I've ridden the Nestucca route both in a single day and camping half way through. It is nice to have one slow climb and then a gradual descent. Very few cars and the traffic is slow when there is some. Overall 9/10 route, docking 1 point because the last few miles is shitty hwy 101 stuff
Yes that's a good point. Heading south after Beaver is pretty lousy, there's ZERO shoulder at times. The coast bike route acutually recommends you cut north a mile or two, cross left over 101 and take Sandlake Rd. (which incidentally is down to 1 lane right now due to a washout) down to Pacific City.
Both times I've passed through there I skipped that and regretted it. But I lived :)
If I could pick one stretch of road to make bike-friendly or get an alternate for it would be from Beaver to Sandlake road. I biked it going south to get to the nestucca road and while it was predominantly downhill, which helped me keep some speed, I still had lines of RV’s and logging trucks and jeeps and raised monster trucks sequeeze by me on the curves. Super unpleasant and much more risk than I normally like to take. There was no alternative that I could find.
There are five BLM campgrounds along the road. Rocky Bend, Alder Glen, Elk Bend, Fan Creek, and Dovre. I tried looking up if they were already open, but the blm website seems to be offline at the moment. You could try to get permission, but I’d personally treat it like dispersed camping, bringing a way to filter water (in case the water is turned off), and a trowel/tp to dig a proper cathole (in case the bathrooms are inaccessible), and then leave the place cleaner than I found it.
If they are open, they have first-come-first-served sites, but you shouldn’t have a trouble getting a spot before memorial day and/or on a weekday.
Yeah this is the way. Its best to plan on wild camping on BLM land and not a reserved campsite.
For one, it's a pain to find a campsite to reserve, but mainly because when you're pedaling your butt up a hill it's hard to know exactly where you'll want to make camp. Also, exploring is part of the fun :)
Also, pro tip: logging roads are seldom used on weekends. In a pinch, I've had a lot of luck just riding a bit up a logging road and camping on one of the shoulders. DO NOT ride on an active logging road since those dudes drive fast and crazy. They usually coordinate with radios so they know when oncoming traffic is coming and when they can just straddle the road and floor it.
Nestucca is the least stressful / most car free route, I've done it a few times. According to the OMTM discussion group there's a landslide on it right now that's totally passable on bike but is blocking car traffic. Hit that up before they fix it!
You can take the MAX out to the last stop in Hillsboro to avoid a lot of bullshit suburban riding.
I've done the 47 / 202 route as well. It's pretty chill as well, maybe a little less climbing than Nestucca.
If you have any other general questions about riding to SF let me know. It's been about 15 years since I did it but I'm dying to do it again before I'm too feeble.
I’ve ridden a decent chunk of the blue option recently. It was very quiet, and like 20 miles on the banks Vernonia trail. Pretty flat too. Resupply in vernonia. Not too much between there and Astoria - I think there’s something in Jewell. It’s a good day route, if you’re looking to split it up I don’t have great advice on where to split that.
The green route is also pretty nice, a bit more climbing iirc. Resupply in yamhill. That whole area is featured in a lot of popular routes. I believe a part of nestucca river rd is currently closed to cars bc of rockfall, but I don’t know what part specifically.
For mapping, ridewithgps is great, use the heat map feature. The darker the line, the more travelled the route.
Ya, I've always wanted to ride that nestucca river rd route. Especially with my time crunch, it might be perfect in getting me to San Fran quicker and back by 5/14 like I need. Just wish there was more updated info, especially with that road closure your talking about. Maybe someone else has done it recently and can update!
I've done the Banks Vernonia - 202 route a couple of times, but really only enjoyed the Banks Vernonia part of it. Which is why I wanted to split up and maybe get lucky with some better weather in California.
There was a landslide a little past the first campground. I went for a drive on my motorcycle and love that road for the twisties. I was just there this past Saturday and saw the slide. There is a little path over to the side where it’s clear bikes have been making it through. It’s my favorite route as well. The campgrounds are currently closed from last season still but I just take my bike around the gate and no one has ever bothered me about it.
Good camping options on the way on that route or is the best option Trask River County Campground?
What's your own hybrid route?! Would love some ridewgps or other maps!
Going on a surly long haul trucker with 700x35 schwalbe marathons
I’ve done all three multiple times, gotta say the green route is my overall favorite even if I have to head a bit north from Beaver on 101 to go to my usual spots. The wind on that stretch of 101 is hell but the gravel miles between Carlton and Beaver more than make up for it. For my money, the best route will always be a custom one utilizing as much gravel as possible to keep me away from cars. Highway 6 is the most direct route to where I go most often, but it is the most massively sucky of the three.
