Day 7 (2)

Day 7 (2)

The late start and the hills really took a toll on my pace today! I made it as far as Ecola State Park, and their only camping was a hike-in site with over a mile to go and no place to really leave my bike. I wasn’t crazy about that arrangement, although the park was beautiful.

Before I get ahead of myself, here are some pictures from the Maritime museum.

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They had some fishing boats on display, with…. dolls? Thankfully they were not animatronic.

This is a spear used by the native people for salmon. The detail in construction is remarkable.

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Check out the lashing job:

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I saw this kind of thing in museums a long time ago, but now that I have some engineering education and experience, I can see and appreciate the ingenuity. See this bow for launching darts at big fish? I was in my sophomore year at RPI when I started getting the math to tell you about why this bow has cords on the front and back:

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This machine looked cool- I was surprised to see something so heavy and elaborate to do what it does; it winds shuttles for weaving and repairing fishing nets.

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I saw more relics, and examples of modern maritime stuff, but then it was time to finally get back on the road. I think now that I’d have made better time in the rain. It seems to work well for me to set out early, then take at least an hour lunch break to rest, digest some food, and stretch out. There was a decent climb coming out of Astoria, but I could really tell that I lost a lot more elevation than I’d just gained. I had a looooong fast coast down to the ocean. Saw these signs all over-

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Saw Fort Clatsop briefly, but didn’t pay to go inside. I felt like I was running short on time, and there was some crazy traffic slowing me down. See?

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That joke just barely beat “Congestion? I took my allergy pill!”

Ah….. Jokes. Speaking of jokes, my friend Agustin will get this one:

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Then I made it out to the coast, and saw this beautiful scene:

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And wait- what’s that in the distance? The Rock??

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Day 7- slow start

Day 7- slow start

Last night was fun, I sampled the delicious beers and met some cool people, and ended up talking until really late.

This morning the weather was rainy and foggy (and so was my head), and the hostel manager wasn’t up early for bikes, so I walked around Astoria. I tried one coffee shop that was highly recommended, and it was good but on the other side of town. I forgot that a mile takes some time to walk if you’re not on a bike!

So now I’m just sipping some coffee until I get my bike and check out the maritime museum and get on my way to Ecola. The good news is that the forecast says this should clear up later in the day.

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Day 6- having a breather in Astoria

Day 6- having a breather in Astoria

I think I have a lot of photos for this update! I only did 30ish miles today. I had a couple of long days, and I thought it was time to slow down a little. My body and equipment seem to be doing alright, but I was getting a little fatigued mentally.

First picture- I forgot to post this picture of the passenger compartment of the ferry I took over from Puget Island. If you’ve read Catcher in the Rye it may have some significance.

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Next up, on the recommendation of my friend Molly I went to the Fort George brewery, where I sampled their brews and had some nice fish tacos. Good stuff!

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And tacos!

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Unfortunately the fish wasn’t a highlight (thought it might be, since we’re on the coast), but the ‘tortillas’ and fixings were fresh and amazing.

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I don’t plan to ride it unless it takes me to the top of a huge hill, but Astoria has a trolley.

The maritime museum also has this huge propellor- I wish I knew if it was a legitimate piece of equipment. It’s marked as a memorial to somebody, but it also has some maintenance information engraved as though it could be installed on a ship. I plan to visit the museum before I go so that I can learn more.

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They also had an anchor, far larger than I am:

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I got a picture of my hand grabbing a link on that chain with my other camera. Its a huge chain, huge anchor! Stay tuned!

From the marina area where I saw these, I also space this huge bridge- which I am thankfully not biking over tomorrow!

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There were these little shacks on the dock with some heavy steel…. Thingies in front of ’em- kind of odd!

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A close-up of the “thingie”

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And the sign on it; instructions for unloading your firearm. I guess that somebody (who??) is supposed to walk up to this shack, stick the tip of their gun in the red thing, and try to take all the bullets out… Accidental discharge, no problem!

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Got an M16? No problem!

