jdstirewalt

I'm taking a one month sabbatical and want to spend it riding the Pacific coast. What is the best route? How many days should I anticipate?

Cyclesafe

Get the ACA maps. https://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/pacificcoast.cfm

How long? Depends on how fast you go. One month is very doable if one is reasonably fit.

skyzo

If you take the ACA route, it is very possible you could get very close to finishing the entire thing in 30 days. That would require about 60 miles a day though, so it all depends on how fit you are. I'm riding the Pacific Coast route starting mid-may, and am looking at about ~35 days to finish.

nickw

I can only suggest what I have done, the Astoria to Crescent City portion. Many people agree it is one of the best sections of the trip.

Go to the Adventure Cycling Association website, they have all the maps for route planning there.

As far as anticipated days. Answer is it depends. How strong of a cyclist are you? Are you doing a fully self sustained tour or a supported tour? Camping or getting a room? It all makes a difference.

My tour was fully self supported, carried all my own food, camping gear, etc. I averaged close to 60 miles per day. Days ranged from 50-85. I am also a very experienced cyclist, not the fittest, but I am comfortable on a bike for 10+ hours. It really boils down to comfort more than fitness. Some guys can do 10 hours, while others are done after 4. I would say this is personal and something you will have to figure out on your own. But as a guidline, I would say shoot for 8 mph average, which accounts for food stops, pictures, minor deviations, etc. At least that what mine worked out to be.

I have heard the Washington portion was a dissapointment by a number of people, YMMV.

kayakdiver

I would say this is true if you follow the sucky ACA route through Washington. Start out from Anacortes and head towards the Coast and it's a whole different story. Why the ACA route goes through such crappy riding through Washington is beyond me. Even the Canal route would be a huge improvement from the ACA route.

nickw

I was always surprised to hear people say they didnt like it since I know how beautiful the coast is. Thanks for the heads up, I'll have to give your route a shot.

escii_35

Native Pugetsounder who has done the coast ride twice.

I'd vote for Westport WA to San Luis O. as the high point. Sections Washington are OK but others are a big why bother.

If you fly into Seattle take the train to Bellingham. Ride out to Whidby Island (senic day) then either down Hood Canal or around the Olympic Penn neither route is worth doing a second time.

On my third ride I'll make it a point to see the "Lost Coast" south of Eureka.

Be sure not to miss the turn onto Otter Crest Loop Drive just past Depoe Bay. Another nice side route is the Old 101 turn off south of Neskowin.

BigBlueToe

In 1992 I rode from Seattle, Washington to Santa Cruz, CA, riding the route described in "Bicycling the Pacific Coast" by Kirkendall/Spring. It was "the bible" and everyone carried it. In 2004 I rode out from Portland to Astoria, then down the same route to Crescent City, CA. I enjoyed it so much the first time I had to do it again. I like it so much I feel I'll likely ride it again someday. It took me four weeks to ride from Seattle to Santa Cruz, and I averaged 55 miles a day.

ACA now has a set of maps for that route. People say that the Kirkendall/Spring book is out of date. It probably has some inaccuracies due to age, but I'd still buy it, read it, and bring the pages. If I was riding it again, I'd buy the ACA maps, bring the pages from the book, and use both to plan.

One person said to take the train to Bellingham and start there. I'll chime in because I went to college in Bellingham and started bike touring there. I grew up in the Seattle area. I'm wondering if part of the reason to do this would be to go to the Canadian border for a "starting-at-the-border" picture. If so, I suggest you ride from Bellingham up to Birch Bay State Park. It's close to the Peace Arch at the Blaine border crossing, which would make a great picture.

I would head south from Bellingham on Chuckanut Drive. It's a little busy, and there's not a great shoulder, but it's a beautiful ride and one of the only choices heading southwest out of B'ham. Larrabee State Park is on Chuckanut about 7 miles south of Bellingham. I think it has a hiker/biker site. It's a beautiful park on the bay.

At the south end of Chuckanut, take the right turn for Bow/Edison. Follow the signs for Anacortes/Whidbey Island/Deception Pass. One option would be to head to Anacortes and take the ferry out for a few days in the San Juan Islands, one of the classic northwest bike touring destinations. Spencer Spit State Park on Lopez is a nice destination. San Juan Island has more services in Friday Harbor, and there are a couple of parks with camping.

To head south and bypass the San Juan Island option, take the left turn south towards Whidbey Island/Deception Pass/Oak Harbor. Just across the bridge at Deception Pass is Deception Pass State Park, which is a beautiful old park with really nice biker sites.

