Bekologist

well, why even ask for suggestions then?

if you know you're going to ride from N to S, and have about half of the distance you can cover, i recommend riding the oregon section. its nicer than the california coast.

how much are you going to invest in arriving at your departure point? the OP made it sound like you were either going to tackle it from portland or san francisco.

Again, i'd suggest riding the oregon coast N to S. Like Doug64 said,

Konasutra

Fly to Portland, Ride PDX to Hillsboro then North to Veronia Via the Banks/Veronia trail,you can ride the MAx from airport to Hillsboro to shorten the day, 32 miles from Hillsboro to Veronia. then ride to Astoria from Veronia,, Down the coast to Florence then over to Eugene and then the train back to San Fran. That gets you 1/2 the PCH route you are looking at.

fietsbob

Banks- Vernonia .. is state rte 47, to Mist junction then on OR 202, to the south side of Astoria..
theres a Scappose to Vernonia road thru the forests too .. Hwy 30, rather than 26.

spinnaker

Thanks everyone. Or maybe I should darn you all. SO many options to consider!

I need to work out the math but I like the train idea. It might allow me to make Redwood National Park which I would love to see.

Once I reach Eureka or Crescent city or wherever, I assume there are bike shops where I can ship my bike home so I don't have to haul the bike back to Portland?

And I will e credit card touring. I assume there will be plenty of places along the way to stay. After Labor Day are long term reservations needed or just a few days in advance?

adventurepdx

Banks-Vernonia is not SR 47. The trail parallels 47 but is not one and the same. 47 between Banks and Vernonia has little to no shoulder and fast drivers. Banks-Vernonia Trail is a rail-trail with gentle grades and decent scenery. They'll both get you from A to B but you'll have a different experience. More on the route that Konasutra posted (which I definitely recommend) here:
https://www.portlandoregon.gov/transp...article/301633

And yep, I'm also partial to the Oregon Coast. Depending on time, you can start in Portland and ride/take transit to the Oregon Coast at either Astoria or Tillamook, ride to Arcata/Eureka in California, and hop on the bus to the Bay Area.

spinnaker

OK I sort of have a plan but not sure how to start exactly. The plan is to fly to Portland, take the light rail to Salem. End my trip in Eureka and possibly ship out the bike from there.

My question us how to get to the coast form Salem? One suggestion was to go south to Corvallis then west on route 20 to Newport. I was told by the same source that this is a major bile route to the coast. But another source told me that this is not a good route for bikes. Lots of traffic and big trucks. What is the opinion here?

My original plan was to take Route 18 to Lincoln City.

From the outside what I see id the Salem to Corvallis is a nice short day to shake out any bugs and stiff joints. Salem to Lincoln City gets me a bit more of the Oregon coast.

What is the opinion here on the two options?

Unless this is some really convincing reason someone can give, I am not interested south to Eugene then west. It cuts out just too much of the coast.

BTW as a reminder I will be credit card touring so, that should be considered in the formula.

adventurepdx

There isn't light rail between Portland and Salem. You can either take the commuter rail from Beaverton (westside Portland suburb) to Wilsonville (a suburb south of Portland) and connect to a bus to Salem (weekdays only.) Or you can take Amtrak from Portland to Salem.

spinnaker

I might have my terms mixed up. Thought someone mention light rail but maybe they said it was commuter. What's the easiest from the airport?

adventurepdx

There is light rail from the airport in Portland. But to get between Portland and Salem, you'd need something else. Amtrak would be the easiest connector. You can use the light rail (MAX is its name) to get to Hillsboro to connect you with routes to get to the northern parts of the Oregon Coast, but the light rail isn't going to help much getting south towards Salem.
https://trimet.org/

valygrl

I don't get why you would not just ride from Portland to Astoria on 30?

spinnaker

Thanks. We are headed south from Salem (after we get to the coast). I am trying to figure out the best route west. Found a local in Corvallis and was running it by him.

