Eric's Bike Adventure 1995

Trip Log Part 4: Carl Washburne State Park to Scottsburg

• Carl Washburne to Scottsburg, Wednesday, July 19, 1995

  

  Ah, morning. Time to eat again! I decided to pedal with Wayne and Jonathan again, and we all got a pretty late start on the day. Another overcast cool morning for riding. More gorgeous coastline, a good view of a lighthouse, and the only tunnel of my trip.

  

  The first stop was a little before the Sea Lion Caves (you see bumper stickers for the Sea Lion Caves all the way up the coast). The clouds were starting to break, and we got a great view of this rocky slope that hundreds of sea lions were sunbathing on. You couldn't tell at first that it was covered in sea lions, but Wayne pulled out his binoculars and it was impressive. I took a picture, even though I knew I couldn't get enough zoom to show the sea lions. At the bottom of the slope, there was about half a dozen more sea lions, all trying to catch a wave that was big enough to launch them onto the slope, over and over, trying all the waves, until they finally make it.

  

  Then, pedal up the hill and stop at the Sea Lions Cave tourist attraction. (My original description was corrected by e-mail from the "Sea Lion Caves" Assistant Manager, Tom Douglass, sealion@pioneer.net. He writes: "Sea Lion Caves has been in business since 1932. During this time we have had millions of satisfied customers. We prefer to be called a tourist attraction - not a tourist trap. We don't have any traps here - for people or sea lions.")

  A couple touring bicycles were parked outside, including a tandem with a trailer. We three decided we didn't need to pay money to see a big cave filled with sea lions, but did get a snack. The tandem belonged to a retired couple who were out for a 6 month cycling tour, going north up the coast, the opposite direction from almost everyone else. We also saw Jack, a retired carpenter from Pennsylvania out on a tour by himself. He had also been at Devil's Lake State Park, where I first camped on the coast. It seemed he had to take a smoke every time he was stopped, but it was good to see him out pedaling too. Touring cyclists seem to make up a sort of social group, something that doesn't happen when you vacation by car. Almost anyplace you go and run into other touring cyclists, you end up talking to them. For a route like the Pacific Coast route, you end up seeing some of the same people a lot of times.

  

  The most unexpected thing to see on this stretch of coast was a small park with a bunch of Darlingtonia Californica, California pitcher plants. There was a sign to the Darlingtonia Botanical Gardens, and Jonathan said he wanted to check them out, since he has been doing some gardening at home. We didn't expect a natural garden of pitcher plants in a small marsh amongst all the trees. Very cool. I hadn't known that we had carnivorous plants out here.

  After that stop, we ventured down into Florence, the next big town. Here, we stopped at the bike shop; Wayne needed a new brake cable housing. Total cost: 40 cents. And when Wayne said they could keep the change from his two quarters, the bike shop people seemed confused. I think Wayne convinced them it was a tip. They didn't have the size screw I needed for my pedal. What little blue sky had sown up was covered by clouds coming in again. We biked across town, and had lunch in the old, touristy part of Florence, next to the Siuslaw River. Pretty good chicken sandwich, and a great view of the boats poking down the river. The Coast Guard boat we saw go downriver, and then tow another boat back up, looked a lot more expensive (or at least cleaner and shinier) than pretty much all the other boats out on the river. By this time, we had gone 17 miles, and it was already 3:30. I was aiming to get to my grandmother's and aunt's today, so bid farewell to Wayne and Jonathan, and kept going. They were going to take a slow day, and hang out in Florence some more.

  My ride continued well. While overcast, the wind wasn't bad, and the temperature was good. At the top of climbing the hill before Gardiner, however, it started drizzling. Then it got a little heavier. This wasn't in the plan, but it was pleasant summer rain. I donned my rain gear, and continued down the hill. It stopped raining in Reedsport, only an hour or two after it had started. Considering it was the only rain of the trip, it wasn't that bad at all.

  Upon arriving in Reedsport around 6pm, I called my grandmother, to let her know I hadn't been run over, and was still on my way. I got the directions to the hospital, so I could see my aunt Georganne on my way in. She's an Emergency Medical Technician at the hospital, and this may be the first time I've gotten to actually talk with her. She thought my ride was crazy. She also made sure to tell me about the cyclist that got hit by a truck up at Cape Perpetua earlier that day. The last cyclist in a touring group (I think I had actually passed this group right before Florence) was clipped by a ladder that wasn't folded all the way back into the truck carrying it. Minor scrapes, and no serious injuries, but it does remind you about the dangers of being on a busy road. She had a 6:30 meeting, so I left the hospital, grabbed some food, and then started inland along Highway 38, which runs next to the Umpqua River.

  

  It's about 20 miles from Reedsport to my relatives' place, out in next to Scottsburg, in the middle of nowhere. The river is a big lazy river, so the route was pretty flat. There is a great elk viewing park on the side of the road, a couple miles inland. The elk were hiding from where you could park a car, but they left a pretty good view if you were on a bike. The herd had bunched into two groups, one of bucks, and the other of all the other elk. The other noticeable site along the river valley is the effect of logging. They say that logging is a renewable resource, but the way that large swaths of the ecosystem have just been ripped down is disturbing to see. On the last stretch of road before I'm done, a pair of young women in a red pickup truck tooted their horn at me, and I waved back. Wonder if they were cyclists, or just wanted to encourage the crazy bicyclist. The last quarter mile, and I've made it!

  

  It was past 8:30, and Georganne pulled in less than a minute after I did. Time to unload some stuff, take a shower, yap for a bit, then off to bed. I was beat. Time for a good night's sleep.

  Day total: 62.9 miles, Trip total: 230.8