Paul's Bike Riding Pages

Out through Philomath and Wren. Cloudy but warm, with the sun peeking through. Took the road bike to see how it felt after a week on the Trucker. Fist thing I noticed is how much harder you have to squeeze the brakes without disk brakes. Started out kind of slow but picked up as I went. Didn't take Maxfield Cr. Rd. but instead went on to Peede. After crossing the Luckiamute in Kings Valley the road starts to climb again. Several climbs and fast downhills. After Pedee you take Maple Grove Rd. At this point it's only 14 miles from Monmouth.

Mary's River

The foliage along the river banks is now nice and green. Much prettier than Winter pictures.

Maxfield Creek

The old church at Maxfield Creek Rd. I didn't go that way this time although I usually do.

The Luckiamute River

I finally found out the pronunciation, which is Luck-A-Mute

Reiner Creek Covered Bridge.

A very nicely restored covered bridge over Reiner Creek. Picnic tables inside and a very nice view of the Luckiamute River.

Gave trucker 2 a good shake down ride today. I wanted to see what the route was like on the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway going north from Albany. Getting through Albany was a pain and between Albany and Jefferson the route crossed several very busy roads. Then once your on Scravel Hill road there are some hills and nicer country. Coming into Jefferson you cross the Santiam River. North of Jefferson everything quiets down and the riding gets mellow.

Trucker 2 and the Willamette

First stop at Hyak Park near Albany

Giant Grape Vine

This was on Talbot road north of Jefferson. It looked like a giant Anaconda

Giant Grape 2

Looking the other way down the giant grape vine. It was at least 60 feet long

Mustard Field

Trucker 2 by a field of mustard. It really smelled good riding by this.

Buena Vista Ferry

The ferry was still not running. I was told it is usually running by now, but I guess the water is still too high.

Independence Park

By the Willamette in Independence park

Buena Vista

30 miles later looking back across to the ferry.

Up over Sulphur Spriings and down Soap Creek. Across on Sprighill and back on Riverside. Warm and sunny. Got down to just a short sleeve jersey. Nice.

Blueberry Farm

Large Blueberry field on Riverside looking out to the Coast Range

40 years ago I lived 10 miles up the Yachats River, so I was pretty excited to have a chance to ride there. It was cool and quite windy at the beach so I didn't know what to expect but the wind was offshore so if it kept up at lest it would be at my back on the way in. Turned out to be much warmed as soon as I got a couple miles in from the coast, which was exactly how I remembered it. Nothing much had changed in 40 years and the valley was just as idyllic as I remembered it. Almost jungle like in its lushness, it's both green and rugged.

The Yachats River

Looking down stream about halfway up the valley

Grass and Trees

All of the ridges were well timbered in many stages of growth. Logging is still king out here..

Elk Pasture

40 years ago I had a close encounter with an Elk herd very close to this spot. Very impressive.

Lush Grass

This is part of the Elk pasture, which was the lushest grass in the valley.

North Fork Yachats River

The north fork joins the main river at 8 miles up.

School Creek

At 11 miles up this creek hits the river. From here the road climbs into the mountains.

Every year on my birthday I set out to ride my years in miles. This year I decided to try and ride to the coast on highway 34. The forecast was for a sunny day and sure enough the day dawned bright, sunny, and cold! I knew it would warm up soon enough so I got going at 9:30 ready for a long day. Linda would be following in the car and we'd be staying the weekend in Yachats,, so this would be a one way ride.

Waldport 58 miles

I'd be taking hwy 34 to Waldport. I already had almost 10 miles by now so I knew I'd be going over my target of 64 miles.

Alsea Mt. Summit

I reached the summit at 18 miles. Looking forward to 50 miles of almost all downhill!

North Fork Alsea River

From here to the coast I'd be following the Alsea river and watching it grow.

Alsea River near Salmonberry camp

Once the North and South forks join the Alsea starts to pick up volumes

Salmonberry Park.

My lunch spot at Salmonberry park. Linda would meet me here for lunch. I was really warm and sunny by now.

The Siuslaw National Forrest

The Siuslaw National Forrest stretches through the heart of the coast range from Florence to Newport

Alsea River

At 5 Rivers Road. 20 miles to go.

Alsea River

By now the Alsea was turning into a might river.

Alsea Bay

Made it to the ocean! I could only imagine the feeling of seeing the ocean after riding coast-to-coast.

It stopped raining and by early afternoon the sun was peaking through. Went in to town to test ride a LHT. After so much rain the rivers were flooding all of the low land.

High Water on the WIllamette

The Willamette River at flood levels

Mary's River

Mary's River as it empties into the Willamette

High Water on the Bike Path

The bike path was not passable

Flooding in Philomath

This is the intersection of Chapel and Fern in Philomath about 100 yards from the Mary's River.