2012 Bike Camping and Touring Relfections

After being on the road for four and a half-months on the Cross-Continent Bike Tour in 2011, it would be really hard for 2012 to measure up. Still, 2012 shaped up to be a pretty decent year bicycle wise.

April and I started the bike camping/touring year right on New Years with our annual tradition of hitting up the cabins at Stub Stewart State Park with a bunch of friends. February saw the next (and final if you don't count the cabin camping we'll do at the end of this year) cabin camping trip to Battle Ground Lake.

Tent/bivy camping started with the Cycle Wild trip to Ainsworth in April. Emboldened by weekends of good weather and the itch to go bike camping again, the following two weekends saw camping expeditions to two new (for me) campgrounds: Sunset on the edge of Gifford Pinchot National Forest and Paradise Point State Park in Washington.

For a brief moment, I hoped to keep up that clip of a bike camping trip every week or every other week, but weather and life conspired against me. Still, May was good with two trips: Milo McIver and the Champoeg/Silver Falls excursion over Memorial Day.

Then soon after that was my first bike tour of the year: the nine day PDX-Oly-Astoria jaunt right at the beginning of June. The rest of June was busy with Pedalpalooza, but I still got in a mid-week camping expedition to Battle Ground again. (This was part of the Pedalpalooza calendar.) After Pedalpalooza was my first attempt at bush camping in the Portland metro area: the comical trip to Sauvie Island.

While July was prime bicycling and sleeping outdoors weather, I only managed a "small" tour: the Hood-Adams-Helens five day bivouac. August saw my third and final trip to Battle Ground (a Cycle Wild event) on possibly the hottest weekend of the year. I finished off August with my longest and most epic tour of 2012: the ten day Helens-Rainier-Seattle-Vashon trip.

September saw a "bike-augmented camping" trip to Cape Disappointment right after Labor Day, and a mid-week overnight to Metzler Park in Clackamas County. While the weather was still good for another month and I had all intentions of doing more camping, Metzler was the last camping trip of the year.

Though I didn't think it was that impressive at the time, looking back at the year I had a good run:

• Eight bike overnights
• Three three-day trips (Stub cabins, Champoeg/Silver Falls, Cape Disappointment)
• Three tours

All added together, this totals 49 nights away, over a month and a half of bike adventure overall.

Moosemoose saw some action, no doubt.

While I obviously went to many places I've been before over roads I've ridden many a time, this year I hit up a lot of new territory, like Sunset, Paradise Point, and Metzler in the overnight categories and biking around the Cascades and over the Willapa Hills in the touring categories. Even on tours through areas I've been through multiple times, like between Portland and Olympia, I managed to find new-to-me roads.

One theme of travel over the past year becomes apparent when you put it all together: I stayed close to home in 2012. At no point was I more than 200 miles from Portland. This was by design. I wanted to explore new areas that were nearby, and most importantly I was very, very broke in 2012. For the first eight months of the year, the months I did the majority of my camping/touring, I did not have a regular job. I couldn't afford big train trips or expensive overnight accommodations. 

I must say that I'm pretty satisfied with what I accomplished. I biked over mountains and to the coast. I hung out in Olympia and Seattle. I saw a bear again and met German bike tourists.

Still, there were two places in 2012 I would have liked to tour that I didn't get to: around Crater Lake and the Cascades in southern Oregon and the many island archipelagos (San Juans, Gulf) in the "inland sea" of the Northwest. No biggie, as they ain't far away. And there's always 2013...

Helens-Rainier-Seattle-Vashon Tour 2012: Reflections

A hazy Mt. St. Helens

Hello friends! It's the end of the year, so time to do some housecleaning and also to reflect on 2012. I realized that I never wrote a wrap-up to this tour, so enjoy! 

The Helens-Rainier-Seattle-Vashon Tour was most definitely my most up and down tour of 2012, literally and figuratively. This tour had the most mountains, the most passes (three, plus a climb up to Paradise in Rainier). The elevation went from sea level at Vashon to Paradise at 5,500 feet (1,675 m) above sea level. It had the best scenery which varied between the Cascades and Puget Sound islands. Stevens Canyon Road was definitely my riding highlight of the year; I've never been to Europe but I can imagine riding through the Alps would be somewhat similar to this.

