skyzo

So I'm leaving for my tour of the Pacific Coast here in a little over a month now, and figured I would ask about what you guys use for maps. I know that adventure cycling has a map of the route, but I am not doing their exact route. I am starting in northern Idaho and riding across the state of Washington, going through Yakima and through Mount Rainer nat'l park. I'll arrive at the coast somewhere near Aberdeen, and then continue to head down the coast.

What type of maps do you guys use for navigation? I'm kind of old school and would like to just use maps rather than a GPS(and save some major $).

I could print my own at the library (only charges .10c for color printing per page), but I would pretty much have a book of maps if I did that for the whole route. All ive my other tours have been short enough to do this, but I still ended up having to print a page for ever 30-40 miles, which in this case would be like 30 pages

raybo

When I did a route across Idaho, I took paper copies (printed on two sides) of google maps for the areas where I thought the navigation might be tricky. Otherwise, I could use a state AAA map. Also, be aware that some states, Idaho is one of them, have separate biking maps that can be very useful.

Be aware that things are not so clear when you are on the road, tired, it's dark, and there are no road signs. In those occasions, maps and even compasses are required. The nice thing about maps you print yourself is that you can throw them away when you are done with them!

For Washington, check out this site: https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/bike/default.htm . There is even a downloadable state biking map that you can use to create your route.

Ray

skyzo

Thanks Ray, yeah I had seen those state biking maps before, I used them when planning my route, I tried to mainly go on roads that had the lowest traffic level.
I use a cue-sheet as well, I use my cycling computer to track my mileage, and base when I have to make my turns by just looking at the cue sheet.

Just curious, what route did you go through Idaho?

fietsbob

Maps in the US are horrible , after having used UK & Irish Ordinance survey maps.

Forest service maps show how badly we have penetrated every square mile with Logging Roads.

Doug64

I've done various parts of your proposed route. There are not a lot of options for most of the route. I started at the Canadian border , north of Lake Pend Oreille, and cycled down to Southern Oregon. I just used Highway 95 to Couer d'Alene. I headed south from there to Lewiston, and then into WA-- not the way you are going.
You would probably head west from Couer d'Alene to Spokane. If you are going through Yakima to Mt. Rainirer your route is rather limited. Once you leave the park you can hit HWY 706 and connecting roads to head for Olympia. When we did the Pacific Coast route we came down the Hood Canal which took us pretty close to Olympia. Hwy 8 connects to the PCR and will take you into Aberdeen and HWY 101. There are not a lot of options. A good source of information about the Pacific Coast Route from Aberdeen south is the book, Bicycling the Pacific Coast. However, there is not much navigation required once you reach the coast. Hwy 101 south until you get to Hwy 1 in California. The ocean stays on your right

Good luck on your ride-especially for the part from Spokane to Yakima. It is hot, windy and exposed.

charly17201

From what I've seen on CalTrans web sites they have some pretty hefty bike routes/maps that I've downloaded. If I didn't have the ACA maps, I'd go with CalTrans ones.

BigBlueToe

I rode the coast from Seattle to Santa Cruz many years ago. I followed the route in Bicycling the Pacific Coast. I turned south at Montesano on 107, then joined 101 south and followed it all the way to Leggett Hill. The book is a bit out of date but still very useful. The last time I rode the coast I photocopied the pages I needed and threw them away when I was finished.

Oregon also has a bicycling map which is very useful.

valygrl

Triple A maps plus whatever you pick up at visitor centers along the way. AAA state maps are fine for quite a bit of the west, but if you are going to go through a complicated/densely populated area, you can often get a county or city level map.

raybo

Here is a map of the route I followed. It includes the Oregon segment, which is the TransAm route.

You can read my journal of that route starting at Day 12.

Ray

skyzo

wow! you stayed in Crouch for a day? I lived there for about 10 years growing up, such a small town I cant believe you found it. Total community is about 1,000 people, and if you count the surrounding area maybe 3,000 in a large 25 miles radius. We used to fish off that bridge you have a picture of.

fietsbob

ODOT has Bike down the coast maps , we have a Kiosk on the west end of town,
on 101, at the roundabout.

theres a few free copies in a container on the Kiosk,
which gets restocked from time to time..

truman

I get 90% of what I need for a road tour from the DeLorme Gazetteer maps of the states I'll travel in. The rest I'll supplement with Google, et al.

raybo

I really liked Crouch. It is one of the highlights of that tour! I had planned a short day after much desert heat and too many miles. That day turned into a long one and I needed a rest. Crouch was just the tonic. My only complaint was that I couldn't get a massage at the spa!

Ray

indyfabz

Some people don't know this, but USFS road system dwarfs the Interstate Highway System by approximately a factor of 8.

Rob_E

I love those DeLorme books as well. They are not a good size for bike travel, but they have great detail. I also like a full-size state map to plan out general routes, but the level of detail in the DeLorme Atlas and Gazetteer can't be beat.

skyzo

I have a DeLorme of both Idaho and Washington, but like Rob said, they are really large and not really fit for bike touring. I was looking for something that would fold down to like a 12x12 size or smaller even.
fietsbob, Ill have to check out the ODOT maps you are talking about. I think what I will probably end up doing is getting a state map of the 3 states im traveling through, and then print google maps for some more confusing places. Along with a simple cue sheet, I should be good.

Once I get to the coast I am not worried at all about directions, its just the trek across norther ID/WA to the coast that is a little confusing. Also I am meeting my ride back up to ID in the Sacramento area, so I will go off route down there too.

skyzo

Yeah its a bummer you went through there in the middle of summer, it dries out horribly. A much nicer place in the spring and fall, so green. Although it does get pretty cold in the early spring/late fall. Ideal touring time for that area where you could still camp comfortably would be about late May, early June. Come july it gets HOT

zoltani

Have you considered ripping out just the pages you need from the DeLorme for the ID and WA portion of the trip?

The bad thing about WSDOT bike map is it only shows state highways. It doesn't even show some of the rails-to-trails and other bike paths. But it does give you a good idea of traffic volumes for state highways.

MTBMaven

Sorry I can't speak to all aspects of your route but a group of friends and I did the ACA Pacific Coast route from CA/OR border to SF this past summer using the ACA maps exclusively while riding. As a professional geographer and cartographer I found the maps excellent. The information was easy to read and use and the information with only one very minor exception that after a quick ride around a park was easy enough to figure out. I would highly recommend their maps and joining ACA to help support the organization.

Shifty

In Oregon just follow these signs

B. Carfree

ODOT's website has printable Oregon Coast Bike Route maps with a nice State campground locator/amenities page. It's always nice to know where the next shower is hiding. I bring a laminated copy with me even though I have ridden the coast countless times. Caltrans has something similar, though not as well done.

dwmckee

I have not tried this I must admit but you could build your entire route in advance on mapmyride.com and then just print out a queue sheet to bring some state road maps as backup. The queue sheets might be only a dozen pages or so as a guess. I know a route I but together that was 300 miles with 200 turns was only a couple of pages on the queue sheets.

MTBMaven

I mapped our ride from CA/OR border to SF on RideWithGPS when planning the trip. In hindsight it would have been far easier to just use the ACA map for planning and route finding while on the tour. The map has been well vetted, is waterproof, doesn't rip, is lightweight, and doesn't run out of batteries.