San Francisco, CA

Once I arrived back in Portland I retrieved my car and started heading back south. I was thinking of camping in Oregon for the night and trying to make it to Oakridge, OR the next morning for some mountain biking, but the forecast was even worse now than the week before when I passed by, so I bypassed that and made it back to the Shasta Lake area where I had camped on my way north. As I passed through the mountains in Oregon I could see that there was a decent covering of snow on the ground up above 4000’ meaning mountain bike season in the area was pretty much done for the year. I had resevations for the night in Pescadero at a hostel that is in the former lightkeepers quarters of an old lighthouse, and since Oakridge was out I had some time to kill. Originally, I left San Francisco out of my plans since I had been there a few times before and thought that I should spend my time exploring other areas, but with no where better to go I decided to spend the afternoon by the bay. I drove in and parked at the Marin Headlands where I ditched the car and unloaded my bike. Being the birthplace of mountain biking, I figured I had to do some riding around there and took off on a fireroad that led me down to the beach below the Golden Gate Bridge. Despite the history in the area, mountain biking has been pretty much eliminated from the headlands with bikes not allowed on any trails, but the fireroads were good enough for the casual ride that I had in mind. After cruising around the headlands for a short while, I rode across the Golden Gate and headed for Chinatown for dinner. Once fed I headed back to the car, and remembered that I no longer had my tailight, which was either stolen in Portland or lost on the train to Seattle. Fortunately, the streets were lit well enough that I was visible to cars and didn’t have to worry much, especially considering that I only had a short ride until I reached the Presidio where there was virtually no traffic. I made my way back across the Golden Gate and found an attendant waiting at the other side to close the gate for the night as soon as I got off. Fortunately I wasn’t any later than I was, or I would have been in trouble. After loading everything back into the car, I headed to Pescadero for the night so I could tell everyone that I spent the night in a lighthouse.

Vancouver, BC

I arrived in Canada via train and promptly received a grilling from the customs official. Apparently, anyone with long hair is a drug smuggler because the border patrol seemed very suspicious of me. Regardless, they let me in and I rode Mikey over to the hostel where I was staying. Once settled in I grabbed some lunch and set out for Stanley Park to take on the 10 mile Seawall greenway ride. This ride follows the boundary of Stanley Park, Vancouvers version of NY’s Central Park, which is mostly along the waterfront with excellent views of downtown as well as the surrounding mountains. The next day, I had plans to take on the Grouse Grind and see the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge (the lesser known and much cheaper sibling of the famous Capilano Suspension Bridge), but unfortunately I was too late in the year to take on the Grind, which was recently shut down due to winter conditions. The weather that day was pretty chilly, with highs only in the 40’s and rainy during the morning, making the 10 mile bike ride to Lynn Canyon pretty unappealing. I checked the bus routes only to find that I would need to take three different routes to get there, taking a little over an hour each way, so I decided to scrap that idea. Instead, I went over to the Granville Island Public Market to check things out there. Once done, I went to Chinatown and then back to Stanley Park, this time to do some hiking through the old growth forest. As it turns out, there are a lot of unmarked trails in the park that are not shown on the map, so I just picked one and wondered around for a couple of hours until I crossed one of the marked paths, which I followed back to my bike. By this time, it was beginning to get dark so I headed back to get ready for my return to the US.

Seattle, WA

The next morning, I woke up and immediately put on my backpack and rode my bike down to the Amtrak station. Since I was planning on staying in hostels that were downtown in both Seattle and Vancouver, BC, parking a car was going to be a headache, so I left my car parked for free in Portland and took the train up north, which turned out great. The train was no where near full, so I could use the empty seat next to me to stretch out, there was an abundance of power outlets so I could use my laptop for entertainment, and I was able to roll my bike right up to the baggage cart where it was put in a bike rack for the trip. Once in Seattle, I went and dumped my things at the hostel, which was just across the street from the famous Pike Place Marketplace. I went down to the waterfront and walked around the parks there, then went by the Space Needle and strolled through downtown on the way back to the hostel. The weather was exactly what you would expect from Seattle; dreary, chilly, and light rain. Walking along the Puget Sound in those conditions made it tough to keep Death Cab songs out of my head. The next morning was still cold, but surprisingly sunny. I picked up a morning coffee from the first ever Starbucks store and spent some more time strolling along the waterfront. I had plans to go to two museums that day, The Experience Music Project and The Museum of Flight. I decided to see EMP first and went there in the late morning. The museum was excellent with good exhibits about the Seattle music scene and a little about the evolution of some musical instruments. At the end of the museum, you even get a chance to play some music yourself with the interactive exhibits. When I finished there, I got on my bike and headed for a restaurant that I had in mind for lunch to grab a bite to eat before catching the bus for the Museum of Flight. Shortly after leaving EMP I stopped at a red light, and when I went to pedal away my chain came off of the gears, causing me to lose my balance and fall over the handlebars, landing on my chin. A very nice lady that was returning to work helped me to assess the damage and let me come back to her office building to find the nearest Urgent Care center. Once I knew where to go, I put my chain back on and pedaled away, only to find when I arrived that there was an hour or more wait at Urgent Care. I waited in line and when I saw the doctor, received five stitches on my chin. By this time it was late afternoon and far too late to make it to the Museum of Flight, so I called it a day and got ready to head to Canada the next morning.

Portland, OR

I left California first thing in the morning heading to Oregon. I was hoping to stop in mountain biking hotspot Oakridge, OR to enjoy some of the trails, but the weather was cold and threatening to rain, so I opted to save some time and stay on the freeway. I made it to Portland sometime in the late afternoon, with enough time to check into the hostel I was staying at and explore the downtown area a little bit before dark. I made it downtown in time to check out a few stores and pick out somewhere to get dinner. One of the most prominent downtown businesses is Powell's City of Books, which claims to be the worlds largest bookstore, which takes up an entire city block and is four stories high. I went inside and promptly got lost wandering around the giant store. I did eventually find my bearings and was able to pick up a good used copy of Keroauc's "On The Road," which is any road trippers bible. The next morning I was up bright and early, ready to hit the town. The weather was pretty wet and rainy, but I thought of that as being a part of the Pacific NW experience so I hopped on my bike to go. It did not take very long to realize that this was a mistake as my jeans got soaking wet and I started to freeze. Fortunately, Portland is the kind of town where you can pull over pretty much any time and walk into a store to buy a new pair of Gore-tex pants for half off, which is exactly what I did. I went back to the hostel to change into dry clothes and set off again. I went down to the waterfront to hang out around the waterfront park, and see Mill Ends park, the worlds smallest park, which is right next door. While I was in the area, I went to grab some lunch at an all veg chinese restaurant in Chinatown and continued exploring downtown, this time in the area of Portland State University, and made sure to scout out a good route to the Amtrak station where I would be heading first thing the next morning.

Waterfront Park