While overall the tour was good, I did reach some low points emotionally and physically. The mountain riding was for the most part harder than I expected, even after being warmed up with climbing by the Hood-Adams-Helens tour in July. I tackled Oldman Pass on that tour and found it challenging but not impossible. Yet the second time around Oldman really kicked my ass. I thought the second time you do something it gets easier, but no. I constantly found myself behind Todd on all the climbs. This wasn't good for my ego.

And Seattle. I really do like Seattle, but I get a weird vibe sometimes. And some folks like to go out of their way to let me know they have a low opinion of Portland. While this doesn't happen every time I visit, it has happened enough, starting the very first time I visited the Emerald City in October of 2001, just six months after I moved to Portland. My hosts told me that Portland was "dirty" and they could just never imagine living there. I don't know why some Seattle-ites have such a low opinion of Portland, as the two Cascadian cities are more similar than they are different. Maybe that's why? Or maybe because Portland has received all the attention in the aughts when the spotlight was on Seattle in the nineties?* I don't know.

Mt. Rainier from Stevens Canyon Road

On this trip it wasn't the put down, but one of my friends pointed out the issues he had with certain people/groups the last time he was down in Portland. This thrust me in the role of defender/explainer/apologist/what-have-you. I'm not trying to invalidate his bad experiences, but I haven't heard him say many positive things about Portland in the past, in fact he bluntly told me "Portland sucks" once.

And I don't think I've had a worse closing to a bike tour: food poisoning. Getting back home was an excruciating ordeal, and once I got home I was laid up in bed for a day and a half with a 101F fever.

Okay, enough dwelling on the bad. On the good side, this tour furthered my goal of exploring new areas, areas around the Northwest I hadn't been to before. There's still more though: while I feel I've seen a good deal of Washington and Oregon east of the Cascades, there's a heck of a lot of east-of-Cascades stuff that I need to explore. And southern Oregon, too. I've only been to one Gulf Island, and none of the San Juans. Heck, I've only scraped the tip of mainland BC and a bit of Vancouver Island. Looks like I got my work cut out for me.

Green River Gorge.

*It won't matter anymore, as the teens will totally be Spokane's decade, right?

Helens-Rainier-Seattle-Vashon Tour 2012: Seattle, Vashon, Tacoma, Sickness, End.

The Cobain house and bench

Monday, August 20th. A day off in Seattle. I took a casual approach to the morning, since my only commitment of the day was the Bike Touring Workshop I would facilitate at Bikeworks in the evening. I hung around my private room in the HI for a bit, and then set out to explore.

I've been to Seattle scads of times since I've lived in Portland, so there's not a heck of a lot of new ground to cover, but try to cover new ground I did. I set out first for Capitol Hill and then the Central District, where one of my favorite bike shops, 20/20 Cycle is located. Unfortunately, Alex, the owner wasn't there, so I chatted with the guys in the shops, and then headed eastward to Lake Washington.

While riding along the lake, I took a quick pause at a parklet with a park bench. Being a music nerd, I recently found out this particular bench is a shrine to Kurt Cobain, as the house that adjoins the parklet (seen in the photo) was the last house that Kurt lived (and died) in. The bench itself is covered with all sorts of Cobain/Nirvana graffiti. Unfortunately I didn't get a good shot, as my camera had no charge left. (I foolishly forgot to bring my charger for the trip.)

I rode southward along the lakefront, pausing at Seward Park, then I headed westward to the Columbia City neighborhood, where Bikeworks is located. Before the workshop, I met Davey who works at Bikeworks  and set up the event. We've known each other for years, as he was also heavily involved in comics and zines (he worked at ZAPP, which is the Seattle equivalent to the IPRC.) We had a burrito and chatted, as he had other obligations for the night. Then it was the workshop, which went fine, albeit with only two participants. After a beer in the neighborhood, I zoomed back downtown to the hostel.

