Leaving Whitefish, we enjoyed a short and scenic ride through rolling countryside to a delightful camp at the town of West Glacier. If you are ever out this way and need a camping place this is the place to be. They have nice tree covered sites for RV's and a spacious, grassy lawn for tents. The open-air cafe offers great food at a good price and a suitably funky atmosphere. The next day was devoted to some very necessary and messy bike maintenance in the morning and a great raft trip down the middle fork of the Flathead River. The Middle Fork runs through some great country between Glacier Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness. The rapids were class 3 and had some good size waves...quite a nice trip.
WOW! Superlatives cannot describe the scenery in Glacier Park. Not wanting to grunt our way on bikes up the Going To The Sun Road (the steep, narrow, winding road which is the only way through the center of the park) we rented a car and took a big loop through East Glacier and back across the park. The weather gods smiled on us once agajn and the day which had started out overcast went blue for us. The road had only opened a week before and there was still plenty of snow up high with water cascading everywhere. The mountains and huge valleys here are just too spectacular to describe. At Logan Pass, the highest elevation of the road, we got out to gawk with the other tourists, and were treated to a mountain goat posing for pictures about twenty feet from our car. I tried to get Kelly to go up and give him a hug for a photo op but she wouldn't go for it. The road is under repair so we spent some time stuck in a hi-elevation traffic jam...not a bad place to be stuck but I couldn't help but wonder what a mess this place has got to be in mid season. I was surprised to find that the elevation of the park, in general, is not very high. The town of West Glacier sits at about the same elevation as our home in No. Cal and Logan Pass is at about 6200 ft...about the same as the hills we ski on at home.
We were now faced with biking over Marias Pass, the highest elevation and biggest bike climb of our trip. We had driven some of the road going to the put-in for our raft trip and it was not encouraging. The road is winding, narrow, has no shoulders, and (for some insane reason) a speed limit of 70 mph. Oh yeah, and the day we were planning to go heavy winds, 40 degree temps and thunderstorms were predicted...who wouldn't want to do that?! Luckily we planned ahead and drove our bikes and most gear to a hostel in East Glacier, on the other side of the pass. On departure day we were glad to have planned ahead as we woke to a lightning/hail storm as we broke camp. We loaded up our tent and minimal gear and jumped on the Amtrak train for a very pleasant trip across the Continental Divide...kinda wimpy but safe and dry.
The rest of this cold and rainy day was spent holed up in the East Glacier Lodge with many other stormbound travelers. The lodge is a huge old timber framed structure, three stories inside with three foot diameter log columns supporting the upper balconies and an 8 ft wide roaring fire. Reading by the fire with a nice toddy would have completed the day but, alas, life can be cruel sometimes...the lodge sits on the Blackfeet (or is it Blackfoot?) reservation and, as it was election day for them, no alcohol could be served. I reflected that, if the US had that rule, the world may have avoided 8 yrs of the G. Bush presidency. The hostel where we had dropped our gear ended up being booked for the night so the owner was kind enough to let us camp in the yard. However life is seldom perfect and we found ourselves sharing the yard with a large and, apparently, very well fed dog. After shoveling a spot for the tent we dined at the attached restaurant which had, in my experience, the best Mx food on the planet. We spent the rest of the evening chatting with several of the hikers at the hostel. Very pleasant and interesting folks who were heading all the way to Yellowstone. The wind blew so hard during the nit the tent was actually folded on our legs at times and we decided on a later start for the next morning.
Our next day was an easy 50 mi downhill run to Cut Bank with a screaming 20 mph tailwind. We averaged 15 mph for the day (positively blazing on a loaded touring bike) as we watched the newly snow capped Rockies recede in our mirrors. We had managed to cross the divide without doing a single climb over 1000 ft and that was in Washington! Take that Lewis and Clark!
The next few days we spent rolling over the Great Plains. I was thinking I would find this boring but am fascinated by the shear space here. This is called Big Sky Country and for good reason. The sky is a presence here and the predominant feature of the landscape. The riding was easy and the weather gods cooperated with generous tailwinds that enabled us to put in some pretty easy 60 mile days.
