Day 70, Sunday, June 29: The End
Our 70th and last day on the road was about as good as cycling can get. I had perhaps the best night of sleep of the entire trip in a comfortable bed under a couple of blankets because the temperature dropped so low. When we hit the road the temperature was in the low 50s, I think. In the early morning we were not getting much sun on the trail and I enjoyed being cold after all the days we had spent in the heat of the high desert.
From the farmstead we rode the mile or so back to the Banks-Vernonia trail, and completed the last two or three miles into Vernonia itself. Vernonia is a cute little town I would like to visit again, because on this early Sunday morning most things were closed. Fortunately for us Black Bear Coffee was open so we did get coffee and sandwiches.
We could have headed directly northwest from Vernonia directly toward Astoria, but Liz and Austin had warned us how bad the roads were, how hilly it would be, and just how poorly the mapping data was. So we stuck to the Nehalem Highway, which is Oregon 47 from Vernonia to Mist and Oregon 202 from Mist to Astoria.
The first 40 miles of the ride were delightful. The highway follows the Nehalem river as it winds its way through the Oregon Coast Range toward the Pacific Ocean, making a loop through Northwest Oregon. From everything I have heard the road never has much traffic, and on this Sunday morning there was probably less than usual. We had a slight downward gradient almost all the way to Jewell.
The big climb of the day began outside Jewell as we left the Nehalem River to climb northwest over the Coast Range. The day had warmed up by the time we began the climb, but there was plenty of shade and we took advantage of it on our breaks.
From the crest of the Coast Range we had a fantastic descent following the north fork of the Klaskanine River. Eventually the Klaskanine merges into Youngs River, and I knew we were close to the end of our journey. Youngs River looks more like a bay than a river, but it does flow into the Columbia River, and Astoria sits on the point of land where the two meet. We still had eight miles or so to go, so I just enjoyed the last rolling hills I would ride with John.
Ride with GPS had routed us up and over Coxcomb Hill, a ridge to the south of downtown Astoria. We elected not to follow the route, thinking we would take the Nehalem Highway all the way to where it meets US 101 on the point, then turn east to ride through downtown Astoria.
We passed the turn that would have taken us all the way up Coxcomb Hill, but shortly after I made the error of looking up another road and thinking it did not look too bad. So John and I had one last climb up part of Coxcomb Hill. We did not climb to the peak, but I expect we climbed about two-thirds of it. Somehow it seemed more fitting to end with a climb than riding around the point, anyway.
From the top we had a steep descent into downtown Astoria, as steep as anything you might find in San Francisco. I am glad John had his brakes fixed two days before.
As we rode through downtown Astoria we were somewhat surprised to see nobody was applauding us. In fact, I am not sure anybody cared about us at all.
I had told Lynn we would end the route at the Columbia River Maritime Museum, and that we would probably finish between 2:00 and 3:00. Unfortunately, we were a little early, and even though she thought she left in time to be there by 1:30, she did not arrive in time to see us finish the ride. We asked a couple that was walking by to take some pictures of us. They did not seem too impressed, either.
Lynn was driving down with our friend Hai, and they arrived about five minutes after we finished. I suppose we should have checked to see where they were while we were still riding, but that was probably the least of the mistakes we made on this tour.
We changed clothes, threw our bags in the car, and loaded our bikes on the rack. Fortunately the owners of Astoria Brewing had not heard we were coming so they were open. We had a celebratory lunch, and even John uncharacteristically had a couple of mid-afternoon beers. Then we headed home, in the car.
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