I woke up today feeling a little blah, probably due to the beer and going to bed late. I half thought of just hanging out in Portland for another day, but got my self up and ready to ride.
The route out of Portland left the Columbia River for long sections and I found myself in more of a pine forest type setting. By noon it was getting hot again as I had to climb up a steep grade bluff. About half way up I stopped to take a picture in a pull out and from behind I met another cyclist, Will, who was sporting a backpack on a wide rear rack and a round plastic bear box looking container on his front rack. We rode up the rest of the hill together and talked along the way. He had been out 80 days from Wisconsin but had stopped in a couple places for a few weeks. He was into lightweight backpacking before cycling, so he was just using all the same gear, just on the bike. He was cycling with his girlfriend, but she wanted to go one way and he wanted to go another so they split up a week ago and were meeting back up today in Clatskanie.
We rode to there, where he and his girlfriend were going to spend the night with a local Buddhist monk from warmshowers. I thought that was really cool but he lived 4 miles outside town and I just wanted to press on towards the coast as it was only about 4pm. I wished Will a safe ride and parted ways.
I rode another 15 miles and over the last big hill towards Astoria and stopped at the Gnat Creek campground. This was a very small campground that was a popular spot for fishing and as I made my way in I only saw 3 campsites (online it said they had 6), all of which were taken. I thought the other 3 sites might be up this gravel road at the end of the parking lot, but after following it for a good mile and a half, it turned out to be just a logging road. So back I went, and with it getting dark, I just threw up my tent in this grassy area between two of the campsites (I was still a good 30 feet from either campsite so I felt that I wasn't annoying anyone) and payed my $5 fee for campsite "threeve", finally ate the can of chili I had been carrying for a good week, and went to bed.
The pacific coast awaits me tomorrow!
Start: Portland, OR
End: Gnat Creek Campground, OR
Distance: 74.12 miles
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