Spokes of Oregon
August 31-September 3, 2026
Day 1 AMTRAK Assist Seattle to Albany then bike from Albany to Corvallis.
21 miles total
6 morning miles across the dangerous streets of Seattle took me to the King Station where I heard the protesters chanting but I couldn’t see them or figure out what this strike was about. I was grateful for the protected bike lanes. Daily commuters, I tip my hat to you. Some schools must be in session because I lost count of the number of e-bikes with child seats. Way to go parents. Biking your kids to school sets an excellent example and hopefully a life long love to go places by bike.
I was giddy with excitement to take the Amtrak train and my seat mate and I got chatting right the way. Although I didn’t catch her name, I learned a lot about her her two sons who live in Bellevue and Corvallis, grand kids, husband and her travels to visit them from Indiana annually.
While checking in at the station, I was told that all the bike bags will need to be removed from my bike. Ugh. That felt like a monstrous task after carefully attaching and packing all the bags and I was prepared to beg. The kind baggage attendant was cool to tell me that he does not mind, in Albany though, I got a talking to as my bike nearly crashed to the ground while I tried to unload it from the train.
The train was wonderful! I am a fan. Georgia boarded 45 minutes into my journey in Tacoma and we chit chatted and caught up and listened to the National Park Service talks in the super cool train with windows all over before my afternoon nap somewhere around Portland. 6.5 hours went by fast even in coach and we stepped into the hot afternoon sun in Albany around 4:30 pm.
After the kind AMTRAK employee gave us four small bottles of water to top off our water bottles, we set off on a wonderful flat ride from Albany to Corvallis through fertile farm fields. We stopped to admire the hazelnut orchard, laughed at some of the signage, noted all the fresh egg stands, discussed the smell—- turns out it was mint compost. No joke. A Sunny and pleasant ride into Corvallis was a dream on wonderful roads and bike lanes. Drinks and food outdoors and then cruising through the streets of Corvallis into our Airbnb made for a perfect end to day 1. The weather will start to change tomorrow - rain is in the forecast.
Day 2 Corvallis to Beachside State Park
69 miles, 5400 ft of climbing
The skies threatened us with rain all day but luck was on our side as we mostly avoided the rain but we still managed to get wet thanks to our sweat and the humid coastal air.
Farms surrounded the greater Corvallis area, then farms turned to logging roads, and we were even presented with some nice single track. Today had more pavement than expected which made for faster miles. We followed the C2C route for much of the way. Dirty Free Hub has a great write up about this route and we created our own variation.
Our bike computers count down the number of climbs. There were twelve today, some several miles long but others a little blip up in the road that didn’t deserve any credit. Nevertheless each one was celebrated when the computer displayed “Summit”.
As we waited for the logging trucks and loaders to let us pass through, we noticed a little wooden sign for the Davidson Cemetery which was fenced off with a wooden walkway leading to it from the logging road. How strange to see it here in the middle of the logged area. We made up a story about the Davidson family. Perhaps they were the original landowners.
We hugged the uphill side of the road and the fully loaded logging truck went by. I learned this whole trekking in Nepal. Always stand uphill when getting out of the way of the Yaks carrying gear.
We decided to detour a mile to the Big Elk campground for lunch after passing through the village of Harlan. Picnic tables, potable water was a perfect half way lunch stop around mile 30. Too early to end the day here.
We had a big climb coming out of the campground but pavement makes the miles go by fast.
Logging roads are always a mixed blessing. We wouldn’t be out here without them but seeing the big old trees being logged always makes me a bit sad.
Wet overgrown foliage drenched our feet. Mud sufficiently coated our bikes, bags and packs. We marveled at the old growth massive trees covered in moss.
Pretty farms. Dogs chased us along their fence lines but the pack of livestock guardian dogs lounging in the field couldn’t care less about us.
We high fived when we reached the coast and turned off the highway towards the ocean at the first opportunity. Ahh the smell of the ocean and the stunning coastline was a treat.
The final 10 miles were along highway 1 as cars and trucks zipped by us but the shoulder was decent and we got to enjoy the ocean views. The wind was strong and we took the protected path over the bridge crossing into Walden. Georgia chatted up the locals in front of the grocery store as I attached all my newly purchased snacks to my bike for the last few miles to camp.
The hiker biker sites were awesome - protected from the wind and rain. There were two guys here from Portland cycling to San Francisco along the coast. Excited for them!
We were tucked in the trees and had a little private path to the beach where I put my feet in the sand and walked barefoot. Showers were appreciated after the long day. By 5 pm we were setting up tents at camp.
It’s dark and this little screen is illuminating my face as I listen to the creaky trees. Between the waves crashing and the wind howling, I don’t hear the highway noise.
Some days are mentally hard on the bike, today wasn’t one of them. Well packed gravel mixed with pavement made for an efficient 70 miles.
Day 3 Beachside Campground to Salmonberry Campground
43 miles, 3600 ft of climbing
First surprise of the day was me crawling out of the tent before Georgia. She is an early risers usually has her breakfast cooked and sipping coffee by the time I climb out of the tent (this is based on Alberni Bam Bam trip and a few Washington Bikepacking Women’s trips).
