Day 15: The Best & The Worst (Fort Stevens to Idaville)

14 Jul Day 15: The Best & The Worst (Fort Stevens to Idaville)

This was a day to remember.  We rode as a team of four, was challenged by a couple of steep hills, pedaled through beautiful locations, and ended on a lower note with a horrible dinner and camping experience.  These, as well as other events, went down like this for us.

Getting Familiar

It was agreed that we were to begin our journey by 9AM, so we all woke up promptly, packed up, and had our quick breakfast before leaving camp.  This would be the first time we’d bike tour with more people, other than just the two of us, so there were some awkward moments of going over expectations, like break every 10 miles and stopping at each turn or uphill.  Of course, all that went out the door once everyone got in the groove of things.  I led the pack, since I had the ACA maps clipped on my bike.  The group followed me diligently onto the 101 highway, and we made our way south towards the town of Seaside.

Both Victoria and Evadne, who were on the 6th day of their trip, were definitely in bicycling shape as they kept pace with me at about 13 mph.  We made it to Seaside in an hour and was treated to a ride through their promenade, which highlighted beachfront resorts.  On the way in, we were honked at by a white SUV and received the middle finger salutation.  Hello, Oregon!  As we proceeded away from Seaside, we were finally faced with the first warm-up climb of the day at the split of highway 26 and 101.  About 1/4 of the way through, Evadne raced right by me apologetically and flew up the hill.  I’d never seen anyone climb up hills like that.  She was fast!  We finally caught up as we passed another bicycle tourist and gave directions on what to do when we reach Cannon Beach entrance.

The Best – Beautiful Oregon Coast

Haystack Rock

I gained back the lead as soon as the entrance appeared to direct them into town for some lunch.   We rolled through the main part of town on Hemlock Road and settled at a casual restaurant where we were able to sit outside and watch our bikes while we ate.  Some of us enjoyed ice cream afterwards, while others had coffee and a chocolate chip cookie.  We then rolled out of town, or at least tried, because when we started the climb back up to the 101, we were in awe of the beauty on the right side — the beach.  It was the Haystack Rock!  Victoria raced down the driveway to find an entrance to the beach.  We took a few photos of the rock from above and followed her lead.  We parked our bikes next to a fence and locked it up.  We all couldn’t wait to get on the beach and take a closer look.  It certainly did not disappoint as we spent 30 minutes there taking several pictures before walking back to fetch our bikes.

Victoria on top of the world!

We all agreed that it was a good find and we were so glad to have seen it before taking a different route up the 101 highway. Thank you ACA maps for showing us the way.  Otherwise, if we had followed the signs to the 101, we would have missed this awesome view. We all meandered through Cannon Beach for another 2 miles until we finally reached the 101 highway.  We were back in formation, but not before long when Evadne took lead up top another hill, which led us to our 2nd tunnel of the trip and the girls’ first.  We all regrouped, turned on our rear blinky lights, hit the button, and pedaled like crazy uphill through a tunnel.  It was a bit harrowing, but not as bad as the previous day’s bridge experience.

The tunnel was actually the start of 2 really long climbs up.  The first over 500 feet and the second about 750 feet.  As usual, Evadne was storming up these hills without a hitch while I paced her at second, followed by Victoria and then Sang Hyun.  On the top of the last hill, we were treated to the most beautiful vista on this trip.  We were on top of Neahkahnie Mountain looking south towards the Oregon Coast.  You could see the Earth’s curvature from way up here.  It was a breathtaking view.    Oregon certainly has the best looking coast so far on this trip.

Change of Plans

The Peloton

Satisfied with our view and photos, we proceeded with an exhilarating downhill ride to Nehalem.  Sang Hyun and I were planning to stop at the Nehalem Bay State Park, but we were re-energized by the sightseeing high, so we marched on further.  That’s 30 miles further in Idaville, which is 2 miles north of Tillamook.  We refueled at Rockaway Beach on a public dock for 15 minutes and got back on our bikes to make our way through Garibaldi Bay City to get groceries, and then finally to Pacific RV Park in Idaville.

The Worst – Dinner and Camp

Break Time

We were all exhausted and couldn’t wait to break camp.  The night was cold without a single cloud in the sky as we prepared for dinner.  The store in Bay City was very lacking in the produce and meat department, so we picked up what the label said, “Beer Sausages”.  The camping spot did have a fire pit, but no grate to cook our food on, so Victoria pulled something from the side of the building to use.  Unfortunately, that didn’t work very well and our sausages ended up in the fire for a bit, burnt.

Evadne was starving so she took a few and cooked them in her pan and ate them with the hot dog buns.  I took a closer look and saw that the buns started to develop mold.  That was not good.  They attempted to cook their package of frozen veggie, but the bag of veggie was so old and scarred with freezer burn,that those were also abandoned.  Sang Hyun and I made hamburger helper with the sausages and that came out really salty.  The girls salvaged their meal with cereal, and we gave Evadne one of our ramen noodle packs.

Soon after that, the night turned frigid and everything was saturated by dew.  Our bags, bike, and tent was wet.  We all took turns taking our shower and went to bed by 11PM with the agreement to wake up to a breakfast of champions at Dennys.  We couldn’t wait until the next day!