Pacific Northwest - Help with Tour Route - Especially Portland to Eugene

Greetings, Northwesterners! I'm a bike tourer and take a "big" tour every summer - usually around 3 weeks. I'm contemplating the following tour next summer: I want to take Amtrak to Portland (I live outside of San Luis Obispo, CA). From there I want to ride south to Eugene. Then I'll take Adventure Cycling's Transamerica Route to Sisters, Oregon. From there I'll take ACA's Sierra Cascades Route to Crater Lake. From there I'll head over to Klamath Falls. I can catch Amtrak from Klamath Falls to get home. Or I can continue south through Lava Beds National Monument, Mount Lassen, Lake Almanor, etc.

I'm most interested in the route between Portland and Eugene. I definitely want to camp at Champoeg along the way. I have sentimental reasons.

I'm looking for scenic roads, though without too many hills. One of the attractions of this route is that I figure it will give me a few days of riding through flatlands before I turn and head east over the Cascades. I don't mind traffic if there's a nice shoulder. Of course, the ideal would be beautiful, flat, scenic roads with huge shoulders and no traffic!

I don't mind going a little out of my way for a nice ride - I don't necessarily want the shortest route. When I tour I'm more about the ride than the destination. I don't feel driven to get to a certain point by a certain date.

I prefer camping to motels, but don't hesitate to find a motel when needed. Private RV parks are okay - they often have a grassy area for tent campers and not too many of those, so they're quiet. I hate noisy campgrounds with kids running through my campsite.

I'd like to keep it to 35 miles a day or less the first three days, until I get my legs, but I don't feel good about myself if I don't ride at least 25 miles a day (though I've ridden less when I found a nice place to stop, and I didn't feel that bad about myself!)

Any route suggestions?

Huge thanks in advance for any input anyone cares to give!

The State of Oregon has this bike route mapped and signed from Champoeg Park to Eugene. http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/PARKS/BIKE/WVSB_main.shtml

The route can be altered in many ways, a really good map can give alternatives. One bit of advice, stay off of highway 99, they are too busy and little shoulder, and great alternatives exist that are much more pleasant. Have fun and enjoy!!

The State of Oregon has this bike route mapped and signed from Champoeg Park to Eugene. http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/PARKS/BIKE/WVSB_main.shtml

The route can be altered in many ways, a really good map can give alternatives. One bit of advice, stay off of highway 99, they are too busy and little shoulder, and great alternatives exist that are much more pleasant. Have fun and enjoy!!

Thanks, Shifty! Those maps are just what I was looking for! Now do you have any advice on how to get from Portland to Champoeg? I've found a Portland bike map, but it doesn't go very far.

I'm hoping that some Portland people, like dtrain, will step up with the best route from downtown to Champoeg for you. The times I've done it I've come from Beaverton over 219 to Newberg, then over the river to the park.

Here is an alternative route from Salem to Eugene that I really like. It takes you to Corvallis, which is a university town with a nice downtown with cafes and lots of people on the streets. From there I ride the foot hills to Bellfountain, then through the farms to Eugene. See what you think as an alternative to Albany and Brownsville. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5062250

A recent discussion that talked about this:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/760663-Portland-to-Eugene

I wrote up my route for riding this on the BikePortland forum:
http://bikeportland.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1830

There's other alternatives- try posting to BikePortland too.

