Crater Lake Tour
via Washington and Oregon Coasts

Day 4 - July 23rd - Quinault Lake to Grayland Beach SP
95km

 Another foggy ride after my breakfast for a couple of hours until the sun burnt off the Pacific mist, then all was well. The bulk of the ride today was through forested areas and more clear-cuts. But again, once I reached the coast the scenery improved dramatically. I joined the coast at Copalis Beach, which is a depressed small town even with the advantage of having some stunning beaches - very windy though. A lot of places were boarded up and few businesses remain. Perhaps it is because a few miles further down the highway, Oyhut and Ocean Shores have become the destination for many resort seekers - quite a strip there, with lot of stores, restaurants, motels etc. - very vibrant, but still a very windy oceanfront town. At least the winds are pushing me south when I'm on the coastal roads - which I should be on for a while now.

[As of 2008, the following described passenger ferry is no longer in service, with no future plans to
reinstate the service. Apparently the harbour required extensive dredging at too high a cost for the local
government to bear. It's a shame as this was a great scenic shortcut to beaches farther south.
Now one must reroute through Aberdeen to reach the Grayland Beach area.]

 I took the passenger ferry from Ocean Shores to Westport - what with today's winds it was quite the ride in a forty-five foot boat. We did some good rocking and rolling for about thirty minutes - Basil got his sea legs today!

 The ferry docked right at the town of Westport, which is a busy little town with all manner of stores and services. I poked around there for a little while and had a snack or two before continuing the short ride south to Grayland Beach State Park.

 I arrived at the SP here to a full campground, but the three hiker/biker sites ("primitive" as they call them here) were empty. Primitive is a good word - mosquito junction is a better one! Talk about bush camping - well beggars can't be choosers eh? And at least they have showers here - Basil was beginning to smell a bit ripe after three days and no shower!

 A small bonus too - previous campers left some firewood, so I splurged by lighting a small campfire to sit by, savour my nightcap and smoke out the mozzies!

Day 5 - July 24th - Grayland Beach SP to
Fort Stevens SP, Oregon
141km

 Yes I made it to Oregon! Today was a long day in the saddle, but relatively easy riding on fairly good roads and, after an overcast start to the day, good weather too. I was determined to get the long bridge over the Columbia River over with today, otherwise tomorrow morning I would have had to join all the vehicles heading into Astoria - the morning commute - busy, busy! As it was, the southbound traffic was pretty light when I crossed and I had a tailwind to help me across the three to four miles of bridge deck.

 Fort Stevens State Park is the most northernmost SP on Oregon's coast, I stayed here before on a previous venture down the Pacific Coast, so I am on familiar territory now - for a while! The campground was full when I arrived, but the hiker/biker was empty once more - lucky me, and only $4.00 for the night with free showers - I love Oregon!

 I only got a few glimpses of the coast on today's ride with some good views around Willapa Bay; of course, the Columbia River provided some scenic vistas together with sightings of Herons and Cormorants fishing the shallows. Second breaky was in the neat town of Raymond - very much small town America - nice clean downtown with some well kept older buildings and pleasant, friendly people.

 I haven't met, or seen any other touring cyclists, other than on my first day,where I met some that were returning to the States on the Coho ferry after riding around Victoria and area. I spoke briefly to one young lady from that group and that's it, apart from a couple of recreational riders that I spotted on the other side of the road a couple of days ago. I should see quite a few on the Oregon Coast Bicycle Route though - in fact another fellow has just arrived in the campsite, I'll have to tell Basil to be on his best behaviour if we want to attract company later!
 Well, I'd better cook up my pasta before I tire out and get sleepy!

 Oh! I saw a good name for a beachside cottage today - Clamalot - I liked that!

Day 6 - July 25th - Fort Stevens SP to Cape Lookout SP
128km

 Another overcast start to the day; it was noon before the sun poked its face from behind the clouds/mist, but once it comes out it can be quite a broiler!

 I had some wonderful scenery today, with many views over the spectacular Oregon coastline. I had quite a few hills to negotiate before I got those views though, but with a tailwind for most of the day, I'm not going to complain about a bit of climbing. After Cannon Beach the road climbs to about 1700 ft - now that was a view!

 Second breaky was in the very touristy town of Seaside,Richard - the cyclist that I met at the park last night - was also going to have breakfast at Seaside, but seeing as he was still in his tent when I left, I didn't think that a chance encounter for breakfast was possible. The normally busy beach was deserted this morning with a heavy mist hanging over the scene.