On Tuesday I left the hostel and headed for Vashon Island. The route I took out of downtown hugged the waterfront. The first part went through the port, then through Alki Beach, Seattle's beach neighborhood. The views were great, and after about an hour and a half of riding I was at Fauntleroy in the far SW corner of town. I didn't have long to wait for the ferry to Vashon Island, and the ferry ride itself was quick.

The first item of business on Vashon (as it was about 3pm) was to stop by my host's house and drop off gear so I could explore the island unencumbered. Thankfully her house was right near the ferry terminal. But it was quite the hill to get there. (This would be the theme of Vashon Island.) I did a thirty mile loop exploring the island, passing by sound views, houses, farms, trees, and a few villages. The riding was quiet but very challenging, as Vashon had loads of hills, many of them steep. I don't think there was any point on the island higher than 500 feet in elevation, but the grades felt as steep as 15% in places! (Later in September there is supposed to be a century ride on the island with 10,000 feet of combined elevation!)

Vashon was an interesting place. It was sleepy, just like I thought, a haven for folks who want to be near a city but want to be in a rural environment. But it had a surprising number of services, at least in the "town" of Vashon. (There are no incorporated cities on the island.) Here was not one but two grocery stores, hardware stores, post office, pharmacy, restaurants, a library, post office, and a bike shop! One could survive on the island without having to head back to Seattle (or Tacoma) for every little thing. I can see the appeal of living in a place like this.

My host Yve was great. Her house was one of those 70's "rustic" deals, with high ceilings in the common area and a great view in the backyard. She has been living on the island for awhile and really likes the community, though she finds it a bit limiting at times. I could see that, and this is what prevents me from living in a place like this. I can dream, though.

Wednesday was the final day of the tour. I bid adieu to Yve in the morning. The plan was to bike the length of the island (about 15 miles) southward on the main road (Vashon Hwy.) to the southern ferry terminal, where I would catch the ferry to Tacoma. Vashon Hwy. was the flattest road on the island, with mostly gentle grades, so it wouldn't be much of a problem with the load. But a bigger problem would soon surface.

I made a quick pause in Vashon town to stop at the grocery store, bike shop (which had a great collection of vintage bikes, like a Raleigh DL-1), and coffee roastery. This is when I started to feel sick. Nothing that bad at first, just a general blah and slight nausea. Now I suffer occasionally from acid reflux, so the slight nausea and blahness are normal, so I chalked it up to this. But as I biked southward to the ferry terminal, I started to feel worse and worse. At the ferry terminal I started to feel chilly. By the time I got off the ferry (a fifteen minute ride) I felt really nauseous. This limited my enjoyment of biking around Point Defiance Park, as I was less concerned with the great scenery (reminiscent of Stanley Park) and more concerned with my urge to throw up. Finally I hit up a bathroom and attempted to puke. Nothing, just dry heaving, eh. But I felt better, so I drank some water and took some ibuprofen.

I felt okay for the ride through Tacoma to the Amtrak station, where I'd catch the 6pm train back to Portland. Here is where I started to feel really bad. Even though it was a mild day, I felt cold, cold enough to put my hoodie on. On the train, I had chills and the urge to puke, again. This was not good.

As the train neared Portland, I texted April who was to meet me at Union Station. I told her I was sick and we would need to take a cab home. I was in rough shape when I got off the train, feverish and wanting to puke. After the ride home, I went to bed, which is where I stayed for about thirty-six hours, battling a fever of 101F.

I don't know exactly what hit me, but I'm suspecting it was a case of food poisoning. Not fun, but I've had a couple cases that were worse. It put quite the damper on what was otherwise a great tour.

