Oregon Coast 2011 Day 2 - Fort Stevens to Manzanita

Jo and Kevin: A leisurely 10am start put us on the road south towards Seaside. After a while we were on a pretty busy section of Hwy 101, but a light tailwind and almost entirely flat terrain took us quickly to Seaside. We stopped for coffee and tea at a restaurant along the Promenade to get out of cold and fog. Back on our bikes, we stopped at the Lewis & Clark Salt Works. We met a guy there that said he has ridden the RAGBRAI 24 times!

After Seaside, the ride become more hilly. After a moderate climb out of Seaside, a fast downhill took us to Cannon Beach, where we stopped for lunch at Bill's Tavern and Brewhouse. We sat outside on the deck, and watched all the tourist traffic pass by. A weird guy from Texas was sitting at the table next to us and peppered us with questions about bike touring. He also annoyed our server with lame jokes about not being able to pay for his lunch.

Leaving Cannon Beach Hwy 101 makes a couple of significant hill climbs. These climbs are each a few miles long, with gradients average 6%, with occasional steeper parts. Jo was not happy with these long uphills, especially when there was a cliff on the side of the road. She said they were "un-nerving". Another long downhill took us to the Spindrift Inn in Manzanita, our lodging for the night.


Janet: I walked a 7 mile loop from the fort to the campground and then back to the fort. It was a paved trail with no real views of the ocean. Not many people walking on the trail today. The Kestrel Dune trail section had a warning about cougars and it happen to be the section of the trail where I did not see another soul, but luckily I also did not see any cougars. Once back at the Fort, I walked around and in the buildings there. Found another trail “the Jetty Trail” and so headed down it. The trail had great views of the Columbia river and Trestle Bay. Finally, left the Fort at 4pm to head down the road. Along the way, there were some great views of the ocean and the fog bank that was rolling in.

Lodging at Spindrift motel in Manzanita. The motel suggested the Sunset Grill in Wheeler for dinner. Great fish dinners. We sat on the deck and watched the sunset over Nehalem Bay.