Well, I cycle-marched to Astoria. not Pretoria. There’s a little town off River Rd in Tipton, PA called Fostoria, and I always sing that tune in my head when I ride past it, so it’s good enough for Astoria, too!
I left Tim’s & Jess’s around 8:30 and rode to the TriMet MAX stop in downtown Portland and was able to roll PH right on the train with panniers and all. Easiest train ride so far. I got off at the Hatfield Government Center at the end of the Blue line and started my ride to Astoria there. After a stop at the local WinCo grocery store for provisions for the ride, I was off to Astoria.
89.6 miles (I’m calling that 90!), 4300 ft of climbing on the Costal Range, and lots of beautiful views and headwinds later, I’m in a Best Western in Astoria. It was close to sunset when I got here and everything else was filled, and I did not have another 8 miles to the Ft. Stevens campground in me. Luxuriated in the hot tub which relaxed my well-used muscles.
While I did a lot of climbing, it’s so different from PA, WV, KY here in that the grades rarely go above 5%. RTs 9 and 202 from Jewel to Astoria were quiet, and mostly traffic free. Not so much for US 26 from Banks to Jewel — not for the faint of heart, but even then 95% of it had wide shoulders.
Today, I’ll be doing 40 miles to Nehalem Bay State Park after a tour of Astoria in the daylight.
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