Why not use the Springwater Corridor (http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/finder/index.cfm?PropertyID=679&action=ViewPark) to Milwaukie and then try to find a good route from there to Champoeg? I'm not real familiar with the area, but maybe something like this (http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Portland,+Oregon+(amtrack+station)&daddr=45.519335,-122.6667033+to:45.5075638,-122.6659274+to:45.45933,-122.65099+to:45.434597,-122.6440279+to:45.3891242,-122.6155468+to:45.38176,-122.6078+to:45.36904,-122.60074+to:45.36418,-122.59957+to:45.2965411,-122.6296776+to:Champoeg+State+Heritage+Area,+Champoeg+Road+Northeast,+St.+Paul,+OR&hl=en&ll=45.351482,-122.595663&spn=0.01707,0.027595&sll=45.364901,-122.599654&sspn=0.017066,0.027595&geocode=FaOjtgIdwTKw-CH3YfrssONA5A%3BFeeRtgIdMUGw-CmdtGoQCAqVVDGvrUj360EORw%3BFetjtgIdOUSw-ClDeXfvcgqVVDEp99j3To7XyQ%3BFYKntQIdkn6w-CmBlyIo0QqVVDHP-QVFnJ8TZw%3BFeVGtQIdxZmw-CmhPvMP3XSVVDG3o96sPGbKaQ%3BFUSVtAIdBgmx-CmzNbj5GXSVVDHhAZ0VzCaj_w%3BFYB4tAIdSCex-Cnh4p7dHXSVVDGxdinSY7MPqA%3BFdBGtAId3EKx-ClLBQWZsHaVVDE-69UZ7o9Aow%3BFdQztAIdbkex-Clhp8o7tnaVVDFqK2fuYNzsKg%3BFZ0rswId09Gw-Ck5CKB6c3CVVDH1qvtOV_h4IA%3BFUeAsgIdGp2s-CGmvWcxjVknIw&vpsrc=6&dirflg=b&mra=dvme&mrsp=7&sz=15&via=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9&t=h&z=15&lci=bike)? It'd be 37 mi to Champoeg for your first day of riding.

Everyone has already covered the routes I am familiar with, so I can't help you on that. When do you plan on leaving? This time of year we still have nice northerly winds during daylight hours, so you might do more miles than you thought.

It would be next summer. I avoid campgrounds on the 4th of July, so it would probably be soon after - the 5th? the 6th?

Just rode down between Salem and Corvallis this weekend, there's a bike/pedestrian bridge (http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Windsor+Island+Rd+N&daddr=44.97196,-123.0347653+to:44.9460322,-123.0488983+to:44.9440528,-123.0496615+to:44.92954,-123.19722+to:44.885081,-123.2287922+to:44.792277,-123.2284176+to:44.6398456,-123.2386531+to:44.602164,-123.247615+to:NW+Circle+Blvd&hl=en&ll=44.945483,-123.042154&spn=0.014215,0.026693&sll=44.944238,-123.047647&sspn=0.007108,0.013347&geocode=FWq3rgIdxniq-A%3BFbg3rgIdc6Oq-Ck5VxICNv6_VDHAHCE2KMKI_g%3BFXDSrQIdPmyq-Cn32HtRdf-_VDEZ5vGdcgrb6A%3BFbTKrQIdQ2mq-ClzDSIEd_-_VDE9mSGfjG1dfA%3BFQSSrQId3Cio-Cm9OY_d8QHAVDHXV0cakfYJZg%3BFVnkrAIdiK2n-Ck3tDKFAQPAVDFoOtNvWTYeyA%3BFdV5qwId_66n-Ck9WP8R8BrAVDFsbU1of2r5eA%3BFWUmqQIdA4en-CkX_GaPnBXAVDEUVjTjFM9OBw%3BFTSTqAIdAWSn-CnZ8XTC6z_AVDFmCMZZex9mqw%3BFb1WqAIdDv2m-A&vpsrc=6&dirflg=b&mra=dpe&mrsp=3&sz=16&via=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8&z=15&lci=bike) that you can take, and then go down a dedicated bike path at least down to Monmouth; I stayed on 99 from there as shown on the link, plenty of space on the shoulder to feel comfortable going down. My parents live around the area, I was told specifically not to go down River Rd towards Independence as advised by the Parks and Rec page because traffic is light but shoulder space is nil and cars blast through the scenic path.

It shouldn't be too bad either way though; maybe look into a route that incorporates the Buena Vista ferry too, that's a nice short but sweet ride across the river.