Vancouver to San Francisco

[Giacomo]

Hi all,

I'm off to a wedding in Vancouver next summer and thought it'd be rude not to go for a weeee ride whilst out that way. Rough plan is to ride to San Francisco.
Has anyone on here done this route? Some of it?

We will be on cross bikes as opposed to mountain bikes, so gravel roads etc fine but not bike parks...

I've looked at the Pacific Coast route on ACA website, but looking to get off the busier roads a bit.

Any help or advice would be great.

Many thanks,

Giacomo

[Chew]

Ask Kev C (Blackhound)

Think he did something in that area a while back, although i seem to remember him saying it was a bit too busy for his liking.

[rich.mike]

Yep, cycled that route. I used the ACA maps, would you like to borrow them? It took 2.5 weeks to do comfortably, stunning route.

[rich.mike]

Here are a few photos of the route:

https://m.facebook.com/richard.wardle.9 ... =bookmarks

Need to write this tour up on the website really.

[rando nomad]

I've done the Oregon coast twice- once just doing the Oregon part and once riding from Vancouver down to Oregon and then getting a lift home at the OR/CA border.
I've driven south of OR later on.
I really liked the ride from Vancouver south to OR- we would take the ferry to Port Townsend and then ride down to Long Beach WA before crossing the river to OR. Less services on that stretch, but quiet.

I love the OR coast, but I think now I would see about mixing in some of the logging roads in the coastal mountains in addition to the popular coastal route. I recall seening a blog post about a couple of guys who used the coast route and the coastal mountains to go south.

The hiker/biker sites at the state parks are great.

[rando nomad]

I think these were the fellows who I read about

http://fueledbyporridge.tumblr.com/tagg ... coast-2014

[Scattamah]

Another option would be ferry to Vancouver Island, ride down to Victoria, ferry to Port Angeles and skip the whole I-5 corridor thing. I was looking at ways to get through the Olympics a couple of weeks ago when I was there and this looked like an interesting* way to get through the top of the range...

From the ferry terminal at Port Angeles, take the 101 south
Left just out of town onto Black Diamond Rd
Black Diamond Rd swings west and turns into Little River Rd; follow this west
Just before rejoining the 101 near Elwha, turn left onto Olympic Hot Springs Rd and go south.
Continue on Olympic Hot Springs Rd beyond the turn for Whiskey Bend Rd.
Beyond Boulder Creek campground, road changes name to Pacific NW Trail
Cross Boulder Creek and continue on Pacific NW Trail south
Continue on Pacific NW Trail through Appleton Pass
At Horsehead Campground follow Pacific NW Trail back around to the east
Cross Sol Duc River; continue south
Cross Bridge Creek; continue south
Cross Bridge Creek another two times; pass Heart Lake on your right...continue on
At 47.904387/ -123.778448 you turn right and follow on north
At Deer Lake, you'll double back on yourself and start heading north-west again soon after
Trail winds its way to the south and then to the west, around some peaks and then west again over North Fork Bogachiel River
Cross Hyak Creek; Hyak campground a few hundred meters ahead
Keep following Pacific NW Trail; you'll end up with main Bogachiel River to your left
Merge onto Undi Rd (comes in from the right)
Continue on a few hundred meters; road changes to N Bogachiel Rd where Dnr Rd branches to your right
This will dump you onto the 101 at Bogachiel State Park a few k's south of Forks; continue on the 101 for a good while
Once beyond the reservation, take a right onto Moclips Hwy down to the coast and join the 109
Turn right at Aberdeen onto the 105 around the coast again or stay on the 101 (shorter route)
If you take the 105, just before Raymond, rejoin the 101; head south...soon enough you'll hit the bridge and over into Astoria, Oregon.

Greetz

S.

* I will not be held responsible for conditions on Pacific NW Trail...but if it's ace I'll take all credit :)

[Giacomo]

Scattamah - Will see if I can follow your instructions on a map! Sounds like you know the area pretty well. Cheers for all the info.

Rich.mike - Great pictures. Many thanks. Are the ACA maps expensive? It's something I need to look at getting should we decide on taking the ACA route.

[Scattamah]

@Giancomo - I know the east side of the Hood Canal reasonably well (my wife is from Bremerton/Silverdale area). The Olympic Range/west side I did from maps. I'll put it down into a GPX for you to visualise though. I'm hoping to go do this route next year when I get back over there, but feel free to trailblaze :)

As a side note...if you're in Port Angeles, Wa...pay close attention if you're using your mobile phone - you might pick up the signal from Vancouver Island and get charged international rates on calls to the USA, from the USA!

Greetz

S.

[rich.mike]

Scattamah - Will see if I can follow your instructions on a map! Sounds like you know the area pretty well. Cheers for all the info.

Rich.mike - Great pictures. Many thanks. Are the ACA maps expensive? It's something I need to look at getting should we decide on taking the ACA route.

They're a bit pricey but good quality waterproof paper. You can use mine if you want though, let me know through PM and I can post them.

[mcmoonter]

I've ridden from Anacortes down to San Francisco around the Olympic Peninsula following the ACA's maps. A couple of years ago we joined the route in Eureka CA and followed it down to Point Reyes Station.

It's a cracking route with lots of state parks with hiker biker spots ( no reservation, $5 -10 a night) with showers and sometimes all you can drink coffee. You'll meet lots of other cyclists on the route and especially if you stay in the state parks.

Parts of the Oregon Coast are stunning, the giant redwoods around Crescent City and the Avenue of the Giants south of Eureka are breathtaking. Old Highway One south of Legget to San Francisco is surprisingly hilly.


http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/paci ... descircuit

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/MCan ... roundIdaho