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...

Thoughts on my 2012 tours: PDX-Olympia-Astoria, June

Hello friends! Over the next week or so, I'm going to share thoughts and conclusions from the three tours I've taken this year. Hope you enjoy. 

The PDX-Oly-Astoria Tour was a weird beast. It wasn't a really big or epic tour, like the Cross-Con Tour of 2011. But it was the first tour that I took since the four and a half month expedition last summer. So this would be the tour that I would find out if I still liked all this touring business.

Since I already knew the answer (yes), the stakes weren't that high. The big hurdles for this tour were:

• To see how my revised setup for 2012 would work. 
• To see how it would be like to tour solo again. The last time I toured by myself was in 2010.

As for the tour itself, the main reason I decided to do it was to go to the Olympia Comix Fest, not because of any burning desire to ride the route. The distance between Olympia I had biked a few times before. And truth be told, it's sort of boring. A nice kind of boring, as there is some nice bucolic countryside that the route traverses, but it isn't in the league of biking along the Coast, through the Cascades, around the Puget Sound, etc. That's why I decided to spice it up a little bit: try some different roads on the way up to Olympia, and go out to the Washington Coast. I would use a route to the coast (SR 6) that I hadn't been on before, and I would see a part of the Washington coast (the stretch between Raymond and Ilwaco) that I hadn't been to yet.

Rainbow Falls on the Chehalis River

So the ride itself was a success. My 2012 touring setup on the Long Haul Trucker, consisting of front panniers, handlebar (rando) bag, and Carradice Nelson Longflap saddlebag in rear worked great. It was less capacity than the big tour, and that was a good thing. Everything fit pretty well.

As for touring solo, well, you know it has its ups and downs, but it was overall good. It was nice to have some thinking alone time. Though I will admit there were many moments where I wished April was along, especially during some lonely nights camping.

As good as the scenery got. Near Vader, WA.

The route I picked was pretty decent. There was one stretch of I-5 between Woodland and Kalama that was about as thrilling as you would expect, but the alternative was a steep monster of a hill. The new routing that I worked out between Kelso-Longview and Olympia was pretty choice with the exception of Littlerock Road outside of Olympia, which given the choice I wouldn't ride on again. SR 6 through the Coast Range (or more specifically, the Willapa Hills, which this section of the range is known as) was great: quiet, decent pavement, mostly ample shoulder, and no major hills. I don't think I had to get into my granny gear the whole time on that road. 101 on the coast wasn't bad, low traffic and usually decent shoulder. As for the scenery, neither road delivered that much. On 6 it was forested or clearcut hills and teeny "towns", on 101 it was a mix of estuaries, forests, and clearcuts, as the road hugs Willapa Bay, not the "true" coast. I'm glad I did this section of the coast, and glad that I discovered another route to the coast (possibly the easiest one yet), but I doubt I'll be back soon.

Waiting out the rain, again. Outside of Castle Rock, WA.

As for the weather, well, it rained a bunch since this was early June and real summer weather is still a few weeks away. It never truly poured (though it came close on the ride into Raymond), more a typical heavy mist. I can recall only one dry day, and of course it was the "day off" in Olympia. Every other day had precipitation at some point. But hey, I'm a hardy Northwesterner, so I can deal.* And my gear dealed as well.

The only real bummer of the trip was my Warmshowers experience in Olympia. I don't like writing publicly about this stuff, since I don't want to come across as someone who badmouths hosts (especially to potential hosts who might check out this blog), but I feel I should mention the fact that my host told me that I was the only person she had hosted because she has ignored all other requests, which if you are part of the network, you are not supposed to do. I found that rude and childish. As for the experience itself, it was the stereotypical Olympia house crammed with students and the like. She never indicated that on her profile (and her profile also indicated I would be sleeping in a bed, which in reality was a couch). One could say at this point I'm nitpicking, and you might be right, but if things had "clicked" I would probably have ignored these things, but after talking with her for a bit I knew we weren't clicking. That's why when the opportunity to camp on the Saturday night with the other cartoonists, I jumped at it.

