Our last day of our tour, and probably the most continuously hilly day of the ride. While only 36 miles, cumulative elevation gain was about 2,000 feet. The coast was shrouded in fog when we left Gold Beach, and that was fine for us as we faced a fairly long climb first thing as we left The Inn of The Beachcomber.
The highway climbs at a very consistent 6% grade for about 3 ½ miles to reach the summit of Cape Sebastian at about 800’. A fast downhill brought us back to the beach, where we could see through the clouds the spectacular coastline dotted with all kinds of sea stacks and rocks and things. From here the highway continues fairly hilly all the way to Brookings. No hills are the size of Cape Sebastian, but the climbs are short and sometimes steep; 10 to 12% on occasion. Soon we were in Brookings and looked for a place for lunch. We stopped at Wild Rivers Pizza and Brewing Company. We figured that with only 6 miles to ride after lunch we could risk having a pizza. The pepperoni pizza was so-so, the beer okay, and the people there were not particularly friendly. Oh well.
After lunch we backtracked a bit, to hook up with the ACA route along the harbor waterfront in Brookings and Harbor, then rode on small rural roads for a few miles before rejoining Hwy 101 a couple of miles north of the border. The last couple of miles went quickly, and we saw Janet waiting at the “Welcome to California” sign. A couple of photographs, and quick ride into California and back to the car to load up, change clothes, and head home. And our tour of the Oregon coast was complete: about 370 miles and nearly 15,000 feet elevation gain.
2 comments:
Yay! :-)
Man I want to do that again. Thanks for posting the great photos and log entries!
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