Helens-Rainier-Seattle-Vashon Tour 2012: The road to Seattle (Sat Aug 18 and Sun Aug 19)

After five days with lots of climbs, the two days of riding to Seattle was a bit of a relief in the exertion department, though a bit underwhelming in the scenery department (to be expected.) Because I'm me, I planned on a long, meandering route that first skirted the Seattle area from the east, then north, then back south into the city. The benefit of this routing was two-fold:

• I would see a side of the Seattle metro area that I hadn't seen before, nor had much reason to explore.
• Because the route was "fat", I could trim it down a bit if we ended up spending an extra day in the mountains or if I was running behind.

Leaving The Dalles campground, Todd and I were greeted with miles of moderate descent on Route 410, while tons of traffic flew by us in the other direction, bound for the Park. So glad to be out of there! (Not that I don't love the scenery, but I hate crowds.) The scenery remained decent for a bit, until we left the National Forest and State Park lands, then the route entered private timber lands. Ugly clearcuts dominated the view for the rest of the way into Enumclaw, the edge of the metro area.

At this point, I bid adieu to Todd. He had to be back to Vancouver, Washington by Sunday night and wanted to go his own way. Now I was on a solo expedition. The route now rambled through the periphery of the Metro Area, passing through suburban development interspersed with timber holds, farms, and wilder lands. The scenic highlight on Saturday was crossing the Green River Gorge. While the gorge itself was nice, the neighborhood around it was weird, a mix of shack and trailer park. (Leah had jokingly warned us before we departed about being wary of the sound of banjos in the mountains, but this was the only time I had that Deliverance twinge.)

About two-thirds of the way through the day, I met my Warmshowers host for the night, Matt, on the Cedar River Trail. He rode in with me, guiding me through the area to get to his house. At his house, I met his family, where we had a big taco feast and they put me up in their pop-up camper out in the yard. Such luxury after tenting for five nights!

Sunday morning I woke up to a dripping sound outside. Yep, a little rain. I think it's a rule when I tour in the Northwest I have to have a little rain, no matter what. After a week of sun-sun-sun and temps pushing 100F, a cool, damp morn was quite the respite. And it doesn't hurt that I wasn't in a tent!

After a good breakfast, I hit the road. Originally I had planned for quite the ambitious day, as I would ride north to Issaquah, then east to Snoqualmie Falls, then north along the Snoqualmie River Trail, then west into the suburbs. But I really wasn't feeling like it: I had ridden 60 miles on Saturday, and the Snoqualmie routing would make for a day in the 75 mile range, with a bit of climbing. After riding into Issaquah, I decided to take the easier route: Lake Sammamish Trail to Sammamish River Trail to the Burke-Gilman Trail into Seattle. A route into the using flat bike paths, how can you beat that?

But first, a brief pause in Issaquah. I was not there because I wanted to see the childhood home of Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse, no.* I stopped in to see Kent Peterson, of course! I stopped by the bike shop he works at, and we chatted for about twenty minutes about bikes and bike touring. He told me that the route that I picked to get into Seattle was possibly the flattest way in.

The rest of the day passed by like a breeze. Now I know that some folks don't like rail-trails, which is what I was riding on. But I like throwing them into the mix if I can. It also meant I didn't have to negotiate a bunch of suburban roads around Seattle. Since it was a nice Sunday, it meant that there were a lot of people on the trail. But hey, that's good, right?

The scenery varied between big houses with occasional lake sightings (Lake Sammammish) to open riverine lowlands (Sammammish River) to wooded with a mix of houses and glimpses of Lake Washington (Burke-Gilman). After about 40 miles of riding, I made it to Seattle.

I would be staying at the HI hostel downtown, near King Street Station and the stadiums. I could have chosen a more direct route after I got into the U-District, but I decided to stick to the trail to the bitter end in Ballard so I could visit the Ballard Locks. The locks are one of my favorite places to visit in Seattle, and I knew I might not get another chance to see them this year. The Locks were definitely choked with people, but it was worth it.

The biggest cluster-you-know-what happened further down the road path. Taking the Elliott Bay Trail towards downtown, I happened upon "Hempfest", which basically blocked any progress further south. I had to turn back and enter city streets a bit earlier than I planned. But it wasn't much further to the hostel, where I deposited my stuff and my tired body for the night. Another 60 mile day, even after trimming some "fat"!