US 101 winding 'round Willapa Bay north of Ilwaco, WA

Despite that, I still thought it was a good tour. I got back into the rhythm of touring after eight months away. Sure the route was a bit boring, but for the this tour, it was a good thing. My next two tours would be much more challenging.



*Yeah, this is probably the point where you remind me I'm from Connecticut.

Interesting Bikes Spotted: Apollo Roadster Tandem

Hello friends! Here is a long-overdue installment in "Interesting Bikes Spotted", aka "Other People's Bikes".

For this segment, we'll go back about a month and a half to my PDX-Oly-Astoria Tour. When in Olympia, I spotted this interesting specimen:

An Apollo roaster tandem!

It's of British make, unknown age, with possibly a Sturmey-Archer four speed hub. Note the double top tube on the front (captain) portion. And the stoker (rear) handlebars and stem. On most tandems, the rear handlebar attaches to the front seatpost. But not here.

Unfortunately, the side with the writing was not facing me.

Love that kickstand!

And of course, the rod brakes. Rod brakes are "sketchy" in even normal situations on normal bikes, but on a tandem where extra stopping power is needed? I would never, ever want to ride this bike in the rain.

I don't know too much about Apollo. They were a sub-brand of Hercules, which got consumed by the great Raleigh empire eventually. I'm guessing this bike is post-Raleigh takeover (60's or so), since Hercules had their own three speed hubs (which were much like Sturmey-Archer hubs.)

Anyone have any more information on this particular type of bike? Let me know!

PDX-Oly-Astoria Tour: The Photos!

Hey friends! Just spent a buttload of time sorting through, retouching, uploading, tagging, commenting, etc etc my photos from the tour to flickr. Please peruse this set to see them all.

I'll be adding appropriate photos to the blog posts in the coming days, plus posting final thoughts on the tour. Stay tuned!

PDX-Oly-Astoria Tour, Day 8: Astoria!

The view of Astoria, from the Astoria Column

Wednesday June 6. The original plan for the day was to simply ride the 2.5 miles into Ilwaco and take the bus into Astoria. I've done this ride before and it's nothing special. And taking the bus means not having to ride over the dreaded Astoria Bridge. But then I decided I still wanted to ride the whole way in. Which was good, because when I woke up it was low tide at Waikiki Beach, the small beach next to the hiker-biker campsite. And low tide gave me a chance to explore the sea caves hidden into the cliff!

The fifteen miles from Cape Disappointment to the Astoria Bridge were unexciting and fast, as 101 is pretty flat as it hugs the north shore of the Columbia. And then the bridge.

Ah, the Astoria-Megler Bridge, bane of touring cyclists. There are three main obstacles bemoaned by cyclists on the Pacific Coast, and the bridge is one of them. (The other two are the Crescent City Hills and Leggett Summit, both in California.) Some folks go through great lengths to avoid the bridge, like detouring upstream to the Westport ferry crossing. The ferry is cool, but adds about 70 miles to the route. A lot just to avoid the bridge.

But I've already crossed the bridge twice in my life, so it's no big deal to me. I don't find it pleasurable. Very few people would find a four-mile long bridge with narrow shoulder, copious amounts of wind, and a climb at the south end pleasurable. I just grit my teeth and push through it. And before I knew it, I was in Oregon. I was in Astoria.

And then I met April!

This was a very recent development. On Tuesday I debated cutting the trip short and riding into Astoria that night to catch the bus home. I felt guilty spending time in Astoria without my sweetie, who also loves this small coastal city. So I hatched a plan: ask April to take the bus out to Astoria Wednesday morn, spend the day with me, and take the bus back Wednesday night. After some back and forth, the plan mutated into spending Wednesday night at a hotel and then the bus back to Portland Thursday evening. A romantic getaway!

The rest of Wednesday was spent off the bike (April didn't bring hers and Astoria is small enough for walking) and with my baby. We dropped off our stuff at the Commodore Hotel, got lunch at the Blue Scorcher, hiked up Coxcomb Hill to the Astoria Column, and had dinner and beer at Fort George Brewing. All in all a good end to the day!

The numbers:

19.4 miles

11.7 mph average speed

1:40 saddle time

320.3 total miles on the trip

PDX-Oly-Astoria Tour, Day 7: Cape Disappointment, The Pacific(finally!), and a bear.

