Oct 7 - Fanno Creek and Astoria River Trail - PedalPushin 2024 - CycleBlaze

October 7, 2024

Oct 7 - Fanno Creek and Astoria River Trail

Before we get to the journal, meet Echo.  Echo greeted us this morning on his silent duty of vacuuming the hallways of our hotel.  He even stopped while we were passing so as not to interfere with his guests.

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So what to do, what to do … this morning we found the Fanno Creek Greenway and there wasn’t a lot of information available regarding the trail.  So I checked my various sources and finally found a route on RidewithGPS, downloaded to my Apple Watch and off we went.

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The trail was quite the mixture of urban level trails, lots of side branches and very few actual markings along the trail … fortunately I had my watch.  We also encountered a fair number of trail users and unfortunately we saw a repeat of the lack of trail etiquette that we experienced yesterday.  Folks were just rude.

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I probably should have reviewed the route I choose a little more carefully as we eventually found ourselves riding bike lanes.  Not that bike lanes are bad but when they are attached to 4 high speed lanes of traffic, they certainly aren’t comfortable.  We did actually discover where the author of route lived as we got to cycle one 13% hill which was in his neighborhood.  All was well in the end.

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Our second ride of the day was in Astoria.  Astoria, or at least the area around there, is quite famous as the wintering camp for the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  We’ve been crossing their route a bit on this trip and it is amazing to think of what they accomplished, far more than any cycling trip we’ve done.

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In Astoria we cycled along the riverfront along some trolley tracks and eventually along a “paved” path that went a little ways out of town.  We saw 2 long distance cyclists heading into town and I imagine they might have been finishing a long trip, perhaps cross country.

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Scott AndersonGreat shot! What a spectacular sky. I love Astoria, a place we used to go over to for a three day break every few years when we still lived in Portland. And you’re right about that bridge - I rode across it back in 1972 on a trip down the coast from Bellingham, and it was scary enough then when there were fewer and smaller vehicles on the road. Never again.
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2 months ago
marilyn swettBeautiful photo!. We also rode across that bridge in our last coastal tour in 2018. It was not a pleasant ride and I was so relieved when we reached Astoria safely. It's a poor excuse for a designated state and ACA cycling route.
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2 months ago

We then opted to drive over the bridge towards the Long Beach area.  After driving over the bridge over the Columbia River, I simply can’t imagine folks doing it on their bikes although they do.

Today's ride: 23 miles (37 km)
Total: 8,453 miles (13,604 km)

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