*Anyways, I know where he currently lives, so I can throw garbage on his lawn any damn time I feel like it.

Helens-Rainier-Seattle-Vashon Tour: In Mount Rainier National Park (Wed Aug 15 through Friday August 17th)

Wednesday's ride was relatively easy, all things considered. Initially I had planned on riding from Iron Creek to Packwood, then up over Skate Creek Road to the west entrance of Mount Rainier. This would have made for a sixty mile day, with a good climb on Skate Creek Road. But the climbs of the past two days made both Todd and I desire an easier entrance to Mount Rainier National Park. Plus I heard that the west entrance east of Ashford would be the busiest entrance. So plans rearranged: We would still ride to Packwood, but from there enter the park at Ohanapecosh in the SE corner. Forty miles with only a little climbing at the end.

It was about ten miles from Iron Creek Campground to the town of Randle, most of it downhill. Randle is where we would pick up US 12, at this point the busiest road we'd been on. Thankfully 12 to Packwood was pretty flat and wide, with a wide shoulder and good views of the Cowlitz valley. Randle was also the first grocery store we had seen since the start of the trip, so of course we headed on in, wandering the aisles in a daze. The selection was of course smaller than what I'd find in Portland so I had to think a little in order to figure out what would make an appropriate second breakfast pre-lunch, but I found it: Avocado and tomato sandwiches! Add some fresh pico de gallo and wrap it up in a flower tortilla and voila! Simple yet tasty.

The fifteen miles to Packwood were a breeze. In Packwood we had our actual lunch in a cafe where we also took advantage of the free internet. We also hit up the grocery store before we left, loading up on the important things, like beer. It was about another ten miles until we reached the Park entrance, and a couple miles after that we reached Ohanapecosh campground. Since we intended on camping there on Thursday, we decided to spend both Wednesday and Thursday night here. This was a good choice. The campground was almost full when we got there, and the next day we got to watch many a vehicle circle around the campground, looking for a spot. National Parks in August.

So Thursday was wide open. Todd opted to take a break from biking, mostly because there were mechanical concerns with his bike (bottom bracket issues.) I thought about also taking a break and maybe hike instead, but the temptation of doing a nice hard ride unloaded was too tempting. So I packed up a day's worth of food and sundries and biked 23 miles from the campground up to the visitor center at Paradise (elevation 5,500 feet) via Stevens Canyon Road.

In retrospect, today was the best day of riding on the tour. While it was pretty much a climb the whole way (from 2,000 ft to 5,500 ft), the grades were more gentle than what I encountered on the first two days of tour, maybe 5-7%. Most of the ride had ample shade, which was nice, since it hit 100F/38C in Portland. It was also a bit surreal to see patches of snow in the high elevations while it was so warm out.*

And the scenery? Spectacular!

Stevens Canyon Road, carved into the mountainside

The only bummer was because I started later than I should have, and took plenty of stops, I got up to Paradise around 6pm. After breaking there for an hour, I had only 1 1/4 hours of daylight until the sun set. While most of the 23 miles back would be down, meaning I would go fast, I still didn't get back until it was dark, making for some spooky lighting. Thankfully I have a good dynamo powered headlamp plus a strong helmet powered light!

Yeah, you can only call this "not as great" when you compare it to yesterday. Near Cayuse Pass.

Friday's riding was not as great. Leaving Ohanapecosh, we had a 13 mile climb to Cayuse Pass at 4,694 feet (1,431 m). Not as high as Paradise, but still 2,500 feet of climbing, and in less distance, meaning a steeper climb. (Not to mention that the bike would be loaded.) It was slow going up the pass, and the views were lacking until the last few miles to the top.

Cayuse Pass? It's about a half-acre of pavement where SR 123 (which we had been grinding up) meets SR 410. Not thrilling. A quick break and then several miles of descent!