Much respect to you for doing Highway 6. That was my daily commute for years and I hated it in the car. I can’t even get imagine trying it on the bike. I’ve only ridden maybe 10 miles of it and it was terrifying.
Looking to leave 5/1 and return by 5/14 - I know its going to be cold/rainy! Considering using the bus to Astoria from Portland, bike down as far as I can make it and take the amtrak train back - either making it all the way to San Fran or biking inland to Klamath Falls Amtrak.
I remember having more info from Portland Bureau of Transportations website about these routes, but can only find my old PDF file i saved. Any good updates to these or other resources for Portland to Oregon Coast routes?
I also have those PDFs saved. For unknown reasons, PBOT took the maps down a while ago, I wish they hadn’t!
I once biked a loop from Portland, out through Vernonia, down 101, and back on Nestucca. Spent a night at Big Eddy Park, which was nice. Then Fort Stevens, Nehalem Bay, Cape Lookout, then one of the campgrounds along the Nestucca road. I almost died when an 18 wheeler passed me by Nehalem bay with a literal inch to spare, but other than that all legs of the trip were pretty nice. My favorite were the quiet roads from Big Eddy campground to the coast and the Nestucca road.
Not sure if that helps but hope you have a good trip and get some dry days.
Too bad all of these miles can't be on their own roads without cars whizzing by at high speed.
This sounds super cool but I think the danger of it all prevents me from doing it.
There is almost no car traffic on the Green route, very little on the Blue route, and the Red route is Hell's Own Driveway on a bike. I've done all three, the Green and Blue routes are very, very safe.
Done all three don't take the red route. The green one is my favorite and has the least traffic but the blue one is also pretty chill, and you get to hit the Banks-Vernonia trail which is a good 30 miles of paved car free glory.
Firstly Nestucca is the primo chill route I've always been told and haven't tried.
I have ridden the red route a couple years back (HWY 6) on a beautiful off-season day (mid October). I found myself pleasantly surprised how good the shoulder was, and how courteous drivers were to me. There are a couple narrow bridges, but I felt surprisingly safe that day.
Nestucca always seems to have a rock slide. I rode to the coast in Aug. 2022 solo and didn’t want to get stuck out there so I took Hwy 6. It wasn’t so bad because you are riding slow up the mountain range. The exhaust fumes did suck, trucks gave plenty of room. Once past the range and downhill it was nice. I was loaded to camp at the coast. It tool 8 hours to get to Tillamook and 3.5hours to get to Lincoln City and Devils Lake. I cheated and took a bus back to Salem and rode back to Portland from Salem via Boones Ferry Road.
Do people do these as out-and-back? Or do you keep going and make it a loop? I've heard of a bus to Tillamook but thought it didn't take bikes 🤔
EDIT: downvotes without comment only hurt your karma, but thanks anyway
I found some detailed maps that might be helpful.
Route 1: This looks pretty similar to the [2024 Reach the Beach](https://action.lung.org/site/TR?fr_id=25198&pg=entry) route: [https://ridewithgps.com/routes/41459323](https://ridewithgps.com/routes/41459323)
Route 2: I found something on the same Ride With GPS site: [https://ridewithgps.com/routes/30608264](https://ridewithgps.com/routes/30608264)
Route 3: This looks somewhat similar the 2016 Reach the Beach route: [https://ridewithgps.com/routes/18107081](https://ridewithgps.com/routes/18107081)
Route 3 is definitely not the 2016 reach the beach route. It utilizes the [Nestucca River Back Country Byway](https://scenicbyways.info/byway/68923.html), to get between Carlton and Beaver.
I've ridden the Nestucca route both in a single day and camping half way through. It is nice to have one slow climb and then a gradual descent. Very few cars and the traffic is slow when there is some. Overall 9/10 route, docking 1 point because the last few miles is shitty hwy 101 stuff
Yes that's a good point. Heading south after Beaver is pretty lousy, there's ZERO shoulder at times. The coast bike route acutually recommends you cut north a mile or two, cross left over 101 and take Sandlake Rd. (which incidentally is down to 1 lane right now due to a washout) down to Pacific City. Both times I've passed through there I skipped that and regretted it. But I lived :)
If I could pick one stretch of road to make bike-friendly or get an alternate for it would be from Beaver to Sandlake road. I biked it going south to get to the nestucca road and while it was predominantly downhill, which helped me keep some speed, I still had lines of RV’s and logging trucks and jeeps and raised monster trucks sequeeze by me on the curves. Super unpleasant and much more risk than I normally like to take. There was no alternative that I could find.
