By Kelly McPherson — I grew up in Oregon. We moved around a lot, but most of my time was spent in the Portland area. One of our family’s favorite things to do was to go to the beach and so I spent many hours in a car driving from wherever we lived to Seaside, Lincoln City, Barview, Depot Bay or Florence. I never minded the trip. It was always beautiful, even if it was raining. There were many stops to local candy shops for copious amounts of saltwater taffy and sometimes a giant jawbreaker. I think my dad just wanted peace from his 4 rambunctious children and so he would give us the jawbreaker and tell us that we couldn’t speak until it was gone. My sister’s hard-as-rock jaw would smash it in pieces in a matter of minutes. Ironically, that sister is a dentist now.
As an adult, before my dad passed away, I discovered riding my bike to Lincoln City, Oregon from his house in West Salem, Oregon. It was about 70 miles of mostly country highway and gentle climbs summiting at about 780 feet above sea level. After a couple of years of doing this, I learned to carry a small string bag with me to pick up things I saw along the road. It was always interesting, and I picked up anything from small tools to gigantic pinecones or I would stop and pick up fresh peaches from a fruit stand in the middle of nowhere. Then my dad passed away during COVID and those trips stopped.
In November 2022, I caught Influenza, got better and then two weeks later caught COVID. The infections put my heart into a PVC (premature ventricular contraction) rhythm called bigeminy. I was on a heart monitor for the next month or so. I was having over 21,000 PVCs a day and my heart was resetting itself every other heartbeat. I had a catheter ablation in February 2023 to fix the arrhythmia, which was a huge success. I felt better than I had in years! Because I felt so much better, I decided that I wanted to ride the Oregon coast and so I started planning a trip from my mom’s house in Vancouver, WA to Astoria, OR down to Coos Bay, OR and then over to Crater Lake. It would be a beautiful 450 or so miles. I was going to love it!
Then in April 2023, as a result of the ablation, I got a pulmonary embolism and was put on blood thinners. Doctors wanted me to stop racing my bike. If I crashed, they said, I would likely die before the ambulance could get to me.
I had to decide whether or not to cancel my Oregon coast trip. The route was planned. The campsites were booked. Now what? I go, of course! So, in August 2023, I started from my mom’s house in Vancouver and made my way towards Seaside, Oregon.
Day 1: Vancouver, WA to Seaside, OR
https://www.strava.com/activities/9559234365
In Oregon, it is best to plan for the unexpected. The spring weather had brought even more rain than usual and several roads that I had planned on riding from Vancouver to Astoria were washed out with giant mudslides. Fortunately, I found out about it before I left Vancouver and so I was able to come up with an alternate plan. My mom and I spent quite a bit of time looking at Google Maps and RideWithGPS trying to find a good route. When you head west from Vancouver, there is a road called Germantown Road. It is steep, narrow, and windy, but is the Google Maps recommended route. My mom did NOT want me riding that road, so we found an alternative. Unfortunately, when I got to that section of my route, I couldn’t find the alternative, so I headed up Germantown Road. I would definitely recommend Germantown Road, provided it is not during peak traffic times when it is bumper to bumper with traffic. I started up it at about 10AM, and while there was some traffic, it wasn’t heavy, and I felt perfectly safe even though there really aren’t any shoulders. It was beautiful! It was a great challenge that is only about 3 miles long. When I got to the top, Google Maps got confused about where I was supposed to be going and so I had to turn around and find the correct route. Streets in the backwoods of Oregon are not always labeled.