One of the things Kelly and I are enjoying most about this trip is all the people we meet and just seeing a variety of local cultures. As I waited outside a Cut Bank grocery for Kelly I found myself in conversation with a 30 something Indian fellow. He was (sort of) telling me something about the name of the local tribes and I wasn't following well. When I asked what he was up to today he quite frankly told me he was "drinkin"..he seemed well on his way to reaching his goal for the day but he showed me the can of beer in his pocket as if I needed proof. I was about to ask a question I'd been pondering for days; is it "one Blackfeet person" or "one Blackfoot person". It came to me that the finer points of grammar were probably beyond my new friend's mental capacity at the moment and left my unanswered question to ponder for another 4 or 5 hours of pedaling enjoyment. As I continued to wait, a pretty young lady crossed the parking lot. Dressed in stiletto heels and a nice cocktail dress (where the heck was she going at 9:30 in Cut Bank?) she was the picture of the young debutante. That picture was shattered as she hocked up and spit out a wad that would have done a longshoreman proud...Gotta love country girls.
And now here we are in Havre, Mt and I have to report some news that will, no doubt, disappoint some of you. We have decided to wimp out again and take the train to Grand Fork, Mn, skipping all of N. Dakota. Several factors have brought us to this decision. Looking at our progress to date it is apparent that we will not be able to cycle the entire way in our timeframe? A month into our trip and we are only a quarter of the way. Another reason is the unanimous reports we have heard about the conditions in eastern Mt and North Dakota (their motto"Don' even think of coming here.") It seems there is an oil boom going on and the poorly maintained roads are terrorized by drunken, methed-out oil workers. Since this is the farthest point east where we can ship our bikes on Amtrak with us we will be exploring the local Bear Paw Mts for a couple of days and shipping out for Grand Forks, Mn...the farthest point west where we can unload our bikes.
Until next time, have a great fourth.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Montana mountains
We spent a great weekend enjoying the company and hospitality of Bill and Anita in Sandpoint, a great town in a beautiful setting on Lake Pend Oreille. We ate way too much and were treated to the maiden voyage of Jim and Laurie Armbruster's (Anita's daughter) pontoon boat. I told that old joke about the two happiest days in a boat owner's life...you know, the day they get their boat and the day they get rid of it. That turned out to be oddly prophetic as the engine died in the middle of the lake and we had to be towed back in by the marine police. Spirits remained high and we're sure the boat will be up and running in no time.
We decided to spend an extra day in Sandpoint because of bad weather and I got the chance to hone my tiling skills by working on the grout and caulking in the shower. It worked out great for all as I was getting antsy with our third day off the bikes.
Finally back on our bikes again, we took off under grey skies toward Montana. WOW, almost immediately we started with some eye popping scenery. Our map took us on a detour from the main route which followed a broad valley with steep walled hills looming over beautiful green meadows. We ran into a couple of young fellows bike touring the same way as we are. It was 1:00 by this time and they were planning on going another 70 miles that day...Oh to be young again! They had left from Seattle and told us how they'd had eight dog attacks in two miles going through the indian reservation in Washington...yikes! We opted for a more modest 45mile day and ended up riding under clearing skies to a very pleasant RV park on the Clark Fork River. We've met so many wonderful people on this trip and spoke to a nice woman at the park who had done a similar trip years ago and offered us anything we need while we were camped there.
In the morning we were escorted up the Bull River by puffy white clouds in a deep blue sky. The air here, after a few days of rain, seems unnaturally clear. It seems as if the hills and trees are magnified and all our senses feel hyper sensitive. We're not even to Glacier Park yet and already feel overwhelmed by the scenic overkill of this area. In the afternoon we took a break and hiked down to Kootenai Falls on the river of the same name. This is where they filmed the gnarly river scenes for the movie The River Wild. Very impressive. I have never seen hydraulics like this and the power of the water was truly amazing.