 After filling my tank at the pancake house in Seaside, I continued on heading down the coast and rubbernecking at all the sights. The weather brightened up and all was well until just outside Tillamook... I was riding well within the shoulder, when I glanced in my mirror then felt something brush against my panniers, hit my elbow and my then mirror shattered! - Yes, that's how close some jerk in small pick-up truck got to me! I still don't know how I managed to stay upright and suffer no injuries - other than the mirror. The truck's mirror did hit my elbow very slightly and I felt the body of the truck rub against my panniers. I think if the panniers weren't there, I would have lost my leg! It all happened so fast that there was no chance to get his license number. All I saw was the passenger waving out of the window as the truck sped off - almost like it was a planned event - I was shaking for the remainder of the ride to Tillamook. Nothing to be done though, so I looked around for a replacement lens for my mirror - luckily the bracket was still intact as it swivelled out of the way when it was hit. The bike shop didn't have any mirrors other than a helmet mounted one, so I found a cheapo mirror at a hardware store and cobbled it into the remainder of the broken frame. I resolved that I would have to wait for another town until I found a decent bike shop that might stock an exact replacement for my preference of mirror lens. This all happened on Highway 101, about five miles north of Tillamook. I was just glancing in mirror when it disappeared! That's how quick it happened! Lucky for me too that I was sitting back a bit and my hands were on the tops of my bars at the time!

 Anyhow, I've seen and talked to a lot more cyclists today - there's one big group heading down to California, they have a van to carry all their gear - wimps! - Just kidding! But there are lots of other ones and twos drifting into the hiker/biker area right now - should be an interesting evening. Basil's never seen so much Lycra in one campground before! I told my tale of being sideswiped to a few of the large group of cyclists; the fellow driving their SAG van couldn't believe that the driver who hit me didn't see me, as he told me that he had passed me earlier and that I was very visible from the rear, with the two fluorescent stripes on my Serratus pannier and my small yellow safety triangle showing up very well from a distance.
 Well, I'm going to be spending a lot of time looking in my mirror for the next few days - a little paranoia goes a long way!

 Regardless of today's mishap, this park is in beautiful beachside location - and the mozzie situation seems good so far. I didn't stay here on my last trip, so I made a point of camping here this time. Tomorrow I'm also aiming for a park that is new territory for me.

 I passed through lots of small towns today, and visited a few small bakeries for some nourishment - yum, yum! While I rode through these places, I had some memories of my last trip down this coast - I don't think that I could ever tire of the wonderful views of the ocean no matter how many times I get to see it. I've got a good spot to watch the sunset tonight too, and later, the sound of the surf will lull me to sleep - together with a couple of brandies to dull the memory of today's close call!

 Saying for the day - outside a church that I passed - "This building is prayer conditioned."

Day 7 - July 26th - Cape Lookout SP to South Beach SP
115km

 Another awesome day for ocean vistas, and some good hills were conquered too! Every hill that I rode brought forward the phrase, "Yeah! I remember this sod!" Anyhow, that's the worst of the coastal hills behind me, one more day on the coast then all I've got to do is a couple of days riding before I climb up to Crater Lake at over 7000ft.

 Today started sunny from the word go, and continued to be so all day, but the coastal winds still keep the temperature cool, especially on an evening. I shouldn't complain though as I know that I'm going to cook when I head inland after Reedsport.

 Other than the beautiful scenery, an uneventful day - second breaky in Pacific City - what a whopper of a breakfast - Basil didn't know that I could eat that much. I did stop in Lincoln City expecting to find a bike shop or two where I could buy a replacement mirror - but nada, zip, nothing! I couldn't believe that a town of that size didn't have one bicycle shop! Luckily, further down the coast in Newport I found an excellent bicycle shop with all kinds of goodies, including an exact replacement "Mirrycle" mirror - beauty, I installed it immediately and was thankful for the vast improvement in rear vision from the cheapo flat mirror that I had Mickey-Moused into the remains of my holder! The shop in Newport was called simply - "The Bike Shop," - highly recommended!

 I've got another nice campsite at a beachside State Park. Other travellers are rolling in again. One fellow that I met last night is here too - Daniel from France - his English is a bit sketchy, but my French is worse - we're doing all right though! Daniel's heading down the coast to Los Angeles, but apparently his time is limited and he doesn't know if he'll make it on time. He was telling me that he finds it cold here, as he only brought a thin sleeping bag and the nights on the coast are still a bit cool yet. He lit a small fire to huddle around from some branches that he scrounged up; I didn't have the heart to tell him that collecting fire materials is not allowed in the State Parks - nobody caught him though! I also explained that the nights should get warmer the further that he travels south.

 By the way, this campground, just as last night's was, is also full - I haven't passed an Oregon State Park yet with any room for regular campers - I guess it pays to book ahead, as many of the people in these parks seem to do. At least there's always room for the hiker/bikers - smelly or not!

 Other than Daniel, the only other camper in this area is a homeless guy - I wonder what happened to all the cyclists that I saw yesterday?