Today was an interesting day, to say the least. 101 went through some sparsely settled countryside. There was no store until Ilwaco, 37 miles into the ride, and 3 miles before the end of my biking day. This is pretty rare in these parts. Even SR 6, which went through pretty much nothing, had a store and/or cafe every 15 miles.

Nothing to do but ride. The riding was pretty okay for the most part; some rolling, a couple larger hills, and quite a bit of flat. The first 20 miles alternated between glimpses of the Willapa Bay and its many riverine tributaries, forest, and clearcuts.

Moments of forested beauty on 101, between clearcuts.

The last 20 miles was definitely the most scenic part of the day, as 101 quieted down a bit as it hugged the shores of Willapa Bay while passing through a wildlife refuge. Soon after I arrived in Ilwaco, where I stocked up on some groceries and rode the final 2.5 miles to Cape Disappointment.

Cape Disappointment is the most southwesterly point in Washington, where the Columbia River meets the Pacific. It gets its "historical significance" and its Anglo name from the Lewis and Clark expedition, who wintered around here before returning to the east. But this park is anything but disappointing! It's got plenty of forest, beach, lighthouses (2), and a hiker-biker site. Yet as cool as this park is, I was the only cyclist. Where is everyone? I spotted two other cyclotourists today besides the German woman at Bruceport. I'm guessing most folk bypass this park (it's slightly out of the way) and stay at Fort Stevens on the Oregon side of the Columbia. Now of course I love my state parks, but I think Cape Disappointment has a leg up on Stevens.

Anyways, after setting up camp, I took a hike to the North Head lighthouse. It was a beautiful trek through gorgeous coastal forest (humongous Sitka Spruce!) though the trail was way too muddy. The 1.5 mile trek took longer than I expected, but the lighthouse and view of the Pacific worth it.

Not wanting to take the trail back, and it was getting dark, so I hitched a ride back to camp. And no more than a quarter-mile down the road, we saw a bear. Wow! And whew. I didn't see any warning signs about bears, but I had a feeling there might be some present. In fact, I instinctually made noise on my hike, something I picked up from hiking in the Rockies. Who knows, maybe it saved me from stumbling onto one on the trail?

I returned to camp, made dinner amongst the Mosquitos, took a quick walk to Waikiki Beach, and turned in for the night.

The numbers:

40.4 miles

11.0 mph average speed

3:40 saddle time

PDX-Oly-Astoria Tour, Day 6: Willapa Hills, River, and Bay

Last time I left you fine folk I was in Centralia again. Well, after that I hit the high road on a quiet scenic route that bypassed Chehalis and connected to Washington Route 6, the highway I would use to the coast. 6 was a fairly quiet road with low-to-moderate traffic and varying shoulder width.

Of course, there's an abandoned rail line that parallels SR 6 all the way to the coast. Theoretically it's a "bike trail" but depending on the section it's either paved, unpaved but graded with fine gravel, or ungraded. And many of the bridges are out. So I used very little of the trail.

CCC built comfort station.

25 miles from Centralia I made it to Rainbow Falls State Park. The campground was deserted; besides myself I only counted the camp host, park staff, and one lone RV. The falls were pretty underwhelming, especially after Silver Falls. Falls just aren't that big in the coast ranges, oh well. At least there was a hiker/biker site. And a covered picnic area.

Monday June 4, Day 6 of tour. It was raining, so I packed up house and made breakfast in the covered picnic area. It was a misty ride to Pe Ell, the only true town between Chehalis and the coast. And "town" is almost a shell. Its boom days of saw mills and train service are long gone.

Summit bridge.

The descent.

The next 7 or so miles from Pe Ell were the climb to the summit of the Willapa Hills. And it was barely a climb at all! But there was definitely a descent. For two miles I coasted at speeds up to 30 mph.

The rest of the ride to Raymond was uneventful, a gradual downhill cruise following the Willapa River. Though the traffic did start to pick up a bit, along with the rain, ugh.