Our morning ride took us up the Kootenai River, past the Libby Dam and along Lake Kookanusa. We enjoyed a perfect day of riding with beautiful sunny skies, little traffic and wonderful scenery. We spent the night at a nearly deserted USFS campground and enjoyed a (very) brief bath in the snowmelt lake and a glass of wine on the fishing dock. However, no place is perfect and we spent a somewhat nervous night after reading the numerous signs warning of bears in the area...and yes, we were in Grizzly country. The camp host helped by informing us that MOST of the grizzles were on the other side of the lake...very comforting. We strung our food up and spent a rather uneasy night but all was quiet and we woke with all body parts still attached.
The weather turned on us a bit the next day and we started our ride under threatening skies. After a good lunch in the cute town of Eureka, Kelly suggested that we make a "real" ride of it and go all the way to Whitefish...the next place with a shower (and no grizzlies). We'd already ridden 35miles of hills and it was now 2:00 but what the heck. We rode up and down more hills like crazy for another 48 miles and finished out with some very sore bodies for a 7:30 finish at a Whitefish motel...what a day! Whitefish has been somewhat over run with the super rich and late in the day we took a very pleasant detour which took us off the highway along a nicely kept, winding road past "designer ranches" with ornate iron gates and animatronic deer prancing across perfect green meadows.
Before leaving town we sat at a sidewalk cafe having a bite when we were surprised to run into Mark and Sally Cheney, friends from Siskiyou County...what a small world. We finished up this leg of our trip with a blessedly short ride of 30miles into West Glacier where we will be taking a couple of welcome days off to rest our legs and explore Glacier National Park.
We decided to spend an extra day in Sandpoint because of bad weather and I got the chance to hone my tiling skills by working on the grout and caulking in the shower. It worked out great for all as I was getting antsy with our third day off the bikes.
Finally back on our bikes again, we took off under grey skies toward Montana. WOW, almost immediately we started with some eye popping scenery. Our map took us on a detour from the main route which followed a broad valley with steep walled hills looming over beautiful green meadows. We ran into a couple of young fellows bike touring the same way as we are. It was 1:00 by this time and they were planning on going another 70 miles that day...Oh to be young again! They had left from Seattle and told us how they'd had eight dog attacks in two miles going through the indian reservation in Washington...yikes! We opted for a more modest 45mile day and ended up riding under clearing skies to a very pleasant RV park on the Clark Fork River. We've met so many wonderful people on this trip and spoke to a nice woman at the park who had done a similar trip years ago and offered us anything we need while we were camped there.
In the morning we were escorted up the Bull River by puffy white clouds in a deep blue sky. The air here, after a few days of rain, seems unnaturally clear. It seems as if the hills and trees are magnified and all our senses feel hyper sensitive. We're not even to Glacier Park yet and already feel overwhelmed by the scenic overkill of this area. In the afternoon we took a break and hiked down to Kootenai Falls on the river of the same name. This is where they filmed the gnarly river scenes for the movie The River Wild. Very impressive. I have never seen hydraulics like this and the power of the water was truly amazing.
Our morning ride took us up the Kootenai River, past the Libby Dam and along Lake Kookanusa. We enjoyed a perfect day of riding with beautiful sunny skies, little traffic and wonderful scenery. We spent the night at a nearly deserted USFS campground and enjoyed a (very) brief bath in the snowmelt lake and a glass of wine on the fishing dock. However, no place is perfect and we spent a somewhat nervous night after reading the numerous signs warning of bears in the area...and yes, we were in Grizzly country. The camp host helped by informing us that MOST of the grizzles were on the other side of the lake...very comforting. We strung our food up and spent a rather uneasy night but all was quiet and we woke with all body parts still attached.
