Route to Longview/Kelso

[tarheeltreehugger]

Hey anyone have any experience riding up to the Longview/Kelso area from Portland or Vancouver? Many thanks in advance.

ThTh

[the Wumpus]

Yep! Michael Wolfe has it mapped out on his blog:
http://escapevelocipede.blogspot.com...120-miles.html

I've done this trip, it's not bad. On the Washington side, it's a diverse kind of ride. It's not on the freeway, which is nice, has a few little challenges to keep you paying attention, and changes of landscape to give you a sense of going somewhere.

If you're going up the Oregon side, Highway 30 is pretty direct. That's about it. Really flat, too. The last time I rode that stretch I started missing hills, just for something to do other than pedal constantly against the wind for hours. Also, the Lewis and Clark bridge is one of the creepiest places I've ever been on a bike.

[bikieboy]

Originally Posted by the Wumpus

Yep! Michael Wolfe has it mapped out on his blog:
http://escapevelocipede.blogspot.com...120-miles.html

If you're going up the Oregon side, Highway 30 is pretty direct. That's about it. Really flat, too. The last time I rode that stretch I started missing hills, just for something to do other than pedal constantly against the wind for hours. Also, the Lewis and Clark bridge is one of the creepiest places I've ever been on a bike.

Wumpus, i was going to say that it can be a ripper of a ride southbound in the summer, when the prevailing wind is out of the northwest. It's not a real exciting ride, too much traffic esp. as you get toward Portland, & doing it with a headwind would indeed be a chore.

Ditto on the L & C Bridge - just awful - tho i heard WashDOT made some improvements for bikes/peds a few years back?

[jr98664]

Last summer I took the bus from Salmon Creek to Longview and then rode back on old US 99.

If you need it, the bus is great as it has a rack for two bikes. The fare is also only a dollar, but it's free if you're a student. They have four buses each way during the week, and two each way on Saturday.
http://www.lccac.org/Transportation%20Schedule.htm

As for the ride itself, this is the route that I took, more or less:
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united...w/554872884195
Pretty close to the previously mentioned one, just in reverse. Instead of going over the hill north of Woodland, however, I just took a five-mile-long stretch of I-5 from Milepost 27 to 22. Heading southbound, there was a nice, wide shoulder, and I would assume the same in the opposite direction. As an added bonus, the wind from trucks seems to keep your speed up. North of Salmon Creek, most of the sections of old 99 were fairly low traffic and quite scenic. Overall, it was a good ride.

[bikieboy]

jr, thanks for the tip -- never heard of that transit system, good to know -!