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I also saw this cool tower overlooking everything , and I don’t think I’ll take the time to go to the top of it, but I got a few sweet pictures with my other camera-

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Between dinner and blogging, I walked around town for a while, and saw this- thought it was relevant to my trip;

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Also, this: (I think I know a few people who are into this kind of store)

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Another observation:

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(but you may return from the beach with crabs)

Finally, to do tonight’s blogging I returned to Fort George.

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Oink!!

And finally, I was able to get the friendly barkeep to take a picture of me in front of the aging casks:

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I think I’m setting out for Ecola state park tomorrow. Let’s see what Oregon’s hills are like!

Day 6 (1) Entering Oregon

Day 6 (1) Entering Oregon

I took a ferry across the Columbia today from Puget Island, and made it as far as Knappa before I felt the need to stop for lunch. The Clatsop ridge may have been my first real climb, it was about 650 feet high.

Bike on a ferry:

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You know it’s a bike touring blog when you have a lot of pictures of a loaded bike in front of and next to random things.

My big climb gave me a nice view:

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Took some pictures with the camera, too. I hope you’re all patient for the upcoming Flickr gallery!

Day 5 (2)

Day 5 (2)

Whew! I just did another 60 miles, putting my total around 220. I’m staying at (I don’t know how else to describe it) a trailer park in Cathlamet. It was cheap, had a hot shower, and it’s the last stop before I take a ferry across to Oregon, where I’ll have barely 30 miles till Astoria. I’m planning to stop there and did the hostel, and hopefully do some laundry.

Today I had a few especially long hills; one looked like this, and it seemed to keep going forever:

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When I got to the top, I saw Mt St Helens!

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As I was standing by the side of the road, a couple of old timers in a pickup pulled over to ask if I was broken down. I thanked them, and let them know I was just taking pictures.

They took a look, and the one guy said, “You can’t see the top of it.” I really wasn’t sure if he was joking, or if the clouds were that low.

After descending to the river, I saw craploads and craploads of blackberries. Imagine 5,000 times this:

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I also passed through this tiny little town that have me the opportunity to stand on the bank of the Columbia river and yell “Stella!!!”

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(we make bad jokes after too long pedaling in the sun, they can’t all be hilarious)

Also interesting, there were these fences that looked like they came out of Jurassic Park, along the road following the Columbia river.

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I didn’t have a great way to give scale, but the big link at the top right was substantially thicker than my thumb. There were a few spots that rocks had fallen and dented out the fence. I’m sure they don’t fall often, but I didn’t stick around to find out!

That’s all for now, hopefully I’ll be posting a picture of the Goonies house tomorrow.

Day 5- on toward the coast

Day 5- on toward the coast

This morning I got started around 8, and was fiddling with some buttons on the bike computer that accidentally reset the whole thing to zero. I was at 161 miles, after doing 27 the first day, and not doing much on day 3 when the bike was broken. I guess I’m making good time- I didn’t realize that yesterday I really did some miles!

I had the time and energy to take some fun pictures with my dslr in the state park, and I grabbed a few duplicates with my phone so that I can share before I get back.

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There were some gigantic slugs here. I put a quarter next to it to show scale.

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I also found a neat millipede.

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And a snail! I think I got some good ones of this guy.

On my ride I came across this sign- I don’t know what it is but I’m interested!

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There are definitely a lot of wild blackberries around here, and this bush looked a lot like blueberries. I wasn’t going to risk it since I don’t know them as well as blackberries or raspberries. What do you think?

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Finally, this barn.

Time to finish my club sandwich and see how close I can get to Astoria!

Day 4- Camping!

Day 4- Camping!

I made it the 60-some miles from Elma to the Lewis and Clark state park, now I am having some dinner. I got some rain dumped on me and had some hills at the end of the day, so I was a little ambivalent about the last few miles. I’m feeling a little better here, hanging out under the big shelter here and eating turkey tetrazzini out of a pouch. Nice and hot!

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The camp stove worked perfectly. I also had a pound of rainier cherries (for half the price I normally see them!) And a bottle of the local brew, Dick’s.

I must say, I’m a fan of Dick’s.

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