April 30th--Fort Canby to Barview, OR

I awoke in the morning with the intention of making it all the way down to Cape Lookout State Park, with the intention of getting a yurt, as the forcast was for rain in the evening and morning. As such, i figured it was probably better not to deal with cooking breakfast, but rather to get something somewhere on the road, probably in Astoria. I ate a Lara Bar and headed out before 7am. The ride was pleasant enough, with a modicum of commuter traffic around Ilwaco. I took a smaller road around the Ilwaco airport that followed a levy on the Columbia River. At one point, i noticed a large cruise ship making passage through the Columbia River Bar, and decided, just for fun and a little extra motivation, to race it to Astoria. There were some lovely little harbors and estuaries along the way, but i plodded along toward Astoria, "racing" the cruise ship as it slowly wound its way through the treacherous waters near the mouth of the Columbia. I eventually got to the bridge to Astoria, where i became paranoid about my tires. The bike felt a little sloppy around the corners, and shifting weight left to right, but the pressure seemed fine. The long bridge was completely straight, and featured a tall arch at the southern end. The climb over the arch looked incredibly intimidating from my perspective on such a straight road, but it was actually quite alright. At the top of arch, i waited for the cruise ship to pass under, but soon realized that it was turning, and was actually docking in Astoria, just before the bridge.

I rode down the bridge into Astoria, which is another of those large waterfront communities with two major one-way arterial routes through town. I passed through going eastbound and passed a health foods store that was not yet opened, and then my rear tire went immediately flat (i've had only problems with the rear, though the front has had a gash in the sidewall since the Carrizo Plain, which i reinforced while fixing the flat along the Willapa River). This flat appeared to be a failure of the patch from my first pinch-flat way back on La Gloria Rd. I fixed it quickly enough and rode back and forth through the downtown area and decided eventually to eat at the Astoria Coffee Co. (i think?), which served Stumptown coffee from Portland. I ordered a lox bagel sandwich, which was wonderful, and some coffee, also quite good. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough, so i also ordered a florentine bagel, consisting of an egg, a tomato, some spinach and a kind of odd hollondaise sauce. After breakfast, which was good, but which took too long (not because of the service, mind you), i went next door to the local bike shop to see if they had any maps. They were out, alas, of the maps the guy at the shop recommended, produced and distributed for free by the State of Oregon. He recommended that i go to the Visitors Center on the way out of town and pick one up there. I headed out, having paid too little attention to his directions. I ended up at a little tourist wharf area, where an older couple engaged me in conversation. They had come off of the cruise ship i had raced to town. There were signs all around town that made it obvious that a good deal of the towns economy depended on tourists from the cruise ship. There was no visitors' center here, so i carried on and eventually found the place near the bridge i had crossed earlier in the morning. They did, in fact, have a great many resources for the traveler, including a limited internet terminal for finding tourist resources in the state. I also picked up a map of the pacific coast trail, which was designed more for hikers than cyclists, but did give a good idea of the possible places to camp (legitimately) along the coast. There was also a brochure for yurts and cabins, which i figured would be a better option than hotels for the nights ahead when i anticipated rain. Unfortunately, reservations two days in advance was required, which was not particularly useful in my case. I looked on the internet terminal and couldn't find anything particularly affordable in Tillamook, where i anticipated the greatest chance of finding a cheap motel. Again, i determined to make it the relatively long distance to Cape Lookout, so that i would be relatively close to the beach house before the rains and south winds came through, and perhaps i could also find a vacant yurt, since it would be a Monday night in what was still the off-season.

So, i headed out, again, not long before noon. It was not long before i had made it to the coast (having determined to skip Fort Stevens in deference to time). The coast was quite beautiful, and was difficult not to stop often to check out the sights. Signage for the Oregon Coast Bicycle Route was also quite helpful, and there were numerous parks and waysides along the way with informational plaques and signs. I did, however, experience some problems just before Gearhart, were there were signs on Hwy 101 for the bike route, but there were no directions after turning off the road. The problem appeared to be that Manion Rd. used to be a through route, paralleling Hwy 101 on the ocean side, but had since been cut through by several gated communities. I turned around at one gate, and a guy in a truck, wearing a Gearhart Volunteer Fire Dept. cap, told me i could just go around the gates and no one would mind. This was great news, but there was no signage to indicate what the route would be, so i encountered a few dead ends and made some wrong turns, but eventually made it through alright.

On the other side of a bay, past Gearhart was the incredibly garrish tourist trap of Seaside. It seemed rather like Santa Monica Pier or Fishermans Wharf, without the benefit of being anywhere near Los Angeles or San Francisco. I avoided taking pictures here, afraid that it might break my camera.

The route mostly followed the coastline, but went inland at Oswald West State Park, named after a governor in the early part of the State's history who had been instrumental in enacting legislation to protect the tidelands from private ownership and for public access. The road then headed toward the coast and up a significant hill to about just shy of 500', where there were some beautiful vistas. I took the roads into Manzanita and stopped briefly in Nehalem Bay State Park to check out the bay and the spit.

Afterward, i had to wait some time before crossing the bridge over the Nehalem River, where there was a construction crew directing traffic over one lane at a time. I kept up a good pace from here, riding quickly through the communities of Wheeler, Brighton and Rockaway Beach. I stopped for a short bit at the latter for a bathroom break and to replenish my water and fuel up on more energy bars.

I then went a bit further to Barview, on the north end of Tillamook Bay. There was a county park here, with a view of the bar (amazingly enough) along the jetty. There was also camping, and Cape Lookout was still seeming quite far away, so i asked if they had yurts. Alas they did not. I thought for a bit and then asked if they had any update on the weather. The woman in the kiosk looked it up online and indicated that the forcast she was looking at only called for clouds tonight. Weighing the $5 for a hiker/biker site against the likely cost for a hotel in Tillamook (having given up on the idea of making it to Cape Lookout), i decided to risk the chance of a heavy rain and get the hiker/biker site.

Unlike in most places, the hiker/biker site was in a far-off corner of the campground (they are usually right near the entrance of the campground, where there is the most traffic). It was also in a place where one could camp under a fairly dense cannopy of juniper bushes. One of the sites had an old Bontrager 700x35c tire on the fire pit, which i decided to take in case of an emergency, taking it as a sign.

Having already explored along the jetty, i took a brief jaunt over the dune and then headed quickly back to camp. I talked a bit with Adrienne, who advised me on a more exact forcast of the weather, which included some chance of rain tonight (it was drizzling at this point, so that was obvious) and much greater chances of rain the latter part of the next day. I also spoke with Ron, who, after hearing how close i was, made arrangements for me to be able to stay at the beach house the following night, before he arrived. I once again had a dinner of sardines and went to sleep with light drops of water on my bivy sack lulling me to sleep.