bike camping

[rainperimeter]

hey y'all. i'm wondering if any of you have weekend ride/camping trips you're fond of. ride out saturday, camp, come home sunday. that sort of thing. my girlfriend and i always have the weekends off and think this would be a very appropriate use of our time off.

north, south, east, west, it makes no matter...

[Jonathan Maus]

there a ton of great options....I happened to write an article about this in the Willy Week a while back. Here's the article:

http://www.wweek.com/editorial/3133/6436

have a great trip..

[jeff]

RainPer, my fave of Jonathan's list of short tours is the trip up to the Nestucca River campgrounds --- should be pretty quiet this time of year, other than the elk/deer hunters. Here's a fairly quiet & scenic route for getting there, from the end of the MAX line in Hillsboro:

http://www.portlandonline.com/transp...ex.cfm?c=39889

a pretty good climb up to the crest, but worth it.

[BillD]

I made this map and profile of a route from my place in Scappoose to Astoria. It follows essentially the same route described in Jonathan's article and in the PortlandOnline link. The profile gives an idea of the hardest climbs. The first peak is near Scaponia County Park, between Cater rd. and Hwy 47 on Scappoose-Vernonia road. The second large peak on the graph is Saddle Mountain, just past the Jewell Wildlife Refuge. In between these two peaks, the road follows along the Nehalem River over some rolling hills. The road is in pretty good shape except for some rough spots on the two steepest climbs. Mostly, there are no shoulders but traffic is not heavy, at least it wasn't when I drove it the day before yesterday. There will be some log trucks during the week and motorhomes on weekends. There are two small bridges under construction near Mist. There is one-way traffic with flaggers at these but it doesn't take long to get through. This is the only construction for the entire 80 miles.

Enjoy your trip,
Bill

[rainperimeter]

oh geez. all that is so great! thanks a bunch. keep it coming...

[the Wumpus]

Arise, deceased thread! I command you to liiiiiiiiiiive!!!

Er... bump?

'Tis the season, and I'm looking for some overnighter bikey destinations for the weekends. There are some good ones already here, but there must be more! Keep 'em coming! Maybe not your favorite getaway spot, because then it might get overwhelmed with thousands of rowdy cyclist troublemakers. Hey, it could happen, you never know.

[Haven_kd7yct]

Wumpus! That was great!

Me too with the bump...

A question for y'all: I'm concerned about doing a ride like this with the traffic. If at all possible, please let us know where/how much/condition of shoulder and traffic/speed limits/etc.

I've heard Nestucca River Road is great for biking, but I don't like it when cars pass me too close. What's the speed limit for cars on that road?

[cyclotouriste]

Short bike camping trips, close enough for a 2-3 day excursion:

Oxbow (Sandy River)
Champoeg (Willamette Valley)
Stub Stewart (near Vernonia)
Ainsworth (end of the scenic highway)
Beacon Rock (Washington side)
Wind River campgrounds (Paradise Creek, Beaver)
McIver Park (near Estacada)
Clackamas River (many options, but I like Roaring River and Lockaby, and a 3 day trip or a really strong first day will get you to Bagby or Timothy Lake)
Green Canyon (on Mt. Hood near Welches; take the Old Barlow Road instead of 26)
Gales Creek Campground on Highway 6

I also know of the following local parks with campgrounds: Barton Park, Vernonia City Park, Big Eddy (on the Nehalem), a county park near the summit of Apiary Road, and another above Rainier.

I have routes to many of these on my blog. There's an index by destination (Mt. Hood, the coast, etc.) on the right sidebar.

escapevelocipede.blogspot.com

[SpeedRacer]

Originally Posted by the Wumpus

Arise, deceased thread! I command you to liiiiiiiiiiive!!!

Er... bump?

'Tis the season, and I'm looking for some overnighter bikey destinations for the weekends. There are some good ones already here, but there must be more! Keep 'em coming! Maybe not your favorite getaway spot, because then it might get overwhelmed with thousands of rowdy cyclist troublemakers. Hey, it could happen, you never know.

Well let's pick one and see if at least a dozen or so bikeportland readers show up!

[nelson_fisher]

Don't forget the newest State Park in Oregon, about 40 miles from Portland.

LL Stubb Stewart State Park
http://www.oregonstateparks.org/park_255.php

It just opened recently (like in the past couple of weeks) and is located near Banks. The web site above has a map showing its location. It is off Highway 26, but there are tons of small country roads that lead in that direction. The state parks web site links to Google Maps for directions, and you can use the new feature of dragging the direction line to create new routes. I was able to find a quick route that avoided Hwy 26.

Anyway, this is a brand new park, and it isn't too far from Portland.