Biking alone from Bremerton to Astoria. Asking for advice.

[Inés]

Hello,

I am thinking about biking from Bremerton to Astoria by myself this July. I was wondering if I could get some advice and get some questions answered.

1. What's the weather like along this route? Does it get foggy, and/or windy?
2. Are there too isolated spots along the way or is it a busy route?
3. Is it easy to find camping spots?
4. Are there buses or trains easy to catch if I need to?
5. What do you recommend for a solo female traveler?

Thanks in advance!

Best.

[John Nelson]

Do you plan to follow the ACA Pacific Coast route? I recommend that you do. I assume that you’re not planning to go around Olympic National Park.

This should take you four or five days. There are ample campgrounds and little traffic. There is probably bus service from a few of the larger towns, such as Centralia, but I don’t have any specifics.

I doubt that you’ll encounter much fog or wind. But you’ll see lots of trees.

[msporty1]

Hi Inez,

I live in the Vancouver area and have done lots of bike touring and bikepacking.  Let me know if you would like to meet in person and chat.  I would be happy to help.

Madhuri
778’868’5408

[davidbonn]

This post was a very long time in the past, but I'd like to follow up:

• The Kitsap Peninsula (where B-town is located) is notorious for busy roads with poor shoulders.  In particular if you go S out of Bremerton to Belfair you will be putting a lot of miles on very busy roads with poor shoulder and poorer sight lines.
• Once you get around the 101 on the S end of Hood Canal your options open up and you can work your way on quieter roads.
• One option is to take quiet country roads from the 101 to Elma and Montesano and then take the 107 and reconnect to the 101 and the coast route there (N of Raymond).
• Another option is to go directly S from the 101, mostly on quiet country roads, and connect with the Willapa Hills Trail, which you can take directly to Raymond and get back on the 101.
• From Raymond you can mostly follow the 101, but an interesting and shorter alternative is to take the South Bend-Palix Road out of South Bend which reconnects to the 101 just N of Bay Center.  This road is mostly unpaved but in good shape and much more peaceful than the 101.
• Sections of 101 S of South Bend can have poor shoulder, especially along Willapa Bay.  Generally most of it is pretty good riding with generous shoulders, gentle grades, and good sight lines.
• The bridge at Astoria can be a very ugly experience.  Especially in poor weather or high winds.  You might do some research and call a taxi service in Astoria and see if they can shuttle you across the bridge.

Good resupply points are at Belfair, Montesano, Rochester, and South Bend.  There aren't any resupply options on route after South Bend until Chinook, which is only a few miles from Astoria.

Good camping options are Rainbow Falls State Park, Bruceport County Park, and Bush Pioneer Park.  There is also a KOA at Bay Center near Bush Pioneer Park that has limited supplies.

The Willapa Hills trail had some very scary high trestles without decking and you had to carefully push your bike across these spooky high trestles or reroute onto a section of Highway 7 with poor shoulders.  Those trestles have decking and are easily passable as of September 2023.  Some sections of the Willapa Hills trail are rough and poorly surfaced and can be mudpits in poor weather, especially the western sections of the trail.  A lot of these rough sections closely parallel highway 7 so it is easy to bounce onto the not-very-busy highway for short distances.  The trail dramatically improves in the last few miles into Raymond.

There are buses from Astoria that can get you back to Portland where you can catch a train back to Seattle and a ferry back to Bremerton.