For a little overnight rain insurance, we brought our rain pants and jackets into the tent and Georgia covered her saddle with her blue plastic IKEA bag. It did not rain overnight but it started as we were packing up. Insurance failed. Packing a dry tent always feels like a win and we managed that.
By the time the rain picked up most of our gear was secured in bike bags and we scooted under the overhang of the closed for construction bathrooms to make breakfast. Prolonging our dryness was nice as we knew that rain would be with us all day. The grumpy park attendant kicked us out but luckily we were almost ready to go. He wouldn’t even give us 5 min to finish up.
Dream Machine coffee in Yachats, after 4 soaking miles along the coast highway 101, was truly a dream. Hours later, we still talked about how delicious the coffee was. We were not in a hurry given the rain and enjoyed a long chat with a lovely elderly couple to whom Georgia offered half our table. After we left our wonderful coffee shop we turned inland immediately on a windy road and soon there were no cars, houses or people, just the rain, dense forest and low clouds. We were making steady progress and again cheered when we reached the summit of each climb.
The rain was relentless and I kept my phone mostly hidden in my pack to keep it dry but the ridiculousness of the second big climb resulted in Georgia making some funny informative videos. We were soaked through and through. My purple baggy shorts looked like they were painted on. We stayed warm on the climbs but it got chilly on the downhills.
As we took our sharp right turn to start the second long climb, the road narrowed and we were bushwhacking through the weighted down long branches and blackberry bushes. We got whipped and hoped we wouldn’t get tangled up in the squirmy branches. At times, we decided to dismount when the shrubbery got a bit thick. It was slow going and we were surprised to come across a beat up old white van and a young Hispanic woman, dressed in a big oversized black raincoat and rain pants, emerged from the bushes carrying a big bundle of Salal. I stopped to ask her what it was for but she gestured that she does not speak English. We carried on slowly making our way to the top. Our good spirits were not dampened even though everything else was. Luckily the downhill was a bit more open and had some remains of a paved road which made for a quick and cold downhill. Once I stop making my own heat, the body temperature plummets being in the soaked through clothes.
After the downhill and the few paved miles, we were delighted to see the Salmonberry campground sign. Earlier in the day we discussed going further but given our wet situation, it was clear we were staying. There were so many campsites but not a single camper, just the concrete toilets/showers building in the middle and the host’s camper trailer. We arrived around 2 pm and were hoping to get into the cabin or the yurt but after banging on the host’s camper, and not finding anyone and no cell service, we swapped our wet clothes for dry ones in the shower. We each had our own shower and rolled our bikes in. I peeled off all my clothes and put all the layers I could to get warm. The wet socks and shorts were handy to wipe off the mud from my legs. By the time I came out, Georgia was spread out under the cabin’s covered porch boiling water. Get warm and get some calories was our mission. Georgia made tea and we considered our life choices. To our delight, we didn’t have to wait long to be rescued by the camp host, Carol and her friend Laura. For $80 cash, the cabin was ours. Caring ladies made sure we had bedding and dinner and Carol even dried our riding clothes in the drier in the pump room. She left it unlocked for us. We were well taken care of and dry for the night with lots of hours to relax, read and rotate our bags, shoes, clothes in front of the heater.
The rain eased off in the evening and I walked around the camp grounds watching the deer and turkeys munch on freshly fallen apples.
Day 4 Salmonberry camp to Albany via Corvallis
56 miles, 2600 ft of climbing
The rain pounded on the cabin roof and I contemplated my clothing choices and whether I should bike in the rain pants today while still laying in my sleeping bag on the top bunk. I had hoped that the rain sounded worse on the metal roof than reality.
Route was lovely with 70% pavement. The rain did not diminish our spirit. The first twenty miles we mostly climbed on nice gravel roads under the dark canopy of the mossy covered trees. Rain was relentless and just when we thought it eased off and we took off our rain jackets, the pounding returned. We rolled through farmland and came up on a fresh clearcut where the clouds lingered low. My phone was tucked away protected from the rain so photos were minimal.
The lumber operation was a surprise once we popped out of the forest and we admired the massive beams, logs floating in a pond, big machinery, and mud everywhere.
We counted down the climbs again, and cheered when the bike computer announced “summit”while a bit surprised that today had twelve climbs again. As we approached Corvallis, we rolled through pretty farm valleys - there were Christmas tree farms and a newly planted hazelnut orchard, farmers working their fields and farm stands closed for the season. It seemed as if we left in the summer and returned in another season, the fall.
Once we got into cell service, Georgia was first to receive a message from AMTRAK that the train was cancelled. Ugh. We were eager to get into Corvallis to sort things out.
By 12:30 we reached Corvallis and ended up back at Block 15 for the delicious kimchi bowl we enjoyed on our way into this adventure. We mostly dried out but then watched the big raindrops bounce on the sidewalks and roads knowing that we’d get soaked again. We had 14 flat paved miles remaining into Albany. It looks like we will be taking the bus north. I had planned to get off in Portland for another three day loop west of Portland but there is a lot of rain in the forecast and my biking buddy is heading home to Tacoma. A decision will be made later.
There were only 5 passengers getting on the bus including us and luckily the baggage compartments underneath were completely empty but presenting a final itty bitty adventure getting our bikes loaded.
Rain or shine this loop from Corvallis presented just the adventurous riding that we had hoped for.