A ways down Whidbey Island you'll have another choice to make. If you want to go through Seattle (which is a pretty great city and almost as bike-friendly as Portland) then continue down the spine of the island. If you want to head to the other side of Puget Sound, take the right turn to Fort Casey and the ferry to Port Townsend. You can camp at Fort Casey, or camp on the other side (Fort Worden?)

If you continue down Whidbey Island you can camp at South Whidbey State Park, which has hiker/biker sites (lots of mosquitoes when I've been there.) Then take the ferry across to Mukilteo and continue south into Seattle. There is a Seattle bike route map available online. After you've done your Seattle thing, ride down to the Fauntleroy ferry dock and take the ferry across to Bremerton. There's a campground in east Bremerton - Illahee. When I did it I continued out towards Hood Canal, past Belfair (and Belfair State Park) and camped at Twanoh State Park. Again, there were nice hiker/biker sites (in 1992.) I don't remember my exact route to get down to Aberdeen/Hoquiam because I didn't follow the proscribed route. Once I got south of Hoquiam I pretty much stayed on the Kirkendall/Spring route all the way to Santa Cruz.

If you go over to Port Townsend, follow the route down the west side of the sound and join the through-Seattle option somewhere southwest of Hood Canal.

Okay, now that I've said all of that, let me opine on the best sections of the route.

The Bellingham/Whidbey Island portion (and the San Juan Islands option) has it's own flavor, and it's a great place to tour, especially if the weather is warm. The scenery, the water, the Chuckanut sandstone, etc. make it magical - to me, anyway. If I only had a week to 10 days, this might be one of my first choices in the entire west.

Seattle is an urban experience that also has it's own flavor. It also has some wonderful riding. If you stay with a friend or in a hotel for a few days, there are lots of nearby places to go, or rides in the city.

The Hood Canal section is nice, but between there and the southern border of Washington wasn't that great. Long roads with endless evergreen trees on both sides. I like evergreen trees, but they block the view and you feel like you're riding down an endless corridor between impenatrable walls.

I rode across the bridge over the Columbia into Astoria, and that was terrifying! There was a tiny shoulder and an endless stream of semi-trucks passing way too close. There's a ferry a few miles inland, and I might consider going a few miles out of my way to take it next time, instead of riding across that bridge.

From Astoria south to Brookings was the best part of the whole coast, in my opinion. It's beautiful! There are a multitude of campgrounds, usually beautiful, with cheap hiker/biker sites, free showers, and no reservations necessary (for bikers.) There were plenty of services along the way. The shoulders were mostly very nice, except on some of the bridges. Compared to other routes I've ridden, I'd say it's probably the most bicycle-friendly.

South of Eureka, the route heads inland. It got hotter (in late July), there were fewer services, and in some places the lack of shoulders and the busy traffic were very scary. Then you head west off of 101, onto Highway 1 over Leggett Hill. Everyone on the route talked about the "dreaded Leggett Hill." It was steep, but not overly so. It was hard but I've since been on more challenging hills. I had some real problems with logging trucks going down the west side, so be careful! They passed me when there wasn't room, and there often wasn't room for me to pull over.

Once I got out to the coast, it was beautiful riding - beautiful scenery without much traffic. The services were a lot more sparse for the first section. Overall, it was one of the best parts of the ride.

Riding through San Francisco was another interesting urban experience. I was following the route description very carefully and still got lost. Luckily I found a policewoman who looked at the route and said I was only off by a block. I was paralleling the road I was supposed to be on. Riding across the Golden Gate Bridge was fun. The rest of the ride through San Francisco wasn't that great. The ride going into the metropolitan area was pretty nice. I liked the part by Tomales Bay. I liked Samuel P. Taylor State Park. I liked riding through Sausalito.

South of San Francisco you get to one of the most spectacular rides ever - the Big Sur Coastline. However, I have mixed feelings about it. While it's incredibly beautiful, it's also not a great bike road, with small to non-existent shoulders, tons of traffic, including trucks and big motorhomes, and lots of hairpin, blind corners. If I had never been on it I would definitely ride it; it's worth the risk. However, I live here and have driven up and down it many times, including on my motorcycle, so it isn't as exciting for me as it otherwise might be. But if you've never been here, consider it. It's amazing! There are campgrounds along the way with hiker/biker sites, and enough services that you won't have to carry more than one or two days' worth of food.