Looks like there are some alternate roads to keep you off a bit of Route 20. What do you think about 18 to Lincoln City?

spinnaker

Because I am not going north, I am going south to Eureka. I simply don't have the time to ride to Astoria then south.

MTBMaven

As someone else mentioned there is a Hertz rental office at the Crescent City airport. You can rent a car there or seeing as it's an airport you can fly too.


I did the ACA route from Crescent City to SF a few years ago with friends. We drove to Crescent City from the LA area. My parents flew into the airport in CC and made a vacation out of shuttling my vehicle down to SF.
We saw them in the Lost Coast and I had dinner with them in Fort Bragg.


I plan to repeat this trip solo over the Memorial Day week. I plan to rent a one way car and leave it in CC, then rent another one way car in SF.The route is ~400 miles. I plan to do the trip in 6 days of riding, averaging about 70/day. Last time we did it in 9 days but carried heavier loads. I plan to camp each day but not cook as there are too many places to eat along the way to justify the extra crap given my daily mileage.


I hope you have a good trip, maybe this info will help.

Doug64

"Good" and "bad" routes are relative. I've ridden highway 20 from the coast to Corvallis, and would not hesitate to do it again. Actually we rode Highway 20 from Newport, OR to Boston, but that is another story. There is only a 10 mile section near Eddyville that is "bad". However, the trucks,and they are big chip trucks, were all very considerate. We were so impressed with the skill and courtesy of the truck drivers that we got the names of some of the trucking companies as they went by. We sent each one that we could find an address for a "thank you" note commending their drivers for their courtesy and safe driving. We thought a little good will may help the next cyclists riding that section of road.

IMO- Roads always look worse for bike riding while driving them in a car than they actually are when riding them on a bike.

There is an Amtrak station in Albany, 25 miles south of Salem. Highway 20 goes through Albany, and it would be a about a 65 mile ride from the Amtrak station to Newport.

This is pretty typical of the narrower sections. There is the Coast Range to go over, but it is not a big deal. It will be a good warm up for the Coast.

]

East of the summit heading toward Philomath.


I have not ridden highway 18 so I can't help there.

fietsbob

But there is a bus runs Eugene to Portland, then one leaves to Astoria both from PDX union station

and the Talgo Train , that also does a EUG to PDX , run several times a day..
more often than Amtrak coast starlight.. makes a Salem stop too,

Theres a Portland to Tillamook bus too.. multimodal is OK.

Jseis 

Take the train to Kelso/Longview and ride SR4 to Skamakowa river front park as the shakedown, then next day ride to Astoria via the Astoria-Megler Bridge, a 4 mile crossing. SR 4 is rural, scenic with great views of the Columbia. A couple hills and probably 1500? feet of up. Every journey requires a bang start and the bridge is it.

Riding and visiting the coast of Washington is a journey in itself and I'd start in southern Puget Sound, take ferries, do the Olympic loop including a few dead head routes to Neah Bay, the Hoh, loop to SR105, 101 and 100 loop to Cape Disappointment etc. I ride SW Wa a lot and I'm always near and along water on my 50 mile loop favorite route. The south bound tourers are always slow and gassed from hills south of Aberdeen on 101. 105 is flat as a board, on the water on Grays Harbor and Willapa and a better route.

simplygib

JMO, but I would instead fly into PDX, catch a bus to Astoria (if you don't have time to ride it), then ride to Crescent City and pick up a bus or car back to SF, PDX or wherever you're flying out of. The entire Oregon coast is spectacular. I'd rather miss Crescent City to Eureka than Astoria to Lincoln City.

spinnaker

Thanks. I feel better now. After my tour of Hwy 1 in Maine last year, I am a little gun shy. It was not so much the danger just the constant noise, it was horrendous. Not sure why the bike shop gave such a dire warning about that road.

Thanks for the tip on the train to Albany. It opens up more possibilities of saving a day.