The Pacific
Saturday, July 19 (Day 64)
Many more failed attempts to capture the magical forest on the way down. By this point, two cars had seen my sign on the back of my bike and slowed to ask me from the window "you really rode that from New York?", only to be shocked and surprised when I said yes, and waved happily before speeding away. I got lots of waves and cheerful honks today, too.
And I came out into a valley and paralleled a river that reminded me of the Lochsa river in Idaho, just after Lolo pass, though not quite as pretty. :)
And I hit the 3500 mile mark!
Then I got onto the famed highway 101, where traffic abounds and shoulders are scarce.
I came across coastal fog.
And my first glimpse of the pacific! This is actually the most I've seen of it still, in spite of riding along it for 20 miles and camping in a beach town.
I had a fantastic ride off of 101 for about 10 miles, but my pictures are no good. There was maybe one car the whole time I was on the road and it was a big hill so I flew down the other side.
I was so exhausted when I got to town that I had to walk my bike up small hills and was ready to cry when I saw "campground full" posted. Luckily, this does not apply to cyclists!
There are probably 20 other cyclists here in multiple groups and a few couples and solo riders. I only met Kevin, who also rode from Portland today and is riding back tomorrow. He showed me his handmade rear view mirror, saying that the premade ones were inadequate.
700 miles to San Francisco!
Distance: 109.5 miles
Average speed: 10.4 mph
Max speed: 30.9 mph
Total: 3541 miles
I began the day by taking an hour long ride on a light rail tram/subway that took me out of Portland. It was an interesting debacle getting my loaded bike on it!
The first 20 miles were nice, with some gentle hills and a wide shoulder.
Then began the hilly (but beautiful) nightmare. I had to get over the coastal range of mountains and was ready to put a tiny 2000 foot pass behind me, thinking I've climbed a 5000 foot pass, what's the big deal? Wrong. Very wrong. This was definitely the worst pass of them all, and I was reduced to walking multiple times as it seemed to go up... And up... And up.
At least the road was well paved and nearly unused! I made a futile effort to take a nice picture of the beautiful forest, and have about 25 that don't do it justice. The trees were tall and large and moss was abundant. The underbrush was thick with ferns, blackberry bushes, flowers, and a wide variety of small plants.
The first 20 miles were nice, with some gentle hills and a wide shoulder.
Then began the hilly (but beautiful) nightmare. I had to get over the coastal range of mountains and was ready to put a tiny 2000 foot pass behind me, thinking I've climbed a 5000 foot pass, what's the big deal? Wrong. Very wrong. This was definitely the worst pass of them all, and I was reduced to walking multiple times as it seemed to go up... And up... And up.
At least the road was well paved and nearly unused! I made a futile effort to take a nice picture of the beautiful forest, and have about 25 that don't do it justice. The trees were tall and large and moss was abundant. The underbrush was thick with ferns, blackberry bushes, flowers, and a wide variety of small plants.
Many more failed attempts to capture the magical forest on the way down. By this point, two cars had seen my sign on the back of my bike and slowed to ask me from the window "you really rode that from New York?", only to be shocked and surprised when I said yes, and waved happily before speeding away. I got lots of waves and cheerful honks today, too.
And I came out into a valley and paralleled a river that reminded me of the Lochsa river in Idaho, just after Lolo pass, though not quite as pretty. :)
And I hit the 3500 mile mark!
Then I got onto the famed highway 101, where traffic abounds and shoulders are scarce.
I came across coastal fog.
And my first glimpse of the pacific! This is actually the most I've seen of it still, in spite of riding along it for 20 miles and camping in a beach town.
I had a fantastic ride off of 101 for about 10 miles, but my pictures are no good. There was maybe one car the whole time I was on the road and it was a big hill so I flew down the other side.
I was so exhausted when I got to town that I had to walk my bike up small hills and was ready to cry when I saw "campground full" posted. Luckily, this does not apply to cyclists!
There are probably 20 other cyclists here in multiple groups and a few couples and solo riders. I only met Kevin, who also rode from Portland today and is riding back tomorrow. He showed me his handmade rear view mirror, saying that the premade ones were inadequate.
700 miles to San Francisco!
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