Hi everyone!
I'm new to this forum/ACA in general, but have been an avid bike tourer for the last few years. This coming May, my partner and I will go on a new adventure through the US: it'll be my first time on a bike trip there, and it will be both her first time in the US and on a long bike trip in general. This means we could really use some advice with regards to the route and some general travel tips!
First off, we have about four to five weeks; four would be ideal as that would give us enough time to visit some relatives in LA with enough time to spare. We are both in our late twenties and reasonably fit: I toured with full luggage before, going through mountain passes of 2000m+ (~6500ft), but my partner has not, so we'll have to take into account that she might need some time to adjust. I expect us to average about 50 miles per day, less in the first week, hopefully more a little later on. We're looking to do a combination of (wild) camping (let's say about 75% of the time), couchsurfing/warm showers (about 15% of the time), and hotels/motels/B&Bs etc. (about 10%).
This brings me to the first question: What are, or how can I find, the rules and regulations with regards to wild camping for the states of Washington, Oregon, and California? Is it legal in certain circumstances, or generally accepted?
We had in mind to start off with the Pacific Coast trail, then depending on how things go, perhaps cross over to the Sierra Cascades route around Eugene, finally heading to SF over the Western Express trail. We both have a strong preference for this route as it would give us about a week of generally easy terrain before taking on the challenge of going through the mountains and we would get a lot of variety in scenery. However, I do wonder if it would be 'too much' within the time we have, and we'd have to see how my partner adjusts to going on a bike tour for longer than a few days (the most she has done so far).
What are the general experiences of people who have done (parts of) these routes before? I saw that the Sierra Cascades route will probably still be partially closed around May (around Crater Lake at least as far as I saw:
https://www.nps.gov/crla/planyourvisit/hours.htm), so we would have to take some small detours. Does anyone know of any alternative routes? How difficult is crossing over the Cascades around Eugene really, and how about the route that follows after that? I'm also wondering how much water we'd have to carry (or most miles/km in between water points).
Lastly, does anyone know if we could rent a car in SF to carry the bikes to LA with? Or would it be better to take a Greyhound/train? Ideally we'd rent a car with bike rack on the back, but I haven't been able to find anything like that online.
And of course, any other feedback/ideas/tips/questions would be most welcome. It'll be my first time taking a bike on a flight as well (used to just buy/sell/rent at the destination) so advice on that would be much appreciated.
A lot of questions as you can see, so thanks so much for any help!
Cheers!
Jochem
The Netherlands