Portland, OR to Pacific Coast Trail

[aggie]

Plan on taking Amtrak to Portland and then riding south on the Pacific Coast Trail.  What is the best way to get from Downtown Portland to the trail?

[JHamelman]

You could use Lewis & Clark Section 7 to Astoria:

http://www.adventurecycling.org/store/index.cfm/product/48_5/lewis--clark-section-7.cfm

Or look at what resources Portland has online:

http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?c=36638

Good luck and have fun!

.Jennifer.

[bikeflu]

You can take highway 30 from Portland to Astoria. It has a wide shoulder and is signed as a bike route. It's not a very scenic route for the most part and when I rode it there was a lot of traffic, but it's a nice ride. It's pretty flat and fast until you get to Rainier where it gets a bit hilly. It's easily doable in a day, but there are several towns along the way, most of which have places to camp and/or hotels if you want to break it up.

[John Nelson]

Or, if you prefer, you can take the bus from Portland to Astoria, Seaside or Cannon Beach. The fare is $18 to Astoria, and $17 to the other two towns. The bus leaves directly from the Amtrak statoin. They even have on-board Wi-Fi. Quite a comfortable bus.

http://www.northwest-point.com/

[adventurepdx]

You can also take the Wave bus from Portland Union Station (Amtrak) to Tillamook. $10 one way, 2 round-trips weekdays/Saturday, one Sunday.
http://www.tillamookbus.com/route-schedules.htm#portland

As for riding to the Coast, I HIGHLY recommend the Hillsboro-Astoria route to the Coast.  Hillsboro is a western suburb or Portland that can be reached by MAX light rail.  It's a 100 mile ride, low traffic, beautiful scenery!
http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?&a=316549&c=36638
http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?&a=316550&c=36638

[jeff s]

exactly what adventurepdx said.  This is the way to get to the north coast by bike.  If you're not bent on getting to Astoria in particular, than the Nestucca River route out of Carlton (reaches the coast north of Lincoln City) is also a scenic, splendid, low-traffic choice.