Raymond was a small town where SR 6 meets US 101, and where the Willapa River widens and turns tidal. Approaching Willapa Bay. Raymond is quiet and fairly depressed but nowhere near as bad as Aberdeen (Kurt Cobain's hometown) to the north. I hit up a grocery, wolfed down a Subway sandwich (didn't realize how hungry I was!) and rode on to South Bend.

After South Bend the river turned into an estuary, and I was hit with a strong headwind as I was heading due west. Thankfully my respite was not far ahead: Bruceport County Park, atop a small hill overlooking the water. I wasn't sure if I would camp there or ride another 9 miles down to the KOA. I'm not much for KOAs as they are expensive, unscenic, and usually overrun with kids. But this one promised a $14 rate for bicyclists and a covered picnic shelter, plus all the typical KOA amenities.

The German cyclists' setup.

But Bruceport won me over. It had a view, a covered shelter, and no one there. Except for another cyclotourist! Her name was Yanni (I think) and she was from Germany. And (stereo)typical to a Northern European, she had a Hilleberg tent and Trangia cookset. She was also riding a bike with an internal hub, an 8-speed Nexus if I remember correctly.

I made dinner and then took a walk down a trail to a beach on the bay. The look and feel if the beach reminded me of Wreck Beach in Vancouver, minus the naked dudes. And then I turned in.

The Numbers:

Day 5: Millersylvania to Rainbow Falls State Park

48.0 miles

11.8 mph average speed

4:04 saddle time

Day 6: Rainbow Falls to Bruceport County Park

48.7 miles

11.4 mph average speed

4:16 saddle time

PDX-Oly-Astoria Tour, Day 5: Coast Bound

A special mid-day post! This may be my last wifi connection for a couple days, better use it wisely!

Last night I rode 14 miles from Olympia southward to Millersylvania State Park. The skies were dark but illuminated by a full moon when I arrived to camp. I had no intentions to do after-dark riding on this tour, but the invitation to camp with other comix artists rather than stay with my ho-hum host was too good to pass up. Plus it hones my "setting up camp in the dark" skills.

It was a fun night and I drank probably too much and stayed up late. Yet I woke up earlier than most and was way more prepared in the morning than anyone else. Ah, camping with car-camping cartoonists. Compare this with any Cycle Wild trip.

Departing Millersylvania I decided to take the more meandery route that stays east of I-5, since it's quieter and more scenic than the westside.

20 miles later, I'm back in Centralia for lunch and a grocery stop. Then another 20 miles southwest to Rainbow Falls to camp for the night. And then tomorrow afternoon: The Coast!

PDX-Oly-Astoria Tour, Day 4: The Olympia Day

The murk of the comix show.

So today was the "off" day of the tour, as this was the Olympia Comics Fest. And it went well as far as these small shows go. It started off slow but picked up as it went. And I got to hang out with some fine folks.

And with these fine folks, a (slight) change of plans. Turns out that a crew of comix folk are camping tonight at Millersylvania State Park, 10 miles south of town. On the route I would be using to get to the coast. Now I could stay with last night's host again. But Millersylvania sounds like more fun. And it would give me a jump on tomorrow's ride...

So after I finish this beer and burrito, I'll be picking up my gear and riding to Millersylvania. Adventure awaits.

PDX-Oly-Astoria Tour, Day 3: to Olympia

Tumwater Falls.

Today was planned as a short day to Olympia. This would give me some time to hang out in town, since all of Saturday would be spent doing comics festival stuff. I bid adieu to my Centralia host around 9:30 am and hit the high road.

I've biked between the two cities before, but this time I tried a new route, one that stayed on the west side of I-5. The first 6 miles was serviceable but underwhelming, the neither urban nor rural strip of construction companies, auto shops, etc. After that, things turned decidedly rural.

But things didn't necessarily improve. It was a steady, heavy mist for most of the morning. And while I was on rural roads, several sections were sketchy: narrow, winding, fast traffic. Things improved after I hit the "town" of Littlerock, as the road had an ample shoulder.

And in this ample shoulder my front tire hit a staple. The first (and hopefully ONLY) flat of the tour. On the bright side (literally): the rain stopped and the sun peeked its way through the clouds.

