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Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Cape Perpetua Mountain Bike Ride

Troubadour and I had a bit of vacation time we needed to use and my boss was gone for a week at a conference in California, so we both took last week off from work.

On one of those days, when we weren't pulling weeds in the yard or cleaning out the garage, we went to the coast and took our mountain bikes along.  With temperatures in the valley forecast to top 95˚F (35˚C), the coast was the place to be with a high of only 71˚F (21.6˚C).  We took Highway 34 southwest to Waldport, then Highway 101 south to Yachats.  We stopped at the Green Salmon in Yachats for lunch. They used to be a great place to eat and are one of the only places in the land of seafood to get a vegan meal.  Unfortunately the tempeh rueben sandwich we ordered was incredibly salty.  When will restaurants learn that salt doesn't equate flavor?

From Yachats we drove south on Highway 101 and stopped at the Cape Perpetua Visitor's Center in the Siuslaw National Forest.  I was pretty sure they sold the one-year Northwest Forest Recreation Pass. Most places along the coast require a pass or a daily fee for use.  It is way cheaper to pay the $30 for the pass than to pay a daily use fee every time you park somewhere. We were in luck, they sold the necessary pass.

While there we started chatting with the Forestry workers about local mountain bike trails.  Our original plan was to ride at the horse trail/recreation area just North of Florence.  We've had friends that have ridden up there, but the forestry workers seemed to think bikes were banned.

Not wanting to chance it, we opted for the Cummins Creek trailhead. Just a short 6 mile (9.65km) out and back lollipop trail and the only one in the recreation area where bikes are specifically allowed.  

(Cummins Creek Trail - Cape Perpetua, Oregon)

(Cummins Creek Trailhead)
The trail started off relatively easy.  An uphill grade with a nice wide, fairly even trail.  Easy peasy.  And then it gradually got narrower and narrower.  We stopped a few places along the way for pictures, and for me to huff and puff and get my heart rate back down to a dull roar.



(Troubadour on a Trek on the trail)

(Narrower and narrower)

(And narrower)
At one point the trail was almost overgrown and we had to heft the bikes over a small dry creek bed and over/through a fallen log someone had cut an opening in.  Wide enough for hikers maybe, but not quite wide enough for bicycle pedals, just ask my shins, but we pressed on.

We were still on an uphill grade after 3 miles.  I had a copy of the above map with me and from what we could see we were on the upper portion of the trail.  At one point we thought we'd come to the lookout turn off but it was so steep and had so many tree roots that it would have been hard to push the bikes up it.

We eventually came upon the below sign.  It really confused us.  We had no idea where we were. We couldn't think of anywhere we'd missed a turn and there was only the one way to keep going, more uphill and more overgrown trail.  We didn't want to end up at the Visitor's Center or the forestry road since it would be a long way back to the car so we erred on the side of caution and reversed direction.

(Which way do we go?)

(Trobairitz on a Cannondale - photo by Troubadour)
Sure didn't take us long to get back down the hill.  Back through the fallen log and dry creek bed and then zoom, it was a great descent.  Troubadour stopped a couple of times along the way, since he is a faster rider, and snapped a few pictures of me.  The above picture was one of those.

Back at the car, we were still confuzzled as to what went wrong.  From the map it did not appear we could have taken a wrong turn.

Ah well, load up the bikes and head north on Highway 101.  We stopped at the Cape Perpetua viewpoint just above Devil's Churn for a look see at the Pacific Ocean.

But first a picture of the trusty Subaru with the bikes.

(Subaru Forester at the Cape Perpetua Viewpoint)

(A view to the southwest - the tide was out)

(Interesting tidbit regarding early travel in the area)

(Standing at the viewpoint looking up to the parking lot)

(Wild purple flowers, I have no idea what they are)

(And these clumps of succulents were growing on craggy overhangs.  To me they looked like Celtic knots)
We got home early in the evening where we found Basil asleep on the sofa.  He appeared to be enjoying the 'cool' setting on the ductless system we'd installed last fall.

(Are you comfy Basil?)
Troubadour checked his Strava tracks/map on the laptop once we got home and it turns out that while we thought we were on the upper part of the loop the whole time, we were actually on the longer lower part of the loop.  Our best guess is that if we had of pressed on we'd have been walking our bikes down that really steep section we thought was the trail to the lookout.  I think this time we chose wisely to turn around.