Originally the plan was to camp at the White River Campground in Rainier National Park, but this would have meant 1,000 more feet of climbing. The main reason to camp at White River was so we could set up camp and then ride up to Sunrise (6,400 ft/1,950 m), the highest point in the park one could reach via paved road. But another 2,000 feet of climbing, even unloaded, did not sound appealing, especially since there would not be much daylight to play with after reaching White River.

But the bigger reason we bailed on White River was we feared there would not be any space. I didn't want to climb up to the campground and find it full. (Which was true: We found afterwards that the campground filled up at 11am. We wouldn't have gotten there until after 2pm.) The masses were coming to the park for the weekend. On 410 we saw a constant line of traffic heading in the opposite direction, towards the park. Traffic wasn't as bad going our way, but it was still bad enough. We basically ran from the park.

We left Mount Rainier National Park, heading into Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, where we hoped camping choices would be more abundant. The first campground was already full, but we managed to squeak in to The Dalles campground by sweet-talking the camp hosts, who let us camp in the space next to their RV. (This is one of the benefits of cycle touring!)

*Take that, Minneapolis! We barely see snow when it's winter, yet on one of the hottest days of the years I can go up a mountain and see snow.

St. Helens-Rainier-Seattle-Vashon Tour: Day 2, Tues 14 Aug 2012

Today's riding was almost exclusively on Forest Road 25, which winds through the mountains just to the east of Mount Saint Helens in Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Just like yesterday, and just like most of the days through the mountains, the day's biggest feature was a mountain pass to summit. Today's pass, Elk, was not particularly high, only 4,080 feet (1,250 m). (Note how I say "only" 4,080 feet, like it's nothing. That's higher than the highest point in England.) But it was steep. Not as steep as Oldman the day before, but a few hours of grinding up grades of 7-10% with little relief.

At least the road was quiet. I saw very little traffic during the climb. I did see three other touring cyclists heading in the opposite direction. There wasn't much of a view on the way up, which wasn't all that bad, as the entire climb was shaded. The big viewpoint was Clearwater at 3,200 feet. It gave Todd and I the last good view of Mount Saint Helens to the west, and of the Clearwater valley, which got destroyed during the 1980 eruption. (The trees you see at the bottom of the valley got replanted since then.) Just before Elk Pass, I got my only glimpse of Mount Hood on the tour.

And just after Elk Pass, I got my first view of Mount Rainier, which will dominate for the rest of the week.

The descent was fun, yet short. More forests. The day ended at Iron Creek Campground, a nice Forest Service campground on the Cispus River.

The riding today was tough, but rewarding. You can't beat nicely paved roads with little traffic passing through forest. And yeah, there were a few clear-cuts, but not much.

The numbers:
38.4 miles
8.4 mph average speed
4:33 saddle time

Photos from the Helens-Rainier-Seattle-Vashon Tour

Still working on the writing side, but I've finally uploaded the photos from my Helens-Rainier-Seattle-Vashon Tour! Hope you enjoy.

Helens-Rainier-Seattle-Vashon Tour 2012 on flickr

Breaking the Radio Silence, briefly.

Hello all. Yep, I've been back in Portland since Wednesday. And yep, I need to play catch up and write about all this fun touring business and upload a crap-ton of photos as well. And I will. And I was planning on having a bunch of that done by now.

But sometimes life hits you in the gut. Or more accurately, in the stomach. And scratch "life" and replace it with "possibly a food-borne pathogen". Yep, I think I had a case of food poisoning.

Everything was fine until about mid-day on Wednesday, as I was departing Vashon Island. Then I started to ache and feel nauseous while waiting for the ferry back to the mainland. In Tacoma my stomach tried to evacuate stuff (unsuccessfully) and I felt better for an hour or two, but it really hit me on the train ride home: nausea, fever, chills, bleah. When April picked me up at Union Station I demanded a taxi, as there was no way I could ride home.

I was pretty much bedridden from Wednesday night until Friday morning, as I had a small fever, no energy, or appetite. Friday brought with it the breaking of the fever and a regaining of strength and appetite, but I still wasn't 100%. Even as I type this (Saturday night) I still can't say that I'm fully recovered. Give me a day or two.

