houston9388

Im planning a tour from Olympia to the Bay Area, CA. I found routes on Oregon and Californias DOT site, but not washington. Id like to know if this is a good route.


WA route
https://goo.gl/maps/yHUz

If you have a better route you can simply edit by adding/removing/moving the white points and afterwards you can paste the link (chain-link on top left side of maps) or you can tell me on here

for those of you interested who havent found these
OR Coast
https://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/BIKEP...e_map.pdf?ga=t
CA Coast
https://www.dot.ca.gov/dist1/d1transp...bike_route.pdf


- Thank you

indyfabz

https://www.adventurecycling.org/rout...?pg=detail&s=1

passes close to olympia and goes to astoria.

mev

What are you looking for in a route?

Note that much of your route between Olympia and Kelso parallels but doesn't always follow the Seattle to Portland (STP) route after point you go out to meet the bike path. I haven't been on your route but would likely prefer the STP route through Chehalis: https://shop.cascade.org/sites/defaul...p-2011_web.pdf
The Longview Bridge and Route 30 is fine though there is also an option to stay on WA side and cross at Cathlamet.

raybo

On a ride from Bellingham to Portland, I rode much of the ACA route down through Port Townsend, went to the west of the Hood Canal, and then turned right at Shelton, over to the coast and then down to Cathlamet, where I crossed the Columbia. From Olympia, you could head west to the coast and do the same route.

I liked the time spent on the coast and didn't find the roads busy and they mostly had wide shoulders, with the exception of Hwy 4 that heads inland toward KM Mountain. If you'd like to read more about my route, check out my journal.

fietsbob

Alternates..
From Oly, US 12 goes West to pick up 101, south to cross the bridge..
[work being done on both sections.. 1 lane , flaggers, traffic control.]

or from Longview WA 4 parallel the river roughly on the north shore.
Cathlamet, Puget Island, ferry across the shipping channel to Westport.
short distance East, to Clatskanie, then the back route to Mist,
and take 202 west to Astoria.

Or just stay on WA4 and meet US101 .

If you do take the US 30 route, try to be on the western section
on Sunday.
as the Wauna Papermill near Knappa/Svenson
is fed by Trucks full of wood-chips, on the section
with least shoulder, and winding to Astoria.

Sunday they are not on the road.

houston9388

Thanks for the help, but I recently got a call, from my buddy who was going to drive me to Washington, telling me that the car broke down. Doesnt appear Ill be doing the tour anytime soon. I was suppose to leave later next week. Oh well.

adventurepdx

I know that now this is is sort of a moot point, but I figured I should add my two cents in case anyone else is thinking about ride between Olympia and Astoria (or if the OP can do this trip after all.)

I just got back from a tour that went from Portland to Olympia, then went out to Astoria. Rather than use any of the options already discussed, I backtracked from Olympia to Chehalis, then took SR 6 to the coast at Raymond and then US 101 south from Raymond to Astoria.

SR 6 has fairly low traffic volumes (though it's busier on either end). Not only that, but it's summit of the Coast Range/Willapa Hills is modest (around 775 feet) with not much of a climb from the east. (I don't think I ever got in the small chainring on the climb.) Plus there is Rainbow Falls State Park on 6 almost halfway between Chehalis and Raymond. Rainbow Falls has three hiker/biker campsites.

101 south from Raymond is also pretty low in the traffic department with a mix of good-to-no shoulder. Camping is available at Bruceport about 9 miles from South Bend or at a KOA outside Bay Center.

I will note that this route uses the Astoria-Megler Bridge, which some cyclists take great pains to avoid. While I don't find it a particularly pleasurable experience, I've never had any problems the three times I've crossed the bridge. And now with the painting closing off a lane at either side, the benefit to this construction is that the cars come in waves. For the most part no cars will pass for minutes then you'll get a burst of 20 or so in a row.

And if you really don't want to take the bridge, Pacific County Transit provides bus service across it four times daily during the week.
https://www.pacifictransit.org/routes/rt24-50.html

Here's maps of the route I did from Olympia to Astoria. Note that I camped at Cape Disappointment. While I really like this park/campground, it is slightly off route. Taking 4/401 through Naselle to Megler shaves off a few miles than taking 101 through Ilwaco and Chinook.
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/699801
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/699823
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/699835
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/699863
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/699868

adventurepdx

That link doesn't seem to work, but I haven't found a workable alternate.

One thing to note about the STP routing between Chehalis and Centralia: It's used Airport Road in the past. I found out the hard way last week that Airport Road is CLOSED due to road construction through the end of the year. There doesn't seem to be any great alternate around it other than totally bypass Chehalis to the west by using Schueber Road and SR 603. I ended up using National/Kresky to the east of I-5 which I didn't enjoy. Of course you can always hop on I-5...


The little 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper below the sign has more details on the closure, saying that the mid-section of the road would be impassible.

fietsbob

Amtrak will get you to Olympia, WA.. It aint the SNCF TGV but it is comfortable enough.