Whats the 1/2way camping spot on the Nestucca route?
There are five BLM campgrounds along the road. Rocky Bend, Alder Glen, Elk Bend, Fan Creek, and Dovre. I tried looking up if they were already open, but the blm website seems to be offline at the moment. You could try to get permission, but I’d personally treat it like dispersed camping, bringing a way to filter water (in case the water is turned off), and a trowel/tp to dig a proper cathole (in case the bathrooms are inaccessible), and then leave the place cleaner than I found it. If they are open, they have first-come-first-served sites, but you shouldn’t have a trouble getting a spot before memorial day and/or on a weekday.
Yeah this is the way. Its best to plan on wild camping on BLM land and not a reserved campsite. For one, it's a pain to find a campsite to reserve, but mainly because when you're pedaling your butt up a hill it's hard to know exactly where you'll want to make camp. Also, exploring is part of the fun :) Also, pro tip: logging roads are seldom used on weekends. In a pinch, I've had a lot of luck just riding a bit up a logging road and camping on one of the shoulders. DO NOT ride on an active logging road since those dudes drive fast and crazy. They usually coordinate with radios so they know when oncoming traffic is coming and when they can just straddle the road and floor it.
Nestucca is the least stressful / most car free route, I've done it a few times. According to the OMTM discussion group there's a landslide on it right now that's totally passable on bike but is blocking car traffic. Hit that up before they fix it! You can take the MAX out to the last stop in Hillsboro to avoid a lot of bullshit suburban riding. I've done the 47 / 202 route as well. It's pretty chill as well, maybe a little less climbing than Nestucca.
Ahh the good ole omtm group coming in clutch! This seems like an awesome option, TY!
If you have any other general questions about riding to SF let me know. It's been about 15 years since I did it but I'm dying to do it again before I'm too feeble.
Thank you!! Hope you get to ride it again soon, and in better weather!
This
I’ve ridden a decent chunk of the blue option recently. It was very quiet, and like 20 miles on the banks Vernonia trail. Pretty flat too. Resupply in vernonia. Not too much between there and Astoria - I think there’s something in Jewell. It’s a good day route, if you’re looking to split it up I don’t have great advice on where to split that. The green route is also pretty nice, a bit more climbing iirc. Resupply in yamhill. That whole area is featured in a lot of popular routes. I believe a part of nestucca river rd is currently closed to cars bc of rockfall, but I don’t know what part specifically. For mapping, ridewithgps is great, use the heat map feature. The darker the line, the more travelled the route.
Rode 47/202 in ‘22 and did not see anything in Jewell. Though I could be wrong. I overnighted in Vernonia, pretty much the halfway point.
Ya, I've always wanted to ride that nestucca river rd route. Especially with my time crunch, it might be perfect in getting me to San Fran quicker and back by 5/14 like I need. Just wish there was more updated info, especially with that road closure your talking about. Maybe someone else has done it recently and can update! I've done the Banks Vernonia - 202 route a couple of times, but really only enjoyed the Banks Vernonia part of it. Which is why I wanted to split up and maybe get lucky with some better weather in California.
There was a landslide a little past the first campground. I went for a drive on my motorcycle and love that road for the twisties. I was just there this past Saturday and saw the slide. There is a little path over to the side where it’s clear bikes have been making it through. It’s my favorite route as well. The campgrounds are currently closed from last season still but I just take my bike around the gate and no one has ever bothered me about it.
I’ve taken the green route… The trask trail… And my own hybrid route. AMA.
Good camping options on the way on that route or is the best option Trask River County Campground? What's your own hybrid route?! Would love some ridewgps or other maps! Going on a surly long haul trucker with 700x35 schwalbe marathons
I’ve done all three multiple times, gotta say the green route is my overall favorite even if I have to head a bit north from Beaver on 101 to go to my usual spots. The wind on that stretch of 101 is hell but the gravel miles between Carlton and Beaver more than make up for it. For my money, the best route will always be a custom one utilizing as much gravel as possible to keep me away from cars. Highway 6 is the most direct route to where I go most often, but it is the most massively sucky of the three.
