# Suggestions for riding from Portland to Seattle?



## Frenchman in Seattle (Apr 17, 2011)

Hi,

On Saturday I plan to ride from Seattle to Portland (well, Dundee) and then spend a day in Dundee supporting a friend and wine tasting. I am thinking of then biking back to Seattle for my first-ever bike camping trip. I am planning on taking 3 days off work, and bike maybe ~70 miles per day, so I can actually also enjoy the camping and exploration part. I have no idea of what the terrain I'll go over will be like.

What would be recommendations of good routes? A bit of wine tasting at the beginning could be good but is not essential (I have Sunday...).

My friend is going to drive my cross bike (which has a rack and fenders) down. She could drop me off on the coast too, which might be a much prettier trip? I could go up the coast and if needed could be picked up in Olympia or Tacoma or... At the same time, if there is a beautiful route that is a bit straighter I'm fine with that (less driving for my friend).

Thanks for ideas/experiences/etc.


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## redlude97 (Jun 29, 2010)

Are you riding in the STP on saturday?


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## Frenchman in Seattle (Apr 17, 2011)

Yes re: STP. I'll do STP in one day, then wine-based recovery, then bike back. I'm very excited about the whole thing!


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## PdxMark (Feb 3, 2004)

The STP route from south of Tacoma to Longview is about as good a bike route as there is for that stretch. Between Dundee and Rainier, OR is where there's room for improvement. The details are wordy, but if you go to google maps, select a bike route from Dundee to Rainier, the first route selection goes through Portland. You don't want that one. Instead, drag that bike route westward until it selects a route through Banks and Vernonia, including a nice long run on Spring Hill Road on the way to Forest Grove. This routes let's you avoid Hwy 30 between Portland and the bridge at Longview. 

If you're intent on going through Portland, there are fairly nice routes across the I-5 bridge, up through Salmon Creek neighborhood (north of Vancouver), La Center, Woodland, Kalama, Kelso, and then connecting to the STP route north of Longview.

Have a great bike ride!


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## Frenchman in Seattle (Apr 17, 2011)

Thanks Mark. I found a few maps online thanks to Oregon's Pedestrian and Bicycle Program. I would love to do the Historic Columbia River Highway, but it goes in the wrong direction (East). Maybe some day on my way to climbing Mt Adams 

How is the Columbia river route going West? Is that something I should look forward to do, or not really? I want to bike along the coast but could be dropped off there if those 95 miles are uninteresting and/or not something to do in one day. I have only budgeted 3, maybe 4 days for the whole outing.


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## PdxMark (Feb 3, 2004)

Frenchman in Seattle said:


> How is the Columbia river route going West? Is that something I should look forward to do, or not really? I want to bike along the coast but could be dropped off there if those 95 miles are uninteresting and/or not something to do in one day. I have only budgeted 3, maybe 4 days for the whole outing.


Highway 30 west of Portland is a high-speed four lane highway with only occaisional glimpses of the Columbia River. It's not a great place to ride. Another option is to ride to Astoria via Mist and Hwy 202, across the bridge into WA, then north on Hwy 101. I don't know that stretch of Hwy 101, but I would guess that the traffic isn't too bad. The question will than be which route to take from Aberdeen. Hwy 12 is quite busy, but smaller roads up to Skokomish and Bremerton could be pretty interesting.


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## rcnute (Dec 21, 2004)

The cafeteria at the community college has great lasagne. No one is ever in there and they have the Tour on.


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