It could have been worse, and I definitely had worse cases of gastroenteritis in my life. But never while traveling, which made the ordeal a bit worse than it was. It was a downer end to what was otherwise a pretty good ten days on the road.

So in the coming week, look for entries regarding the tour. Until then, I will tide you over with a photo of Tom Baker on a bicycle. Again.

Vashon Bound

Wrapping up spending a full day in Seattle. Nice to have a "day off", even though I managed to rack up nearly 25 miles of riding yesterday. (Hey, at least I wasn't loaded!)

Today I catch the ferry to Vashon Island, a place I have never been. Should be fun. Tomorrow I catch a ferry back to the mainland, then a train from Tacoma to Portland. The trip is almost over.

A brief update from Issaquah, Washington.

Hey everyone! Enjoying a quick beer in Issaquah. I shall be in Seattle tonight. Never has an overcast day felt so good.
http://trackmytour.com/NhCV0

Quickie Tour Update

Hello friends! Currently in the teeny town of Greenwater, Washington on SR410, about 25 miles from Enumclaw. We departed Mount Rainier National Park yesterday and camped last night in The Dalles campground in Snoqualmie National Forest. The park is crowded as it's a summer weekend. Throngs upon throngs of cars, TVs, etc heading up SR410 to the park. Now we are heading towards metro Seattle.

It's been hot, but because of mountains/shade, I've beat most of it. Chance of thunderstorms today, though.

Mount Rainier is BEAUTIFUL , but it will be nice to come back when it's less crowded.

Map updated up to Thursday here.
http://trackmytour.com/NhCV0

St Helens-Rainier-Seattle Tour: Day 3 QUICK UPDATE

Todd B. and I are sitting in a cafe in Packwood, WA finishing up lunch. Today's ride on US 12 has been mostly flat, quite the contrast of the last two days of tough climbs. We will be entering Mt. Rainier National Park via the SE entrance in a couple hours, where we'll spend the next few days.

I'm mapping this trip via Track My Tour. You can check out the progress here:
http://trackmytour.com/NhCV0

Hope you are all well!

St. Helens-Rainier-Seattle Tour: Day 1, Mon 13 Aug 2012

Todd and I got a ride from Todd's girlfriend Leah. She dropped us off in the small town of Carson, WA, in the Columbia River Gorge. It was fairly late in the day when we started, 2 pm, but I knew that we had a short day ahead of us. But it wasn't going to be an easy one!

The first day of the tour was familiar territory, as I had just ridden Wind River Road and Oldman Pass during the Hood-Adams-St. Helens tour in july. However, I must have forgotten how tough the first five or so miles of the road was, as this part wiped me out. It wasn't a super steep climb, but a 4% or so grade with no shade and temps in the mid 80's? Not good, not good.

The grade relented somewhat and the road got shady after that, but The damage was done. I did ok for the next 15 miles, but once the real climb started, it was five miles of hell. The grade was severe, 8-10% and unrelenting. Now I did ok on Oldman Pass the last time, but it was after several days of riding with climbs, during a cloudy cool morning, and I was well rested. But this time was different. The five miles up to Oldman (3,050 feet) I spent alternating between resisting the urge to vomit and wondering whatever happened to the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. (Seriously.)

I made it to the top without emptying my stomach, and we had a thrilling descent down Curley Creek Road, where I may have hit my top speed on a bike ever, 43.6 mph. Fast.

We ended up at the Eagle Cliff campground, which was pretty ok for a private campground. We ate some food, drank some beer, and retired for the night.

The numbers:
36.5 miles
8.8 average speed
4:08 saddle time
Other tourons spotted: 2

It's mid-August, so it's time for another bike tour.

As noted a couple days ago, I'm now working at my old job the hostel again for a few months. So far I don't have a full slate of shifts but that will change come September when I'll be working three to four days a week. So if I wanted to get a bike tour in, something longer than say three days, I'd have to get it in NOW, as I don't think I'll have any significant period of time off in September. After that it's a crapshoot for bike tours in the NW.