The weather turned on us a bit the next day and we started our ride under threatening skies. After a good lunch in the cute town of Eureka, Kelly suggested that we make a "real" ride of it and go all the way to Whitefish...the next place with a shower (and no grizzlies). We'd already ridden 35miles of hills and it was now 2:00 but what the heck. We rode up and down more hills like crazy for another 48 miles and finished out with some very sore bodies for a 7:30 finish at a Whitefish motel...what a day! Whitefish has been somewhat over run with the super rich and late in the day we took a very pleasant detour which took us off the highway along a nicely kept, winding road past "designer ranches" with ornate iron gates and animatronic deer prancing across perfect green meadows.
Before leaving town we sat at a sidewalk cafe having a bite when we were surprised to run into Mark and Sally Cheney, friends from Siskiyou County...what a small world. We finished up this leg of our trip with a blessedly short ride of 30miles into West Glacier where we will be taking a couple of welcome days off to rest our legs and explore Glacier National Park.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
North to the mountains
We left Walla Walla for a short afternoon ride in perfect weather through endless rolling wheat fields too green to be real. After picking up some groceries in the friendly little town of Waitsburg (as we sat on a bench eating a snack everyone who drove past gave us a wave) we rode on our last few miles to Lewis and Clark Campground, a very pretty little park along the river. Just before dusk a couple of owls flew by and landed in a tree a short distance away. In the morning we awoke to find they had left us a gift of a large owl feather just outside the tent.
Our next stop was to be Palouse Falls, about 45 mi. away. We continued to climb through wheatfields as we left the Adventure Cycling maps and found our own route. Did I mention that the wheat fields seemed endless? Did I mention they were rolling? As the afternoon went on we escaped wheat country and reached the Snake River, large and somewhat slow along this section in dryer canyon country. After crossing the Snake we had a taste of things to come with a very steep 1000 ft climb. We both made it without stopping, giving us some confidence for our ability to handle the upcoming Rockies. As we cruised the packed dirt road leading into Palouse Falls we were passed by a pickup truck sporting the Dagger Kayak logo and a roof full of boats. We didn't get a chance to speak to those inside but talked to someone at the Falls who had and I guess they were scouting to run the falls. The falls had been successfully run by Tyler Bradt in 2009 for what was a world record 186 ft...looking at it, it is hard to believe someone could survive such a drop. We would have loved to wait and watch but didn't know when or if that might happen so left the next morning. Palouse Falls is quite spectacular with the Palouse River spilling into a huge bowl carved hundreds of feet straight down through the rock...well worth the trip if ever in the area.
After a light breakfast of the last of our oatmeal we traversed the varied terrain of eastern Washington, alternating between canyon country and more wheatfields. We were in a truly remote area of the country and, looking around without a manmade structure in sight, we were struck by how far out there we were...very cool!
Just south of the nearly deserted town of Wintunca I looked in my helmet mirror to find we were being pursued by a coyote, loping up the highway about 50 ft behind. Kelly and I decided to run him (ok Wiley...let's see what you got!) so we ramped it up from our usual 10 mph to a blistering 12 mph...pretty much top speed for a loaded touring bike. This didn't seem to phase him so we let him run along. When he got to about 3 ft from Kelly's trailor I figured that was close enough and fired a warning shot of the pepper spray ( we carry for dogs) across his nose. After a few more attempts at whatever his plan was he finally dropped back. As we rode on I imagined him going back to his den for roller skates and a rocket to strap on his back but we never saw him again. It was a smallish coyote and never really seemed aggressive so it was quite an entertaining episode.
After a great (and much needed...the oatmeal didn't make it for 45 mi of rolling hills) lunch in Ritzville we finally came to a nearly deserted fishing camp on Sprague Lake, a pretty camp if you overlooked the brown recluse spiders in the showers which had three settings...off, ice water or scalding. Actually, after a 72 mi. day of hills it was just fine.
