There’s about one week to go to lift off on my Any Road to the Pacific Northwest tour so I thought I’d check out some of the roads through the Cascades. I heard that a 50 mile section of Idaho State Highway 12 through the Lochsa River valley would be undergoing heavy construction. Now I have found out that a section of the road and trail along the Columbia River in Oregon, west of the Route 12 construction, will be closed outright. Last summer wildfires in this area damaged the trail and highway. I have two options.

Option One would be to stay on the Oregon side of the river and ride I-84 with its big rumble strips for tens of miles. Not fun, but there are plenty of services along the way.

Option Two is to cross over to the Washington side of the river. This road has much less traffic but services are “few and far between.” Basically, I’d have to carry food and water and lord knows where I’d sleep. The “few and far between” section is 83 miles long into “fierce headwinds.” We’re having fun now!

Another big drawback to Option Two is that I can cross back over to Oregon just east of Portland, but well west of Multnomah Falls. I really want to see the falls; it’s one of the must see places in the Pacific Northwest. FOMO lives.

Long story short, I have to stay flexible. When I get to Missoula I can talk to bike tourists and the staff at Adventure Cycling for recommendations.