As you are reading this entry (Monday morning, presumably) I'll be heading out of Portland for this tour, the third of the year. Where will I be heading this time? East, then north.

After touring in the mountains in July, the quiet and scenic backroads through the National Forests (and Parks) of the Cascades Range are captivating. I could head further south and explore some of the areas that the Cycle Wild trip are doing, but I've already gone over Santiam Pass, and if I went down that way, I'd want to hit up Crater Lake as well, and with April.

No April this time. :-(

Yes, April. She's not coming along on this adventure, so this rules out any coastal type of riding for the most part, as I don't want to make her (too) jealous. (She's not as jealous of mountains.) So why not hit up the Cascades in Washington again?

I have ten full days for this tour, as I leave the morning of Monday August 13th and I need to be back home the night of Wednesday August 22nd, as I work Thursday morning. Ten days isn't super long, but it's long enough for a lot of action.

The basic plan of the trip can be divided into two parts.
Part 1 (Mon 13 Aug to Sat 18 Aug): This is the "in the mountain section". I'll be departing from Carson, Washington, which is on the Columbia River between Portland and Hood River, and heading up the Wind River Valley towards Mount St. Helens. Yes, this part is a repeat of my July tour, up until I get to the junction of Forest Roads 25 and 90 in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Rather than head west towards civilization, I'll turn north on 25 which skirts the east side of St. Helens. NF 25 will intersect with US 12, and I'll take that for a little bit until I reach Skate Creek Road, and I'll take this to the SW entrance of Mount Rainier National Park. By then it should be Wednesday evening (Aug 15). I'll spend three nights in Mount Rainier NP, hitting up all the spots that I can get to by road. On Saturday morning I'll depart the park, head down the scenic Chinook Scenic Byway (SR 410) back towards civilization, civilization in this case being the eastern fringe of the Seattle Metro area.

Oh yes, it is worth mentioning two things for this section: The enigmatic Todd B. will be accompanying me for this section. It'll be nice to have some company.** And we'll also be getting a ride out to Carson to start the trip. Yeah, I'm generally against getting rides to the start of tours (but don't have much objection to using public transit),*** but the Columbia Gorge is an area I've ridden through many, many times. While I obviously love it, the point of this tour is the mountains, mostly. Getting a jump on things means more time for the mountains.

Part 2 (Sun 19 Aug to Wed 22 Aug): This is the "in and around Seattle" sans Todd B. section. Sunday should see me skirting the far east fringe of the Seattle metro, heading north via Issaquah and the Snoqualmie River Trail with a pit stop at Snoqualmie Falls. I'll turn west and then approach Seattle from the north via the famed Burke-Gilman Trail. I should arrive in Seattle Sunday night.

Monday is my "off day", though I'm not truly off, as I'll be presenting a Bike Touring Workshop at Bikeworks* in the evening. On Tuesday I'll have another short day and take the ferry over to Vashon Island, where I'll spend the night. Wednesday morning I'll ride the island, take a ferry to Tacoma and then catch Amtrak back to Portland in the evening.

Now I have been to Seattle many, many times, and have passed through Tacoma on many an occasion (only stopping once.) But I've never gone through the eastern suburbs, nor have I visited Vashon Island. So this trip covers a lot of new territory. And this is the mode of touring I've been digging this year: staying relatively close to home, but exploring new things.

I will try to update the blog as best as I can while I'm away, but can't promise much. I can guarantee that wifi on Part 1 is going to be virtually non-existent, so you might not see anything until Part 2. And you won't see any photos until I get back to Portland later next week.

Excitement!

*Not to be confused with North Portland Bike Works.
**And there is the added bonus of cutting camping costs in half.
***There is a bus that runs to Carson, which I pondered using. But the main problem is it only runs in the early am or in the evening. I would have to get to Fisher's Landing Transit Center in far-flung eastern Vancouver to get to it, which is highly daunting when this bus leaves at 7 am. There used to be a mid-day bus, but no longer.