At the bottom of the hill, I ended up on a bike trail that took me almost to Hillsboro. I am not usually fond of bike trails as it is hard to know where you will end up. I did finally make it onto Highway 26 headed towards Seaside, OR. Yes, it’s a highway, but it has a great shoulder, and I was just fine riding it. It was gorgeous! The road from my dad’s to the beach tops out at 780 feet, but this highway had significantly more climbing with 4 peaks at 1600 feet. By the time I was done, I would have over 5200 feet of climbing in a little over 81 miles. Due to my health situation that year, my lungs had not fully recovered, and I had lost a lot of training. This was a tough ride for me. My husband had been working via Starlink at my mom’s house for the day. At 5PM, Utah time, he headed through the Portland rush hour traffic to catch up with me. I was really struggling and so let him pick me up just a few miles from my destination in Seaside, OR. I didn’t feel very good, and I started to worry that my decision to ride this, in my current condition, was a poor one. We camped in Seaside OR that night. It was beautiful! We had brought some e-bikes and so my husband and I rode to the beach to watch the sunset and to explore the town a little.
After some discussion with my husband, and some soul searching, we decided to limit my miles on this ride. I would plan to do no more than 50 miles a day. In the morning, I would leave at the right time, to get where I wanted to be by the time my husband could catch up with me after work. When he got to me, I would get into the truck and not make him wait for me at our next camping spot. This is his vacation too, not just mine! If I was feeling good, I would get moving a little earlier and get more miles in.
Day 2: Seaside, OR to Tillamook, OR
https://www.strava.com/activities/9565354016
The original plan was to ride all the way from Seaside to Lincoln City, but I was limiting myself to 50 miles and so ended in Tillamook at the Tillamook cheese factory. This was an amazing ride. The views were fantastic, and I loved every bit of it. I had a significant tailwind and so I made really good time. I even stopped at one of my childhood family haunts in Barview. There is a little convenience store there that we used to buy bait at and then go fishing on the jetty. There is also a big “G” on the hillside in Garibaldi that my dad would ask us kids to make up stories about. So. many. Memories! Every year, my husband and I have taken my kids to the Oregon coast in the summer to visit my family and every year we go to the Tillamook Cheese factory for squeaky cheese samples and yummy ice cream. I couldn’t go past this spot without waiting for my husband and having ice cream together. After we ate, I got into the truck and my husband drove us to our camping spot in Lincoln City.
Note: If you are using a Starlink for internet, do not stay at Devil’s Lake State Park. There are too many trees to get a satellite connection.
Day 3: Lincoln City, OR to Waldport, OR
https://www.strava.com/activities/9571402606
Due to the satellite connection issues, we got up early in the morning to move our trailer to the D River Park so my husband could get internet to work. I got ready for my ride that day while my husband started his meetings. I could really get used to having my breakfast at a picnic table next to the ocean. Amazing!
This day’s ride was so wonderful and full of so many memories as these were the areas that my family frequented the most. I stopped at Boiler Bay to take pictures as it has always been one of my favorite spots. My cousin owns a museum and a fishing tour boat in Depot Bay. I stopped at her museum to see her, but she was out on the boat. I rode out to the lighthouse in Newport and ate a peanut butter sandwich while watching the tourists and the waves.
My mom did not want me riding south of Waldport due to the lack of a shoulder and steep cliffs into the ocean. I was confident that I could do it. My mom was not wrong, however. The road for quite a few miles south of Waldport is windy, narrow, and with some really sheer drop offs. I think I could have ridden it, but if there was much traffic, it would have really frustrated drivers making the situation fairly dangerous.
My brother met me on the other side of the Waldport bridge and so I hopped in his car, and I spent the rest of the day with him. That was one of my favorite days of the whole ride. It had been many years since I had spent much time with him. We drove to Florence, which is where our campground was for the night. My grandmother used to live in Florence, so we had burgers at the old A&W drive-in, took pictures of us in front of her little old red house, found Grandpa’s shop, went to the north jetty where we used to have sandy cheddar cheese sandwiches and set up camp at Honeyman State Park. My grandma and grandpa took us to Honeyman State Park every year to slide down the dunes, play in the lake and hike the trail around the lake. This was a day of wonderful memories.
