PC_Day6

Day 6

Friday, 4 June 2004
Aberdeen, WA to Cape Disappointment State Park, WA
89.0 miles, 7h05m, 12.5 mph
Elapsed Time: 10h22m, Max speed: 36.2mph
Total Climbing: 3231ft, Max elevation: 529ft
Total mileage: 389.0

Today was supposed to be the last day of good weather so we decided that we would camp at Cape Disappointment State Park on the north shore of the Columbia River. But first we had to ride a considerable distance. Somehow I computed the distance to be 72 miles. Between the detours and backtracking we somehow managed to cover almost 90 miles. There may have been a "carry-the-one" error in there somewhere too.

The first 25 miles from Aberdeen to Raymond on US101 were very hilly with little traffic. Probably half of the vehicles on the road were logging trucks. Fortunately, most of the loaded trucks were heading in the other direction. There were three places where a lane was closed so traffic was controlled by a flagman. This had the effect of grouping all the cars and trucks together and giving us long periods of peace.

The scenery was typical of the timber country.

Typical timber country scenery.

We stopped in Raymond for a snack and rode on to nearby South Bend to buy lunch. There aren't many towns between South Bend and the end of our ride, so we figured we'd carry our lunch for a while. We rode all the way through South Bend without finding a deli, so we had to ride all the way back to the other end of town and bought sandwiches at a convenience store. Then we got to see the town again. By the way, South Bend claims to be the "Oyster Capital of the World." At this point broken oyster shell fragments became common shoulder debris, almost replacing the tree bark that falls off the timber trucks.

This must be where the oysters come from.

There were few hills after Raymond, but we encountered something much worse--a brutal headwind. With hills you see what you have to deal with and when you get to the top you're done. Hills are an honest obstacle. The wind is very different. When you are riding on the flats, it pushes you backward, making you work hard to go slower than you would without the wind. When going downhill you can feel it robbing you of the free ride you earned with the climb. When climbing the wind usually goes away--because it might help to cool you off. The biggest problem with the wind is that you know all these things and you know how much faster you could be going with less work. The best thing about a headwind is that the roaring in your ears covers the squeaking and clicking sounds that your bike is making.

We passed a sign for a county park about the time that we decided to eat. It turns out that the park was about 3 miles away at the end of the road in a little oyster community with the unlikely name of Bay Center. When we got to the park we found a picnic table and were immediately attacked by swarms of hungry mosquitos. Then we pedaled back to US101 and continued on our way.

Eventually we rolled into Ilwaco, the small town outside of Cape Disappointment State Park. Since it was already getting late we decided to eat dinner before setting up camp. There only appeared to be one good restaurant in town so we went in and ordered. In the back there was a group that had some kind of problem and the owner was apologizing. When they came out we found that that group was just beginning a ride on the Lewis and Clark Trail. We saw them again later at the campground. There were six of them riding with one driving the sag wagon every day. That's the way to do it.

Anyway back to the restaurant. Apparently everybody working there was new because the season was just beginning and it's hard to find good help. I ordered a Grilled Seafood Special but the chef couldn't find any fillets so I changed to a Prime Rib, which is what JT ordered. When they came out an hour later they were cold in the center. In the end we got our steaks for very little money, and the time didn't really matter to us.

There were a few hills on the way to the park. We rode to the campground and set up our tents. The showers cost 50 cents for 3 minutes so I had to ride back to the camp store to get change. JT's shower was cold anyway, but mine was hot.

Our campsite was about 50 yards from the ocean, so we went down there and took about 30 pictures.

Our first look at the Pacific.

There was this lighthouse.

Our campsite.

It started raining at about 9 o'clock and it rained on and off all night.

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