It was now time to try to get around the city of Spokane. We started the day in nice sunshine and more tailwinds to have a quick storm blow in as we stopped for lunch in Cheney, about 20 mi south of Spokane. We continued on towards the dreaded city only to ride into some of the darkest clouds and lightning we've seen. We decided to quickly pitch our tent along the side of the road and wait it out...a good move as it rained hard and thundered for the next hour or so. The rain delayed us just long enough to be struggling through Spokane at rush hour. We were glad we had decided not to accept the generous offer of a friend we had met in Astoria. Mike Jones had offered to put us up at the Spokane Athletic Club, a very nice place in the downtown, but we opted to get out of the urban area as quickly as possible...touring tip. Cycling in the city is not fun!
After a few pretty tough days in a row we now headed for a couple easy days to reach Sandpoint for the weekend. We found a great campground on the banks on the Pend Oreille River on the Washington, Idaho border...With A Hottub...Jackpot! The ride from our camp in Newport, Wa to Sandpoint, Id was our most scenic of the trip so far. Hwy 2 follows the Pend Oreille river through beautiful tree covered low mountains and mountain meadows all the way to Sandpoint. We are now at the home of our friends, Bill and Anita Bruce for a wonderful weekend visit and welcome rest for next week .....The Rockies!!!
Our next stop was to be Palouse Falls, about 45 mi. away. We continued to climb through wheatfields as we left the Adventure Cycling maps and found our own route. Did I mention that the wheat fields seemed endless? Did I mention they were rolling? As the afternoon went on we escaped wheat country and reached the Snake River, large and somewhat slow along this section in dryer canyon country. After crossing the Snake we had a taste of things to come with a very steep 1000 ft climb. We both made it without stopping, giving us some confidence for our ability to handle the upcoming Rockies. As we cruised the packed dirt road leading into Palouse Falls we were passed by a pickup truck sporting the Dagger Kayak logo and a roof full of boats. We didn't get a chance to speak to those inside but talked to someone at the Falls who had and I guess they were scouting to run the falls. The falls had been successfully run by Tyler Bradt in 2009 for what was a world record 186 ft...looking at it, it is hard to believe someone could survive such a drop. We would have loved to wait and watch but didn't know when or if that might happen so left the next morning. Palouse Falls is quite spectacular with the Palouse River spilling into a huge bowl carved hundreds of feet straight down through the rock...well worth the trip if ever in the area.
After a light breakfast of the last of our oatmeal we traversed the varied terrain of eastern Washington, alternating between canyon country and more wheatfields. We were in a truly remote area of the country and, looking around without a manmade structure in sight, we were struck by how far out there we were...very cool!
Just south of the nearly deserted town of Wintunca I looked in my helmet mirror to find we were being pursued by a coyote, loping up the highway about 50 ft behind. Kelly and I decided to run him (ok Wiley...let's see what you got!) so we ramped it up from our usual 10 mph to a blistering 12 mph...pretty much top speed for a loaded touring bike. This didn't seem to phase him so we let him run along. When he got to about 3 ft from Kelly's trailor I figured that was close enough and fired a warning shot of the pepper spray ( we carry for dogs) across his nose. After a few more attempts at whatever his plan was he finally dropped back. As we rode on I imagined him going back to his den for roller skates and a rocket to strap on his back but we never saw him again. It was a smallish coyote and never really seemed aggressive so it was quite an entertaining episode.
After a great (and much needed...the oatmeal didn't make it for 45 mi of rolling hills) lunch in Ritzville we finally came to a nearly deserted fishing camp on Sprague Lake, a pretty camp if you overlooked the brown recluse spiders in the showers which had three settings...off, ice water or scalding. Actually, after a 72 mi. day of hills it was just fine.
It was now time to try to get around the city of Spokane. We started the day in nice sunshine and more tailwinds to have a quick storm blow in as we stopped for lunch in Cheney, about 20 mi south of Spokane. We continued on towards the dreaded city only to ride into some of the darkest clouds and lightning we've seen. We decided to quickly pitch our tent along the side of the road and wait it out...a good move as it rained hard and thundered for the next hour or so. The rain delayed us just long enough to be struggling through Spokane at rush hour. We were glad we had decided not to accept the generous offer of a friend we had met in Astoria. Mike Jones had offered to put us up at the Spokane Athletic Club, a very nice place in the downtown, but we opted to get out of the urban area as quickly as possible...touring tip. Cycling in the city is not fun!