Day 4: Florence, OR to North Bend, OR
https://www.strava.com/activities/9578328726
Honeyman State Park had too many trees for my husband to get a connection to work, so we moved the trailer to an Albertson’s parking lot in town. I spent the morning honoring my shopaholic grandmother, by cruising her favorite shopping area in Florence, Bay Street. There are tons of fun shops, restaurants and even sidewalk artists. It was great and I got souvenirs for all my kids and grandkids for when we got back.
Then I headed out towards North Bend. Highway 101 veers away from the ocean in this section and has quite a bit of climbing. My family rarely went this direction, so it was an area unfamiliar to me. I was so far from the beach that I did stop a couple of times to check my map to make sure that I was still on the right road. There were some long climbs on this route. There is a lighthouse near the top of one of them. Having looked at the maps afterwards, I wish I had taken the side trip to go see it. Though, I was tired, and the miles of the week were really starting to wear on me, and I wasn’t sure that a side trip that I didn’t know how long or steep it would be was wise.
Day 5: North Bend to Sunset Bay Beach, OR
https://www.strava.com/activities/9583250884
This was a short day. I was tired. My lungs were really feeling it. Also, there was a forest fire somewhere between where we were and the camp spot inland on the way to Crater Lake. Forest fires in Oregon can be really scary and they change direction quickly and suddenly. I didn’t want to be caught near one on a bike, miles from my husband and the support of our truck and trailer. I decided that today would be a chill day. My husband had gone ahead and was parked at Sunset Bay Beach. When I got to him, I changed and then spent the rest of the day with my feet in the sand and my hand in a big bag of saltwater taffy.
Heaven!
We did end up going to Crater Lake. I didn’t ride around it as I had planned. The road around it was closed for construction. The parts that were open were bumper to bumper traffic with no shoulders and sheer drop offs on either side. Yeah … I like to live.
If you go:
- August usually has the best weather and the least likelihood for rain.
- Plan for rain. The Oregon coast can get up to 200 inches of rain a year, so be prepared for some of it to be on you.
- Make sure to have lights on your bike even while riding in the daytime. Fog can make visibility tough.
- Avoid riding on the weekends or holidays. The traffic is horrendous.
- I would recommend riding from north to south as you are more likely to have a tailwind. It is also really fun to be on the ocean side of the road. It is so pretty!
- There are lots of camping and hotels on this route, but you will want to reserve early. The Oregon coast is a tourist hotspot, and the best accommodations fill quickly.
- Don’t rush this trip. There is so much to do and see to focus on mileage goals. Just slow down and enjoy it!
Make sure not to miss the following:
- Mo’s in Seaside and south of Lincoln City as well as Newport. The one in Newport on Bay Blvd is the original one and well worth the trip, but I like the view from the one south of Lincoln City the best.
- Ride the old train in Rockaway Beach.
- Get ice cream and squeaky cheese at Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook.
- Pacific City has a beach you can drive on and a fabulous dune to climb. My sister likes the Meridian Restaurant and Bar.
- Put your feet in the D river in Lincoln City and get lunch at Kyllos.
- Browse the shops in Depot Bay. Ainslees’s Taffy in Depot Bay is the best. My cousin owns Tradewind Charters if you want to go fish or whale watch.
- Look for agates on Fogarty Beach.
- Take pictures at Yaquina Head lighthouse in Newport. Definitely make the trek down the long stairs to see the critters in the tidepools near the lighthouse.
- Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport is free and fun. The Oregon Coast Aquarium is nearby but is expensive.
- Sea Lion Caves are fun, but expensive. My family only went once.
- Shopping on Bay Street in Florence.
- Slide down the dunes on a saucer, play in the lake and walk the trail at Jesse M Honeyman state park south of Florence.
Update on my health:
I am happy to be alive. So many people, who have gone through what I did, aren’t. I credit that to my consistent healthy exercise over so many years. I am not back to where I was, physically, before my ablation and embolism, but I am back on my bike with a new outlook on cycling. Cycling should be fun. If it isn’t, you aren’t doing it right. Sometimes that means slowing down and changing goals a bit. It may be time to seriously start planning my trip from Salem, Massachusetts to Lincoln City, Oregon.
