Day 34 Humbug Park to Gold Beach: The day we go over the 1000 mile mark!

August 6, 2017

For such an auspicious title, today was really not about mileage and all about enjoying the moment.

After dinner last night, we went for a walk through the campgrounds at Humbug to walk off dinner. As we walked on, we discovered that the campground extended much farther down that we originally thought, right to a beach access. We walked down onto the beach and caught the most beautiful sunset, and of course had neither phone nor camera to capture the moment. It will have to remain in our mind’s eye, I guess!

The park was very quiet at night and we both slept in, knowing that today would be a short day with some short climbs but nothing serious. Therefore, it would be a day for taking the time to stop and see the beautiful scenery unfolding before us. We knew, from the book we have been following, that this part of the Oregon coast was full of special spots and we didn’t want to hurry our way through. So, we broke the day into two parts with a stop overnight in Gold Beach where we had a room booked.

With our plans in place, we ate a leisurely breakfast and were the last of the campers in the hiker/biker site to leave. Good thing, thought I – that way I don’t have to get passed by all the younger tourers! Actually, there was a Kiwi couple about our age there last night, but they were much more serious about moving along, having a plane to catch from SanFrancisco in a few weeks. Ah well, we have no such constraints on us at the moment.

We rolled out of Humbug State Park and up a bit of a climb. To be honest, the hill was the least of the difficulty in this part of our morning. The shoulders we rode on were either very narrow, broken up or nonexistent.

some really crappy shoulders - common Oregon, you can do better than this!

As well, it was a foggy morning so all in all, it was a bit of a nail biter going through this short section of the road (well, it would have been if I could have bitten my nails while riding!). However, we were careful and made it past the first bit and down the other side where the shoulders were a bit better and the fog dissipated.

As we rode down, we stopped to take pictures of a giant rock rising above the fog. It was an incredible sight, and Jim was in his happy place taking pic after pic of this glorious moment.

we felt like we were high up in the mountains above the clouds

Before packing up to move along, I scrolled through my bike computer to see where we were at, knowing that the all important 1000 mark was coming up and what did I find?

At the bottom, dinosaurs awaited us! Not sure what the park is like as they charge admission, but the ones outside were enough for us!

I think I know where they bought these (see yesterday's post)

Up another hill and then we got to coast for a bit along a great stretch of road with a fantastic shoulder (which didn’t last, of course!). The shoulders along 101 are so inconsistent! One minute you have a great wide shoulder that would make anyone feel safe, and the next you are dodging great holes in new pavement!

more not so great shoulders- and this is new pavement

Argh! This is the one thing that I would caution anyone wanting to do this ride about. You really have to be aware of the traffic at all times and know that you can’t count on decent shoulders. Its really too bad and I wish the state of Oregon would do something about this as there are a whole lot of cycle tourists who come here from around the world to ride this route. Ok, rant done.

We stopped at a lovely pullout with a great view of Sisters Rocks – what?

Well, we needed to investigate this further so walked down for a closer look. Along the way were some beautiful wildflowers – are they sweet peas?

Jim took a pic of me with the rocks in the background – hey there, sis, this one’s for you!

Hey Barb, an early birthday wish for you - love you!!

On our way downhill, Jim made a quick stop to take a picture. Most often, we don't like to stop on downhills, as it stops your momentum, but this one just couldn't be missed.

Jim stopped on a downhill just to take this! He really does like Euchre!

A scenic bypass off of 101 took us along the old Pacific Highway. Somewhere along the way I had heard that this was not an enjoyable ride, but it was off the highway so we took the chance and were happy we had. We rode along a stretch of a few miles with very little traffic. It was lovely. There were a few hills to ride up, but it was well worth the effort to have such a quiet nice ride.

can you tell which way the wind blows here?

We came through the small community of Agate Beach and noticed a whole lot of fishing going on in the river. I guess the salmon must be running.

yep, that's another bridge we didn't ride

all those fishers out fishing - hope they caught something

In the background, you might have noticed a big bridge. Yep, we had to go over that to get to Gold Beach – of course! We rode up a short steep hill to where the bridge began and had a look. We knew that bikes were allowed to ride on the sidewalk as there was no shoulder, but one look was all it took and we decided to walk it. The sidewalk was about a foot off the bridge deck and very narrow – not something we wanted to take a chance with.

We arrived on the other side and rode up a short hill into the town of Gold Beach. From the name, you might be imagining a lot of resorts, and in fact, we had a reservation at the Pacific Reef Resort. However, names can be deceiving. The town is really very small and not posh at all, which is fine. I think it is geared more towards fishing and people passing through on their way to other places.

We pulled into our motel and after a short wait (where we availed ourselves of some iced coffee and pumpkin cake at a coffee shop down the road)

we got checked into our room. It was really big – two bedrooms, and back from the road so we wouldn’t be worried about noise from the highway, thank goodness. We bring our bikes into our room with us so there was lots of room for both bikes and us for once.

We changed and went down to the beach to check it out and Jim enjoyed the photographic opportunities that were provided to him. Me too!

After our beach walk we worked on the blog for a bit before heading to the restaurant next door for dinner. It was kind of a weird experience as the door was locked when we got there, but the fellow working the till opened it for us. This is more of a fast food place, it seems. You order you food at the counter and they bring it out. We ordered and sat down to wait. Once the food arrived, Jim kept looking at what was going on. He heard one of the people in the back say that they had run out of food! They ended up locking the other entry way and turning people away. Hard to imagine a restaurant actually running out of food! It was kind of a funky vibe and Jim said it reminded him of that old Bob Newhart show with Larry, Darrel and his brother Darrel. If you have seen it, you know what I mean. Oh well, the food was good and we were happy to have made it in before they ran out!

Towards the end of the day, we went back to the beach, intending on getting those elusive sunset shots we had missed the other night. And so another day ends. I’ll leave you with these. Tomorrow its on to Brookings, our last Oregon stop before California.

Today's ride: 42 km (26 miles)
Total: 1,263 km (784 miles)

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