South of San Simeon you're back into civilization with a nice shoulder and lots of services. San Simeon State Park has a hiker/biker site (not my favorite, but I've stayed there several times) and it's right next to the tourist-friendly town of Cambria. A few miles south are Cayucos and Morro Bay (I love the hiker/biker sites at Morro Bay State Park), and then you head inland into San Luis Obispo. I've never ridden south of San Luis, except for some day rides here and there. I'd say you'll be in the Southern California sprawl all the way down to Mexico, though there are some nice, relatively undeveloped stretches along the way.

tip

I agree with not following the ACA route in Washington. I have lived in the South Puget Sound area my whole life, and I just don't see why ACA has you go through Shelton and down through Centralia. No offense to those that may live in that area, but its just not a good fit for this tour. Also, HWY 3 is not somewhere I want to be on a bike, let alone a car.

I'm leaving in June and following the ACA route, except for this portion (and Lost Coast):

(my route in red, ACA in black)

I'm heading northwest from Port Townsend, then following 101 or 112 through Forks, then down 101 to Westport. It may be a little wetter, and add a few miles, but its a Pacific Coast tour for pete's sake!

Also, I'm giving myself 45-50 days to do it, which will allow me to take my time. I am shooting for less than 40 days, but leaving some room for leeway since it will be my first tour. Anyway, good luck!

kayakdiver

Good route... ridden it many times.

TheHen

escii_35 mentioned the Lost Coast. Unless you don't want to deal with hills, I recommend you do this. You give up the Avenue of the Giants, but you also give up the sucky, dangerous stretch of hwy101 between the Avenue and Leggett. The Lost Coast starts with the back side of the Wall out of Ferndale (don't miss the Kinetic Sculpture Museum) and gets steeper from there. It is the most desolate section of coastline available. There is a sometimes open store in Petrolia and a store in Honeydew. There is a Humboldt County campground near Honeydew (Camp A.W. Way) and a smattering of state campgrounds. The last 25 miles of the Lost Coast is Usul Rd. It is an unpaved lane trapped between a private hunting preserve and a wilderness, but rideable in road tires when the clay is dry. I always bring off-road tires for it. It ends thirty miles north of Fort Bragg. If you break down on the Lost Coast, you may have to wait a while for help. (On Usul, forget it. You likely won't have anyone go by you.) It has been as long as six hours between passing cars out there for me. Perhaps because there are so few people driving around there, the ones who are driving are generally very friendly and helpful. Just don't trespass into anyone's medicinal plantation and all is good.

After the Lost Coast, every other hill along the Pacific Coast seems like a speed bump. Gear down accordingly.

valygrl

Don't miss Big Sur, from Monterey to Pismo.

Don't bother with LA to San Diego. If you can fly home out of Santa Barbara, I'd do that.

Cyclesafe

Actually, IMHO YMMV etc I thought the route around the Olympic Peninsula wasn't really so great either. The forests outside the parks have been clear cut and the route rarely goes near the ocean.

I think one reason the ACA route stays inland is to keep riders off the Columbia River bridge at Astoria. Very dangerous. Also, the ACA route gives you a chance to side-trip to Mt St Helens.

BigBlueToe

I would tend to agree.

I haven't ridden this on a bicycle, but I've driven it. I was expecting beautiful ocean views, beach access, views of the Olympics... What I remember was the road surrounded on both sides by endless trees, and hardly any view of the ocean. I did like the rain forest (I was there when it wasn't raining), but mostly it seemed like a long haul with not much to recommend it.

I started my ride in Seattle, took the ferry to Brememerton, then rode alongside Hood Canal to join the route outlined in "Bicycling the Pacific Coast." The same was true between Shelton and Montesano (I stayed at Lake Sylvia.) The road was pretty boring with nothing to look at but endless evergreen trees. (A lot of them were future Christmas trees, but I don't know if that improves the view.)

I don't know much about the ACA route, but when I've followed others of their routes I've agreed with probably 95% of their route choices. Their routes have taken me on countless beautiful, quiet, bucolic roads that I never would have found on my own. If I were riding this portion again, I'd at least consider their route.

Another "famous" route in this area is the STP, which, I guess, takes you into Portland. I rode from Portland out to Astoria once to start the coast route. I took Highway 30. It wasn't bad, although it got busy and the shoulder mostly vanished going into Astoria.

Lots of choices!

X-LinkedRider

Pacific Coast Highway. 1/101