combatdecoy

Hey y'all!
Somewhere on here someone(can't find the post)posted a route from Portland to the coast along a nice scenic highway.
I'm hoping that person sees this thread and can hook me up but I also wanted to get your thoughts on routes coming out of Portland. We'll be arriving at the Amtrak station and most likely staying the first night at some motel and starting off early the next day.
Thoughts?
Take care
Mark

fietsbob

Note on Your Map, ... got a map, right?

Stay on the Amtrack train to Kelso WA, take WA 4 north side of the River to Say 101 & cross the Bridge ,
to Astoria.. or,

30 and follow the south side Shore and the various hills , like just west of the Longview Bridge . or,

26 and pickup 47, the Banks -Vernonia rd, to 202 route, to south side of Astoria, joining 101 there,

Or stick to 26 and come out south of Seaside,

Or you can leave your bike in the Box at the station, stow it under the Very Nice Bus', cargo hold,
and take it back out in Astoria*, SeaSide Or Cannon Beach When you Get out Here. .. comes out 2X a day..

*LBS 2 blocks away from stop..

OldZephyr

Here's a link to three routes: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/transp...article/301633. Our son and his friend took the 3rd route described in that link and loved it: https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/p...id=287893&v=4k

SpookyReverb

I have been wanting to try the route to Astoria (through Vernonia). Then you end up in Astoria and can go to Fort George Brewery!

Western Flyer 

I'm pretty sure the Kelso station doesn't have baggage service which leaves your bike on the train until Tacoma, WA. Best check first or get off at PDX. There are lots of routes to the Coast including dirt/gravel. Do you plan to ride north or south or ? when you get there?

mev

For what it is worth, the Amtrak Cascades train is a little different with respect to "baggage service". You can reserve a bike space ($5) and you then deliver the bike at the baggage car. I've gotten off at Tukwila, WA and on at Salem, OR, neither of which are normal baggage stations. Instead the bike gets tagged and you quickly meet the attendant at the baggage car. So in principal one could get there by switching trains and taking bike out of the box.

However with that said, I would look at link OldZepher posted. On May 23rd, I took the route 2 via Tillamook (https://www.bike2013.com/2013/05/23/m...-to-tillamook/). It is a straightforward and pretty direct route, which was fine for a rainy day when I rode it.

flippant

One of my favourite legs of my Portland-San Diego tour was this leg (143km/96mi) from Eugene to Reedsport. It required you getting from Portland to Eugene, but that's not too far. The route takes you through backroads and along a river and is very, very quiet. We hardly saw any cars, except the construction crew laying new bitumen along certain parts. Can't recommend it enough.

cbike

BTW, there is bus service between Portland and Astoria (north coast). They take bicycles as well. https://www.oregon-point.com/nw_point.html

Konasutra

Will be doing that Banks/Veronia route starting this Friday afternoon. Looks like a great route both by the trail and then once you leave Veronia to Astoria. From looking at Google Earth the 202 has pretty light traffic. Two of us headed down the PCH to SF!

Jseis 

SR 4 is a really really low use nice state highway (there are cool side routes..like the Grays River Covered Bridge or Steamboat Slough (requires a short walk around a washout area). A bit up and down (KM is about 750') but fab views of the river. Painting contractors on the Astoria-Megler bridge is sorta slowing but bunching up cars. Normally...I like to cross that bridge early (like sun upish).

I wouldn't recommend 30. 26/47 to Banks/Vernonia (202 sorta the back way into Astoria) is ok. SR 101 from Naselle gets you to Willapa Bay shoreline...very beautiful. SR401 takes you to Astoria-Megler Bridge.

Western Flyer 

That's an easy one. The Amtrak Cascade and the Amtrak bus both run daily between Portland and Eugene and you don't have to box your bike for either - bike charge $5.

Doug64

You might want to check this out. The Cascade only has room for 6 bikes (without boxes), and the slot needs to be reserved with a ticket purchase. If one of the 6 slots is not available, the bikes need to be boxed and are checked baggage. We have also found that it is the bus driver's discretion to need the bikes boxed or not. Amtrak policy is to have the bikes boxed for the bus.

We ran into this problem buying tickets last week. All the non-box spaces were already reserved, and we were buying tickets for early July! However, it is not a big deal to box a bike.

adventurepdx

Yes on that. Much of the time it's easy to find a slot, but if it falls around a major event, say STP, well, count on boxing your bike. And if you want to see how many boxed bikes can fit on the Cascades trains, take it during STP. We started an Olympic Peninsula tour on the Sunday of STP a few years ago (I wouldn't have timed it that way, but I had work constraints.) This was the scene at Seattle King Street Station.



To note, STP happens July 13-14 this year.

Western Flyer 

At the PDX (Portland) station they provide the tools to break you pedals and drop you seat and turn your handlebars. The Amtrak boxes are big enough that is all that has to be done to most bike to roll them in the box with wheels attached. Also at PDX they will give you recycled boxes for free if they are available. They also provide a large plastic bag to store your pedals and any other loose parts inside the box. They don't allow storing panniers and other touring bags inside the bike box, but Amtrak has a very liberal carry-on policy so you can either check them as baggage or carry them onto the passenger car you will be sitting in. The Amtrak bus only has room to small carry-ons in the passenger section so panniers need to go under the bus. If you are carrying 4 panniers you might want to come up with a system to strap them together so they go with the two check bag limit, although I'm not sure anyone actually counts the bags loaded under the bus.

adventurepdx

Just to note: Not every station provides tools. I just wrapped up a tour and took Amtrak out of Spokane, and the baggage people thought it was humorous that cyclists expected the baggage people to have the appropriate tools for boxing a bike. And I remember trying to box my bike at another station, realizing not only had I forgotten my wrench but the station didn't have one either. There was another station that "didn't have tape" to close the box, so I had to run and buy tape. (I use quotations around "didn't have tape" because I found it quite hard to believe, and the station agent was being unfriendly and unhelpful with all passengers, bikes or no.)

Doug64

I have never expected the stations to provide tape or tools. We usually pick up tape on the way to the station or the night before.