MKIV987

My brother and I are starting a 3-day trip from Auburn, WA (about 30 miles south of Seattle) to Portland next Saturday. Anyone have a route suggestion that doesn't involve US-30 (or other roads without shoulders)? We only have three days so I'd like to keep it under 200 miles if at all possible. Thanks!

fietsbob

There is an annual Seattle to Portland ride , look up that route.

Or you could do a loop out to the coast, grey's harbor, then back,
via the north Columbia River, WA 4, and south OR 30..

if you run out of time, there is a nice Bus from Astoria to Portland.

Cyclebum

Pretty obvious, but Google's bicycle route, 175 miles, looks very doable and scenic. Includes some rails to trails. Seems to match the Seattle to Portland ride mentioned above.

MKIV987

Hmm. You guys are correct. For some reason I thought that US-30 had little or no shoulder but after Street-viewing most of the route it all looks pretty decent.

Fietsbob, we considered the ride to Astoria because it seems a bit nicer as far as scenery goes. Unfortunately, my flight leaves from Portland early Tuesday morning and we leave from Auburn on Saturday morning. Last bus from Astoria on Monday is at 5:45 p.m. I think. I'm riding a beater bike and leaving it in [destination] to avoid baggage fees on the way home but my brother lives in the PNW so he wouldn't be able to come to Portland without boxing his bike.

adventurepdx

The STP (Seattle-To-Portland) route is probably the most commonly used route between the two cities. And it's well-mapped:
https://shop.cascade.org/sites/defaul...p-2011_web.pdf

If you wanted to avoid the Longview (Lewis and Clark) Bridge and US 30, here is a route sticking to the Washington side, crossing the Columbia at the Interstate (I-5) bridge:
https://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...to-Longview-WA
It connects to the STP route at Kelso-Longview. It's pretty low traffic and rolling for the most part, using quite a bit of old US 99. However, there is a monster of a hill north of Woodland, between mileposts 27 and 31 on the map. When I rode over it a few years ago, that hill wiped me out! Since I-5 plowed over old US 99 here, this is the only way around it, unless you hop on I-5 for this section (yes, it's legal.)

Regarding shoulders, in the rural areas between Tacoma and Vancouver, WA, there aren't many roads that have shoulders. Much of the STP route is on roads with narrow-to-no shoulders. But the traffic is pretty light for the most part. There aren't a lot of towns once you get south of Tacoma.

mev

US 30 is pretty reasonable as far as shoulders go and has segments with at least as wide shoulders as other parts of the route.

I have seemed to hit a higher percentage of roofing nails or other flat causing debris in my rides on that road - so I'm tempted to try the WA side next time.

adventurepdx

Don't forget about all the logging debris on the Longview Bridge! Big chunks of wood fly off logging trucks and litter the limited shoulder. This is the only place I got a flat on one Portland-Vancouver tour. It's made me want to avoid the bridge in the future.