6 week trip from Seattle to San Francisco

[alessandra]

Hello,
I plan to travel by bike from WA to CA next september, starting from Seattle to end in San Francisco. This is the general idea, but I need some help for the details.
I would like to combine three cycling routes: the Olympic lap, the Pacific Coast and the Sierra Cascades.
I only have 6 weeks and I can ride in average 50 miles per day. So I can count on about 1500 miles.
Olympic and Seattle are mandatory for me, but for the rest I don't know what to choose: everybody says the Oregon coast is beautiful, but that would mean I shall say goodbye to Mount Rainer, maybe Crater Lake, Lassen Volcanic...
My priority: great landscapes. Last year I've travelled from Montana to Arizona thru the Parks, so the competition is rude! But I know that in the US there is more, (maybe not better).
Would you advise to take a transport to switch some not so interesting area, to spare energy and miles to reach Yosemite? Is that possible (to take a bus or something)? I would arrive there at the end of september, sounds a good time.

Please, let me know what you think about it, and see you soon on the routes!
ciao,
alessandra

[John Nettles]

When you say "next September", if that means September 2017, please note that the PC route thru the Big Sur area (great scenery) is closed until about late September due to recent mudslides taking out roads and bridges.  Anything in WA, OR, ID and western MT is usually very scenic.  Further south you get on the PC, the more urban it gets.  Hope this helps at least somewhat in your planning.  Best, John

[zzzz]

Alessandra:

I have done the Sierra Cascades but have not done the Pacific Coast route. That said, I think the general outline of your trip is pretty obvious.

There seems to be 100% agreement that the way to do the Pacific Coast route is north to south. They say there is a very consistent prevailing wind out of the north and the ocean is on the correct side for your best and most consistent views. So you start up north and ride down the PC until Mendicino County or maybe even till San Fransisco , then you make a left and head to Lassen or if you went all the way down to San Francisco you go over to Tahoe and then head north on the SC.

That's the big picture, now you have to dial in what gets you to around 1500 miles. Maybe you want to start the PC in Oregon and just finish in Seattle. You can also cut the top part of the SC off and go directly from Mt Ranier to Seattle and save yourself 300-400 miles and not miss a lot of great stuff.


Pete

[alessandra]

Up-dating my plan.
I definitely want to see Yosemite, it's a chance I can't miss, to see it in september and avoid the summer crowds.
But six weeks are not enough to do it all by bike. So I plan to make two different stretches:

1) Washington+Oregon: Olympic, the coast down to Astoria: some advice for somenthing more? NOrth Cascades/Mount Rainier/Mount St Helens/more Pacific Coast?

2) Crater Lake (I can take the Coast STarlight to Chemult), Sierra Cascade to Lake Tahoe+Yosemite, Kings? Sequoia (but the stretch approaching Yosemite seems strenuous)

or Crater Lake-Redwood NP, up again to Lessen Volcanic and/or some transport to Yosemite?

Maybe the best is to go to Lake Tahoe, go down to Sonora and take a Yarts bus?

[indyfabz]

Crater Lake can be quite nice in September. Rode up to it twice (once from Diamond Lake and once from Fort Klamath), around and down during two Cycle Oregons. If you do go around the lake definitely go out to Cloud Cap Overlook. IMO, best view of the lake. If you head to Prospect from there, the descent it fun.

[adventurepdx]

1) Washington+Oregon: Olympic, the coast down to Astoria: some advice for somenthing more? NOrth Cascades/Mount Rainier/Mount St Helens/more Pacific Coast?

• Olympic is worth it if you make the side trips, so I would plan on it if you went that way. Otherwise, the ride along 101 is pleasant but not that spectacular.
• North Cascades is very much a "backcountry" park. There's not much to do right off the highway (though the ride itself it beautiful.) But if you went that way, would you ride up to Rainy/Washington, then turn around? Or go further and loop back around?
• Rainier is great, and riding to Paradise is beautiful. But traffic on the routes to and from Seattle gets busy, especially on weekends. And the campgrounds get packed.
• St Helens would be more of an out and back trip, unless you planned on looping around the east side. If you did Rainier, that would be a feasible option.

However, the more stuff you add on in Washington, the further you get from the coast.

2) Crater Lake (I can take the Coast STarlight to Chemult)...

There is a stop at Chemult, but I'm not sure that you can get the bike on/off there. You can at Klamath Falls.

[alessandra]

I'l still working on my itinerary.
I'm finally going to skip Olympics, everybody says it's really rainy, and not particularly interesting by bike.

I plan to  follow a stretch of the SC on my way from Auburn to Portland (see below)
I was thinking about riding east of Mount Rainier and don't enter the Park and avoid the way up to Paradise. It would take too long if I want to ride all the way to San Francisco.
Do you think it's worth going to Paradise anyway (knowing that I won't be equipped for hiking), and rather catch a bus/train somewhere, or I'll have enough view of mount Rainer from the route?

https://www.google.fr/maps/dir/Auburn,+Washington,+Stati+Uniti/Packwood,+Washington,+Stati+Uniti/Randle,+Washington,+Stati+Uniti/Carson,+Washington,+Stati+Uniti/Portland,+Oregon,+Stati+Uniti/@46.4115281,-123.216882,8z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m37!4m36!1m10!1m1!1s0x54905876323cc865:0x96a0cd5e9fbe32fd!2m2!1d-122.2284532!2d47.3073228!3m4!1m2!1d-121.5888586!2d47.0992759!3s0x5490be8681ea2181:0x9a9ae0821fad119b!1m5!1m1!1s0x549727e1c901c2b1:0xe6dc08c91c029cae!2m2!1d-121.6706437!2d46.606501!1m5!1m1!1s0x5496cf96b4d79c09:0x136cc84c3d640fe4!2m2!1d-121.9572497!2d46.535335!1m5!1m1!1s0x5495dfbe21aa9a7d:0xcffb435ba3784379!2m2!1d-121.8188307!2d45.7255968!1m5!1m1!1s0x54950b0b7da97427:0x1c36b9e6f6d18591!2m2!1d-122.6764816!2d45.5230622!3e1

[alessandra]

Unfortunately I must make a choice, I won't have enough time to do all I hoped.

What do you think?
The Oregon Coast (Astoria to Florence) or Crater Lake (than I'll go down to the coast in Redwood NP)?
I can't made up my mind and give up Crater Lake, but everybody say the Oregon coast is magnificent.

In any case, I'll go down the California Coast all way from Redwood to SF, do you think that I'll have enough of the coast in CA and it's worth giving up the OR and go up to Crater Lake?