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Oregon Coast Ride: What a Wreck

Frank cooked me oatmeal and tea before we headed for the Peter Iredale shipwreck right at the Fort Stevens state park.  A nice asphalt trail leads to it as well as the rest of the park.  Its a really nice park and wouldn't mind to spend there a long weekend with the family.  The kids would really like it.

Video of the shipwreck in eerie fog.

Onboard the Iredale.

The remnants show the size of the ship.

I rode with Frank a portion of the day. We stopped together for lunch in Cannon Beach and went through the Arch Cape tunnel.  Frank decided it was better to push the bike through the tunnel.  I looked for a large gap in the traffic and rode quickly through the tunnel.  Only a couple cars passed me at the end.

Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach.

Frank emerging from the Arch Cape tunnel.

Apropos traffic, it's horrible on highway 101.  There was lots of traffic especially midday when the weather was nice.  Nobody is giving any room to bicyclist or slowing down.  Drivers ignore you totally and would run you over if you're in their way.  Trucks and especially RVs are the worst because of their size.  Sometimes they themselves barely fit on the road.  Certainly not a bicycle friendly route even though it's marked as such and a major Adventure Cycling Association route.  The road itself varies from smooth wide shoulder to no shoulder and ruff and patched road.  It's certainly not as nice and relaxing as riding Iowa rural highways.  In the morning and evening the fog reduced visibility but traffic was lighter so I actually felt safer during those times.  I could bitch quite a bit about the traffic but I won't just as I had to focus myself on the other things during the ride as not to get into a crappy mood throughout the ride.

The loaded Brompton taking a rest.

View of Nehalem Bay

Highway 101

Due to a bad knee Frank took it slow up hills, often pushing his bicycle.  The reduced gearing on the Brompton did exceptionally well on the hills and I lost Frank soon after the tunnel.  I stopped at the top of the second, the highest hill of the day, to wait for him.  But after writing a postcard and enjoying the view I decided to continue on.

I stayed overnight at Barview Jetty county campground and I didn't like it as much as any of the state parks that I stayed during the trip.  The hiker/bikers campsites weren't together so it's not easy to socialize with each other.  The campsites themselves were sandy which is quite messy.  Also you have the extra cost of the showers, which are coin operated like a car wash.

Sand sledding hill at Barview county park

Sandy camping site.

Day 1: 55 miles
Fort Stevens State Park to Barview County Park
http://www.bikemap.net/route/1807251
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