We have a long but easy day in store for us - a sixty mile flat run to Centralia, following the meandering Chehalis River the whole way. We’ve never ridden through this part of the state, and it’s the day I’m most looking forward to of the few remaining. On paper, it looks like it should be a very pleasant, quiet ride; but you never know until you get a first hand look.
The day begins pleasantly with a two mile path along the north shore of the Chehalis - the same path we walked along last night when we saw that family of otters gorging themselves just offshore. No otters this morning - I imagine they follow the tides and the fish runs - but it’s still pleasant and gives us a nice last look at Aberdeen at its gritty best.
At the end of the trail we merge onto Highway 12, the Olympic Highway. A divided highway with two congested, fast moving lanes in each direction, it is definitely no fun to bike on - don’t bring Avi and April out this way, Grampies - and the two miles of it we endure are way more than enough.
The rail bridge across the Chehalis River, Aberdeen
Looking back at Aberdeen. There’s a nice walkway along the River for the first two miles out of town, but after that you’re dumped onto unpleasant Highway 12.
Fortunately, there are just these two miles with no alternative. After that we escape onto Aberdeen-Montesano Road, and other than for a couple of tense highway crossings we’re on rural back roads the whole way to Centralia. Aberdeen is really missing a bet here, I think. It wouldn’t take that much for them to lay a path beside those two miles and market themselves as a cycling destination - the Gateway to the Olympic Peninsula!
The next fifteen miles are a very pleasant ride, taking us to our planned lunch stop, the Subway outlet in Elma. Quiet, virtually carfree, smooth pavement, and almost perfectly flat except for a lazy 75 foot climb in the outskirts of Central Park on the high point of the day. Very relaxing, and just the thing when you’re a bit road weary and facing a long day at the end of a tour.
Highway 12 stinks as a bike route, if you really want to know (you can see a bit of it in the video and form your own opinion). Fortunately it’s only two miles to the turnoff for this road, Montesano-Aberdeen Road. After that it’s clear sailing all the way to Centralia.
On Aberdeen-Montesano Road. Not much of a shot here, but at 116 feet this is the high point of the day so I’m capturing the expansive views. Ahead is the day’s big descent. Whee!
The big surprise for me today is Montesano, a small town that surprisingly is the Grays Harbor county seat. It is a surprisingly clean and attractive little place, and one that looks like it might make a better overnight stay than Aberdeen or its neighbor Hoquiam. There’s a decent looking inn here, so you might give it a thought if you’re out this way.
The Grays County Courthouse, in Montesano, is a surprisingly fine structure for this region. Built in 1911, it was nearly lost to an earthquake in 1999 but has since been renovated and brought up to code.
East of Montesano though there’s not much until you get to the I-5 corridor. We pass through the ‘town’ of Satsop, which looks like it might have been something once but now is all boarded up and run down, a virtual ghost town. Next up is Elma, which is at least larger - people actually live here, and there are schools and businesses, but a fair amount of Elma is pretty decrepit too. Fortunately though the Subway is very much alive, and we enjoy a break from the road before taking on the last forty miles of the day. Too early to eat the sandwiches though, so we pocket them for later.
Immediately after leaving Elma we cross the Chehalis River and follow its south bank all the way to the outskirts of Centralia. It’s an unpretentious but fine ride the whole way, much of it passing through the Chehalis Reservation. About twenty miles past Elma we come to a bench beside the road and stop for lunch; and then a few miles further along we are lured a half mile off route, temped by the promise of snacks at the IGA store in Rochester.
An hour later, we wheel past the landmark Country Cousin and cross the river into Centralia. Our home for the night is the pleasant Lakeside Inn, a motel we stayed at three years ago at on Our own STP ride. We liked it because it has a surprisingly quiet setting on Lake Plummer, just outside the core; and because it’s a reasonable walk to La Tarasca, the authentic Michoacán restaurant that is more interesting and attractive than most of Centralia’s bland fare.
One sour note ends the day: my front shifter is stuck in the middle chainring. This happened about ten miles from Centralia, and it seems like maybe we’ve broken something. No problem today off course, since the remaining miles of the ride were flat. There are a few hills ahead between here and home though, so I expect I might be walking a few of them. This close to home it doesn’t seem worth finding a mechanic - I’d rather wait until we get home and take Rodriguez to a familiar face.
Crossing the Chehalis River to its south bank, just south of Elma. Our entire ride today follows th course of the lazy Chehalis, gradually gaining a few hundred feet.
The locally famous Country Cousin, included here for our friends from the north country. The Grampies just ate here and made it look quite tempting, but we have other plans for the evening.
The view of Plummer Lake from our home for the night, the Lakeview Inn. Peaceful, economical, must be the best stay in town. Rachael’s hard at work here, trying to find the perfect sound track for the day’s video.