Washington State Capitol

After this the landscape switched to suburban. And before I knew it, I was in Olympia proper! On the way to my host's house I stopped at a pizzeria and got recognized! The woman working there was at my Dead Freeways talk for the Dill Pickle Club in May. Small world. And also in the small world category, I saw someone at the pizzeria that falls in my "don't ever want to see" list. The yin and yang of Olympia, I guess.

I got to my host's house, cleaned up, and then headed back into town for beer and food at Le Voyeur, my favorite place to eat in town.

Olympic Mountains loom in the distance

The numbers:
32.1 miles
12.6 mph average speed
Saddle time 2:32
One flat

In case you haven't been following...

Here is the last three days of my tour, according to Track My Tour:

http://trackmytour.com/TKFfT

In Olympia now. More to follow.

PS- Only ran into three touring cyclists so far, all together in the same group. Ran into them leaving Vancouver on Day 1.

PDX-Oly-Astoria Tour, Day 2: to Centralia

Misty mountains north of Kelso

I awoke this morning to rain. Looks like the further north I head, the likelihood that I'll see rain increases. Oh well. The first 15 miles out of Longview were soggy. I took a break outside of Castle Rock to make coffee and a snack in a covered picnic area. Of course the rain lets up when I'm under cover!

Oh yes, a little about the route. There are two primary mapped bike routes between Castle Rock and Centralia. The STP (Seattle-to-Portland) which stays west of I-5 and Adventure Cycling's "Pacific Coast" which stays to the east. On this trip I followed the STP 50% of the time and my own route the other 50%. I wanted to test some new to me roads. And the new roads were all nice, save for a short (1/4 mile) steep grade of over 10%. The climb was worth it for the views and quiet road.

The steep hill, near Vader WA

There was a couple down notes, though. Airport Rd, my preferred route between Chehalis and Centralia, was closed for construction, so I had to backtrack and use the busy, sucky main road between the two. Which led to a viaduct where bicycles were prohibited? Screw that. I rode it anyway.

I got to my warmshowers host in Centralia a little after 4. Showered, then headed downtown to enjoy a beer. Which is where I am right now.

The numbers:

56.3 miles

11.9 mph average speed

Saddle time 4:45

PDX-Oly-Astoria Tour, Day 1: to Longview

Columbia River Lowlands, north of Kalama WA

Yep. Left late again. It's hard to leave at a "decent" hour when you're leaving home. So out the door @ 11:30 am.

So should I take public transit to shorten the length of the day, get through some of the suburban crap? MAX would only shave about 5 miles. C-TRAN buses in Vancouver would mean too many transfers and loading and unloading of bike from the front of buses. So I rode.

And it was a good day to ride. Partly cloudy, 72f/22c.

Rather than ride out of town on US 30, I decided to cross over the Columbia River into Vancouver and ride most of old US 99 into Kelso-Longview. The first 20 miles was through urban/suburban landscapes, then the riding turned rural. A mix of flat and rolling landscapes, and low traffic.

Except for the seven miles on Interstate 5. Yes, that's right, I-5. It was either that or up and down a ridiculously steep hill. A hill that made me puke the last time I went up it. Thankfully, this section went by real fast.

I made it to Longview at 6:30 pm, found my warmshowers host (who made me a humongous meal!), showered, and decompressed. Centralia tomorrow.

The numbers:

61 miles

11.9 mph average speed

5:08 on-bike time

Track My Tour for the PDX-Oly-Astoria tour

Hey kids, just letting you know that I just created a new map for the current tour. Check it here:

http://trackmytour.com/TKFfT/

Off to Olympia!

As you read this post, I should hopefully be pedaling north from Portland to Olympia, Washington to attend the Olympia Comics Fest on Saturday June 2nd. Then I'll pedal home via the coast (though I may take the bus from Astoria.) I should be home either Wednesday the 6th or Thursday the 7th. Read more about the logistics and reasons why I'm doing this bike tour here.

I'll try to blog as best as I can, but I make no promises. I'm only bringing my iPod Touch, with which I can use Blogger's somewhat clunky app to upload posts. As for photos, I doubt I'll be able to upload anything until I come home.

And when I get home, three plus weeks of Pedalpalooza!

Maybe I'll see you on the road?