Our temperatures over the weekend broke record highs, and also broke the record for warm nighttime temperatures.  Luckily the high pressure system has moved on and our high is only supposed to be 70˚F (21˚C) today. Good thing too, since we have a moto-blogging compadre coming tomorrow to visit, hang out, and attend the Vegan Beer and Food Festival this Saturday in Portland (No, we won't be riding, I'll be the designated driver).

- Au Revoir

"Get a bicycle.  You will not regret it if you live." - Mark Twain , "Taming the Bicycle"
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24 comments:

  1. Nice ride report. Good job heading out to the coast during some of this hot weather. I guess getting lost is just part of the adventure. Not too bad if you don't end up huffing and puffing up some steep hill. I sometimes wish we had a few more miles of nice flat trails around here.

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    1. Technically we knew where the car was located, so we weren't exactly lost. As Andy says, we were just exploring.

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  2. That is an interesting historical tidbit, Trobairitz. It never ceases to amaze me how fearless and persistent many past folks were (kinda makes me wonder how many of us could measure up).

    We've had record temps as well--likely the same damn high pressure. Rumor is there's a cooler weekend in store for us... I've got my fingers crossed.

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    1. Compared to how tough people had to be back in the day, we're probably all a bunch of wussies now.

      Hope you get that cooler weekend.

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  3. Really impressed with yours and Brad's fitness Brandy! Nice bikes - my MTB is 25 years old and it shows!! Always enjoy seeing your photos and we have those little succulents in our garden - great for dry banks. Bits break off and se-set themselves. Good to see Basil too!

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    1. I don't know how fit we are Geoff, but we give it a go.

      I am jealous you have the succulents in your garden. I thought they were quite neat.

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  4. I really need to dust off my bike and Westfalia and do some different touring. We have some beautiful trail systems here. I think we may have passed cape perpetua in 1996 When we drove down the coast, stunninf views.

    Squire Basil looks very happy in th cool temp. It was smoking hot here on the weekend, but we are back to a more manageable 19 C here today.

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    1. Sometimes it is hard to balance (no pun intended) all our hobbies. Time on the mountain bikes, road pedal bikes, dirt bikes, big motorcycles, hiking, canoeing, camping, gardening, etc.

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  5. Basil has the correct approach!

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  6. That looks like a great trail even with all of the uphill (equal amount of downhill). I'm guessing that bicycles and horses don't get along well on trails if riders on both sides don't cooperate.

    Say hi to Chris! (Shot in the dark guess there…)

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    1. Around here bikes and horses are usually allowed on the same trails, but the horses have a tendency to chew up the trail a bit when things are muddy and they are trotting.

      Good guess, but I don't have a prize for you. I'll say hi to him for you though. He's already touched down at PDX and is taking the shuttle to Corvallis.

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  7. I like Squire Basil's approach to vacation time ;-)

    Temperatures around 20C are perfect for bicycle riding, the trails look pretty wild, compared to ours in the Black Forest. Most trails over here seem perfectly groomed, and you have to look to get something similar to your tracks. (Oh, and did I mention that there is a law in our State prohibiting bicycle riding on forrest trails narrower than 2m? No kidding.)

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    1. Wow trails that are over 2 meters wide would be a logging road here. Pretty rare to find a trail that wide, and then to ban bicycles on the narrow ones where you want to go? Are they not wanting people to exercise?

      Come visit - we'll take you mountain bike riding on the little trails.

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  8. Peaceful trails and kitty! Love the ferns the most.

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    1. It was nice and peaceful up there, and Basil is always a sweetheart when he is sleeping.

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  9. Got curious about the pretty purple flower... it looks like a lily. It might even be this one:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brodiaea_elegans

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  10. Nice photos, nice trail...but cuddling with that fluffy, sleepy cat looks like it would be fun, too!

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    1. Thank you Barb. I agree, cuddling with the fluffy kitty is alway fun.

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  11. Basil had the best idea....all that exercise. :)

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    1. No one could ever accuse Basil of too much exercise, that is for sure.

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  12. You live in a very beautiful state. So different than the East Coast, and so lovely.

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    1. One of these years I'll have to get to the East coast so I can make some comparisons. I've never been further east than Chicago in the states and Montreal in Canada.

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