There are state parks and campgrounds (with free showers - thanks Oregon) every few miles and it seems like most of the coast is preserved and undeveloped - other than a few towns here and there. As we biked down the coast of Oregon we stopped to explore and hike - we visited estuaries, tidepools, sand dunes, beaches, lighthouses, giant rocks coming out of the ocean and a swamp of carnivorous plants. One of the more amazing places was Devil's Churn where violent waves crashed and churned along a chasm of volcanic black rock - and we saw a starfish in a tidepool (while keeping an eye out for killer Sneaker Waves.) We also liked Thunder Rock Cove where we climbed out over the ocean on the arch of a giant rock (and Brian only sort of slipped.)
Oregon was also super-hilly - one infamous area was Seven Devil's Rd where we rode along the crests of a mountain with 7 peaks. (Oregon likes naming things after the Devil...) On the day we saw our longest hills in Oregon, we also saw the "Worlds Shortest River" ("D" River) and the World's Smallest Harbor and lots of rain except at Cape Foulweather where the weather was perfect. Oh, and dolphins off the coast! We learned that Cape is code for really freakin steep hill that sometimes, like in the case of Cape Arago, have amazing views and beautiful hills and often has very fun downhills. Cape Arago also had sea lions barking off the coast and seals swimming about. Coming down Cape Sebastian traffic was only able to go one way at a time - we ended up behind the lead highway car riding our brakes so as not to pass them at 36 MPH.
Other random highlights: baby skunks on the beach (so cute), awesome tailwinds, meeting lots of other folks bike touring and hanging with them at the campgrounds (including 2 who happened to have a coffee grinder - yes, on their bike tip - just when we needed one), riding on the Old Coast highway which was beautiful and carless and watching a windsurfing competition at Pistol River.The downsides: strong crosswinds that threatened to blow Farah into traffic, a school bus trying to run Farah off the road and not finding Puffins.
All said: an awesome time.
No comments:
Post a Comment