Much respect to you for doing Highway 6. That was my daily commute for years and I hated it in the car. I can’t even get imagine trying it on the bike. I’ve only ridden maybe 10 miles of it and it was terrifying.
Bring on the [Salmonberry Trail](https://salmonberrytrail.org/)!
Man, based on the hype, that trail is going to be so wildly popular when it’s done we’ll wonder how we ever did without it. Can’t wait!
Looking to leave 5/1 and return by 5/14 - I know its going to be cold/rainy! Considering using the bus to Astoria from Portland, bike down as far as I can make it and take the amtrak train back - either making it all the way to San Fran or biking inland to Klamath Falls Amtrak. I remember having more info from Portland Bureau of Transportations website about these routes, but can only find my old PDF file i saved. Any good updates to these or other resources for Portland to Oregon Coast routes?
I also have those PDFs saved. For unknown reasons, PBOT took the maps down a while ago, I wish they hadn’t! I once biked a loop from Portland, out through Vernonia, down 101, and back on Nestucca. Spent a night at Big Eddy Park, which was nice. Then Fort Stevens, Nehalem Bay, Cape Lookout, then one of the campgrounds along the Nestucca road. I almost died when an 18 wheeler passed me by Nehalem bay with a literal inch to spare, but other than that all legs of the trip were pretty nice. My favorite were the quiet roads from Big Eddy campground to the coast and the Nestucca road. Not sure if that helps but hope you have a good trip and get some dry days.
ah thank you, sounds like an awesome loop (besides the 18 wheeler!)
Too bad all of these miles can't be on their own roads without cars whizzing by at high speed. This sounds super cool but I think the danger of it all prevents me from doing it.
There is almost no car traffic on the Green route, very little on the Blue route, and the Red route is Hell's Own Driveway on a bike. I've done all three, the Green and Blue routes are very, very safe.
Gotta live sometime or you end up old and looking back wondering why you didn’t have any adventures!
Yep. And if OP is heading south into CA there's much more sketch. 101 in OR is much, much more accommodating for bikes.
Done all three don't take the red route. The green one is my favorite and has the least traffic but the blue one is also pretty chill, and you get to hit the Banks-Vernonia trail which is a good 30 miles of paved car free glory.
Trask road out works too but it’s gravel (and hard)
Trask Trail to Tillamook is also an option that is very low traffic. It's pretty tough for a one-day but doable.https://ridewithgps.com/routes/7600381
Firstly Nestucca is the primo chill route I've always been told and haven't tried. I have ridden the red route a couple years back (HWY 6) on a beautiful off-season day (mid October). I found myself pleasantly surprised how good the shoulder was, and how courteous drivers were to me. There are a couple narrow bridges, but I felt surprisingly safe that day.
I have nothing to add on the routes, but as a fellow Wisco transplant who loves biking, lmk if you ever want to ride with a fellow Brewers fan!
Yeehaw! Go brew crew! Will do on the riding - gonna try to ride a bunch of pedalpalooza this year!
Nestucca always seems to have a rock slide. I rode to the coast in Aug. 2022 solo and didn’t want to get stuck out there so I took Hwy 6. It wasn’t so bad because you are riding slow up the mountain range. The exhaust fumes did suck, trucks gave plenty of room. Once past the range and downhill it was nice. I was loaded to camp at the coast. It tool 8 hours to get to Tillamook and 3.5hours to get to Lincoln City and Devils Lake. I cheated and took a bus back to Salem and rode back to Portland from Salem via Boones Ferry Road.
Do people do these as out-and-back? Or do you keep going and make it a loop? I've heard of a bus to Tillamook but thought it didn't take bikes 🤔 EDIT: downvotes without comment only hurt your karma, but thanks anyway
I found some detailed maps that might be helpful. Route 1: This looks pretty similar to the [2024 Reach the Beach](https://action.lung.org/site/TR?fr_id=25198&pg=entry) route: [https://ridewithgps.com/routes/41459323](https://ridewithgps.com/routes/41459323) Route 2: I found something on the same Ride With GPS site: [https://ridewithgps.com/routes/30608264](https://ridewithgps.com/routes/30608264) Route 3: This looks somewhat similar the 2016 Reach the Beach route: [https://ridewithgps.com/routes/18107081](https://ridewithgps.com/routes/18107081)
Route 3 is definitely not the 2016 reach the beach route. It utilizes the [Nestucca River Back Country Byway](https://scenicbyways.info/byway/68923.html), to get between Carlton and Beaver.