Pacific Northwest - Touring: Pacific Coast or Great Parks (Rocky Mt)?

Hello,

I am doing a bike tour starting in West Canada (Vancouver) pretty soon. I ve done a lot of thinking about the route but I am having troubles to decide: Should I ride

1. down the pacific coast
or
2. the Great Parks Route as described here: http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/greatparks.cfm


I heard that traffic can be heavy on both routes. How about scenery, sights..? What would you do?

thanks for all advice and help

ben

Also, don't forget the Washington Parks route:

http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/washingtonparks.cfm

....and, they have announced they are mapping out a route down the Pacific Crest, roughly paralleling the Pacific Crest hiking trail. Maps to be published later this year. An old, out-of-print book describes this route (I own the book; would love to do this trail:

http://www.amazon.com/Pacific-Crest-Bicycle-Trail-Paul/dp/0931255066/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245903406&sr=8-1


As you may know, over at CrazyGuyonaBike.com you can search for journals based on which Adventure Cycling Route the riders have chosen. Look at this page here - there are nearly 40 journals following the Great Parks ride; more than 200 who have done the Pacific Coast:

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/categories/?o=3Tzut&category_id=245&doctype=journal


Personally I like the mountains more than coast; I'd do the Great Parks ride if I had the time. But the Pacific Coast route is generally regarded as easier (less climbing, more services), if you do it north to south (with the prevailing winds).

I rode from kamloops to Jasper and than south to Montana, kalispell. The roads are wide and people are so civil in Canada. I hit Montana and had pickups cursing me as there was no shoulder just south of the border. I have also done the oregon coast. Nothing, for me, compares with the rockies. In fact I'm riding south to north from creston BC to Jasper through Revelstoke and Golden. Traffic on either route is evident but hasn't discouraged me. I haven't ridden from Kalispell south to Colorado. The demeanor of traffic changed once I hit Montana. One good thing is that you are not alone as a cyclist on that route.

thanks to both of you for your tips!

@papawizo
how remote is the route through the rockies regarding villages passing through etc.
I love the mountains and outdoors but I would also like to get to know some people on this trip (coming from Germany and just curious), maybe have a drink somewhere every other week.. is that possible on the Great parks route or is it pure nature?

You might also want to post in Touring. Lots of folks not living in the west have biked these places.

thanks to both of you for your tips!

@papawizo
how remote is the route through the rockies regarding villages passing through etc.
I love the mountains and outdoors but I would also like to get to know some people on this trip (coming from Germany and just curious), maybe have a drink somewhere every other week.. is that possible on the Great parks route or is it pure nature?

The great parks route passes through plenty of medium-sized and small towns. Some of the small towns are very oriented towards serving the tourist trade, so you will have choices in these towns about whether you want to go to the establishments where tourists congregate vs. the kinds of places where locals show up. You should be able to figure out which is which.

If you get the maps for the Great Parks Routes you'll be able to see exactly which towns have services.

Again, reading some online journals at Crazyguyonabike should give you a feel for what kinds of places you'll pass through.