After a few pretty tough days in a row we now headed for a couple easy days to reach Sandpoint for the weekend. We found a great campground on the banks on the Pend Oreille River on the Washington, Idaho border...With A Hottub...Jackpot! The ride from our camp in Newport, Wa to Sandpoint, Id was our most scenic of the trip so far. Hwy 2 follows the Pend Oreille river through beautiful tree covered low mountains and mountain meadows all the way to Sandpoint. We are now at the home of our friends, Bill and Anita Bruce for a wonderful weekend visit and welcome rest for next week .....The Rockies!!!
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Out of the Gorge
After a pleasant night listening to the rain in Bingen we woke to strong winds and a chilly drizzle...yuk! As usual though riding in the rain is not nearly as bad as thinking about riding in the rain...at least it was a tailwind. We were quickly warmed up with a long ascent leading to Cape Horn, a lookout on an 800 ft cliff overlooking the Columbia River valley. The weather cleared in the afternoon and we rode more strong tailwinds into a beautifully kept campground across from lovely Biggs, OR. Biggs is actually a huge truckstop complex and definitely not worth a bike ride across the Columbia in 25mph winds.
Traffic lessened considerably the next day and we were treated to continued tailwinds and beautiful views as we made our way further up the Columbia. One of the reasons we chose the Lewis and Clark route was to avoid any major climbs and take advantage of the consistent westerly winds, it was nice to have our plan pay off to start our trip.
Crossing back into Oregon at Umatilla, we finished our journey up the Columbia along Hwy12 towards Walla Walla. As we approached the point where we would leave the Columbia we raced a black stormfront late in the afternoon...we lost. As we rode into our campground for the night the sky opened up and we got drenched as we performed a speedset on the tent. Kelly mopped the water out of our soaked tent while I stowed gear as quickly as possible. We had a cozy evening with a delicious dinner of cold ham on a tortilla and turned in early. Riding and being outside all day we have no problem putting in 10 hrs of sack time.
The next day dawned clear and cool for a perfect 30 mile cruise into our daughter, Hannah's, place in Walla Walla where we spent a great couple days visiting and not riding. Now Sunday morning we are ready for the next phase of our trip, heading NE through Spokane and on to our friend's (Bill and Anita) home in Sandpoint, ID.
Traffic lessened considerably the next day and we were treated to continued tailwinds and beautiful views as we made our way further up the Columbia. One of the reasons we chose the Lewis and Clark route was to avoid any major climbs and take advantage of the consistent westerly winds, it was nice to have our plan pay off to start our trip.
Crossing back into Oregon at Umatilla, we finished our journey up the Columbia along Hwy12 towards Walla Walla. As we approached the point where we would leave the Columbia we raced a black stormfront late in the afternoon...we lost. As we rode into our campground for the night the sky opened up and we got drenched as we performed a speedset on the tent. Kelly mopped the water out of our soaked tent while I stowed gear as quickly as possible. We had a cozy evening with a delicious dinner of cold ham on a tortilla and turned in early. Riding and being outside all day we have no problem putting in 10 hrs of sack time.
The next day dawned clear and cool for a perfect 30 mile cruise into our daughter, Hannah's, place in Walla Walla where we spent a great couple days visiting and not riding. Now Sunday morning we are ready for the next phase of our trip, heading NE through Spokane and on to our friend's (Bill and Anita) home in Sandpoint, ID.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Let's Ride
Our last afternoon in Astoria was a real blast! We walked downtown and decided to take the trolley back to our hotel because of rain. When we got on we found we had stumbled upon a group of performers in town for a tenor guitar workshop. They were heading for a lunchtime concert at the bistro behind our hotel so we decided to join them. We ended up sitting at the table with Banana Lowell, one of the founders of the Youngbloods, a woman who happens to be Wayne Dyer's editor and a number of other charming and accomplished people. It was a wonderful afternoon and reminded us that one of the best things about our tip will all the great people we will meet.
