47.9 mi / 3:28:10 time / 13.7 mph avg. / 1982 ft. climbing
Staying at Beachside State Park

Another morning dawned grey with fog, but in the time I entered the bathhouse and the time I left, the entire sky above had turned blue. That was short-lived however, because as soon as we got out on the road, the fog returned. It was a nice lazy morning for a nice lazy day: a stop at a coffee stop got us muffins and a scone (and a second sighting of Ryan Kain’s bike-touring doppelganger) , but nothing to drink (Joel already had his coffee in camp with Chika’s zucchini bread). So it was another quick stop at the IGA for juice and milk and bananas.

We played leapfrog with the Canadians we met yesterday throughout the foggy morning, seeing them at various viewpoints and overlooks. Eventually the Oregon Coast Route took us off Highway 101 and on to Otter Crest Loop for a stretch. It was easily the best part of the trip so far. The skies blued up again, we were the only traffic on the road, and we were surrounded by devastating beauty. From the high bluffs through the tall trees we alternately glimpsed views of narrow coves and wide-open ocean stretching out below. And ominous high wall of fog lay across the sea like an army poised for battle, but so far the sun to the east seemed to be holding it at bay.

By noon we made it to Newport and across the treacherous bridge to the Rogue Brewpub, where of course we had to have lunch. The emphasis is clearly on the “brew” as you have to wend your way past forklifts and warehousing and towering stainless steel brewing vessels to reach the tucked-away restaurant. We both got 4-beer samplers (plus one on the house as a starter) which went well with our lunch and our now-customary cups of clam chowder.

A bit more and the never ending north breeze brought us to Waldport, the last town before our campground, before 3 o’clock. It took some convincing, but Joel finally believed me that we could find food we’d enjoy at a grocery store that we’d eat in camp. And we did pretty well there, including beers of course.

Luckily Beachside campground is not too close to the beach, because the fog had returned and brought a 55-degree chill with it, and the wind had never left. We found a well-sheltered spot within the hiker/biker area, next to our Canadians, who, despite their claims of slowness, somehow managed to beat us here. Our early arrival and the weather meant it was a perfect night for a fire, and Joel did a good job of getting it going on the first try, so we enjoyed that for a couple hours. The have some good-smelling wood here in Oregon. I thought it might be a good way to get the solo bike-touring girl the next site over to come hang out, but alas, she seemed to disappear after setting up camp.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 5th, 2012 at 10:22 am and is filed under 2012 Bike Tour, bike. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.