Our takeoff day greeted us with more Oregon sunshine (drizzle) but we took off in good spirits. The riding was pretty easy with a few hills and wonderful, green scenery. We took a beautiful detour around a steep section of Hwy 30 and found ourselves on a little used road thru lush old growth forest. The grade got pretty steep and we will have to admit to bit of walking but we followed Coach Doc's advice of "Keep moving forward" and made it to the top. We were rewarded with a sunny afternoon with a good tailwind. Because of our enthusiasm (and the desire to escape the Portland area before the weekend) we ended up doing 80 miles with about 1200 ft of climbing. A very respectable day and Kelly's longest ride ever! Good job! We finished up at a really nice county park near Scapoose...a great day.
We like to think of day 2 as our "Escape from Portland" day. We started out with increasingly heavy traffic to cross the Saint John Bridge. We spent the next 2-1/2 hours riding in circles to traverse the 10 miles to the 205 bridge. We were rescued by Jerry, a charming and kindly gent,on a British fold-a-bike, who sacrificed his Sunday morning to take us on an entertaining but circuitous route to our bridge. Since no campgrounds were available we had to spend the night in a Washougal motel with a pool, spa and sauna...Darn!
After a late start (that darn spa again) we spent a cloudy but scenic day ascending the Columbia River Gorge. We had one fairly long but gentle climb but were rewarded with a spectacular view of the valley with lush greenery and low hanging clouds in the mountain valleys. The night was spent in the funky, but charming, Bingen Hostel, a 1930's schoolhouse, now a hostel.
Our takeoff day greeted us with more Oregon sunshine (drizzle) but we took off in good spirits. The riding was pretty easy with a few hills and wonderful, green scenery. We took a beautiful detour around a steep section of Hwy 30 and found ourselves on a little used road thru lush old growth forest. The grade got pretty steep and we will have to admit to bit of walking but we followed Coach Doc's advice of "Keep moving forward" and made it to the top. We were rewarded with a sunny afternoon with a good tailwind. Because of our enthusiasm (and the desire to escape the Portland area before the weekend) we ended up doing 80 miles with about 1200 ft of climbing. A very respectable day and Kelly's longest ride ever! Good job! We finished up at a really nice county park near Scapoose...a great day.
We like to think of day 2 as our "Escape from Portland" day. We started out with increasingly heavy traffic to cross the Saint John Bridge. We spent the next 2-1/2 hours riding in circles to traverse the 10 miles to the 205 bridge. We were rescued by Jerry, a charming and kindly gent,on a British fold-a-bike, who sacrificed his Sunday morning to take us on an entertaining but circuitous route to our bridge. Since no campgrounds were available we had to spend the night in a Washougal motel with a pool, spa and sauna...Darn!
After a late start (that darn spa again) we spent a cloudy but scenic day ascending the Columbia River Gorge. We had one fairly long but gentle climb but were rewarded with a spectacular view of the valley with lush greenery and low hanging clouds in the mountain valleys. The night was spent in the funky, but charming, Bingen Hostel, a 1930's schoolhouse, now a hostel.
Friday, June 1, 2012
And they're off...
After a very relaxing car camp trip up the Oregon coast we are camped out in "sunny" Astoria, Or prepairing to begin our adventure. They picked our car up yesterday and it is on its way to NJ already. I guess we're committed now! We spent the last week deciding which 'essential' items are worthy of the effort required to hump them up and down 4000mi.of hills and valleys. We're staying in downtown Astoria right below the Astoria bridge, a very narrow steel-truss structure whose deck must be 200ft above the river. Luckily, our route heads east and we won't need to cross that beast. It makes me anxious just to look up there. Tomorrow is Saturday and we are hoping for light traffic for our first day on the road.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)