On May 13th, I began my journey via bicycle from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast along the Trans American Trail with my pal Jenny. We biked through torrential rainfall, blistering heat, the bitter cold, and some of the most beautiful countryside that this country has to offer. It was a challenging feat for both the mind and the body but a challenge that I was more than happy to take on.
The Trans American Trail runs 4, 288 miles from Yorktown, Virginia to Astoria, Oregon. We choose to make an alternate route near the end of the trail. Instead of cutting north through the middle of Oregon to reach Astoria, we decided to bike across the middle of the state to reach the coastal town of Florence. Then we would bike 200 or so miles up the coast on highway 101, before finally reaching our destination on the 25th of July.
A week or two prior to the end of our journey, Jenny and I entered into our tenth and final state, Oregon. Jenny awoke the next morning to a man asking her if she wanted an omelet, I awoke to her saying yes but that she was sleeping. I waited for the stranger to leave and then I made my move from my shelter to the world to find out more. He returned with his wife, another omelet and some hot chocolate. Just the night before I had mentioned really needing a shower. as it had been a while. So, you can imagine my delight when the nice couple also offered to let us use their shower!
A friend I made hiking along the Appalachian Trail last year, Cous Cous and his friend Alex made the drive up from Nevada to come kick it with us for a weekend. Jenny and I biked 60 miles to a church in Dayville, where we stashed our bikes and they picked us up. During the ride there I had noticed my back tire being a little soft, hoping it just needed air and it wasn’t a flat I pumped some air into it and continued on the way. Alas, upon arrival at the church it was flat again, I had officially gotten my first flat tire. I was hoping to make it across the whole country without getting a flat but I was pretty darn grateful I had made it this far without getting one.
When they arrived we all went to the nearby national forest and camped for a couple of nights. We found two beautiful campsites overlooking the surrounding mountains with no other humans even remotely close to us. It was a wonderful time of catching up and doing nothing but appreciating the stillness and beauty of the surrounding forests and mountains. We watched a very small ant attack and kill a much larger fly and drag him back to his home. We also watched a beautiful sun set in the west as a treacherous storm rolled in from the east in company of a beautiful double rainbow.
The following day Cous Cous and Alex dropped us off back at the church where we did some laundry, and made some pancakes and coffee before continuing our journey westward. We made it to Mitchell, Oregon that day, where we had been hearing about the Spoken Hostel for a couple states now. Another one of my trail friends, Firefly, knowing how far a little comfort can go, bought Jenny and I a bunk in the hostel and treated me to my dinner that evening, bless her soul!!! The hostel was very unique and cozy, complete with continental breakfast, free ice cream, curtains for each bunk, and much more!
The following days brought on a couple good mountain passes, one of them being Mckenzies Pass, which brought us up and over the Cascades. It was intriguing to see vegetation slowly beginning to grow upon the lava fields that claimed the miles around the top of the pass. The road crossed paths with the Pacific Crest Trail which means that I will have the opportunity to be back there and have much more time to explore the beauty of that area more in depth.
We stayed with a warm showers host in Eugene, Oregon and after whipping up a dozen eggs and seven servings of hash browns in the morning we made our break to the coast. After 70 or so miles and a quick stop at a natural rock water slide that was smooth enough for you to go down without any aid from floaties, we made it to the coastal town of Florence. The ocean still wasn’t exactly accessible so we continued up highway 101 for ten-fifteen miles, a bit further than I would have liked, before we found a place to dip our toes in the ocean and call home for the night.
It was quite the experience seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time, especially after crossing an entire continent to do so. It was the end of a beautiful day with clear blue skys that melted right into the ocean. We set up in a little cove on the beach with just a few trees standing in the way of the ocean. It would’ve been the perfect spot except for the ranger that woke us up just after the sun had finished setting and told us that we needed to leave. We grudgingly packed up our things, loaded up our bikes, and went across the street where we found a trailhead. We pushed our bikes up a little way and found a nice flat part of the trail and slept there for the remainder of the night.
The Pacific Coast has many steep ups and many steep downs, but it was a welcome trial. It’s awesome to feel the strength and capability of my body. Hills that would have slayed me just a couple of months ago, I now conquered without skipping a beat. Along with the steepness, highway 101 brings high winds and a heavy flow of traffic, so I wasn’t quite sure if the reroute was going to be worth it. My first glance of the ocean, however, and I knew It would be. Having the ability to take a break on the ocean at any point in the day, being able to cycle next to it, and finding spots to camp right on it every night made up for all traffic and gnarly head winds.
We successfully camped on the ocean the next few nights without being caught. Our final night was perhaps one of the best camp sites of the summer, on a beautiful cliff overlooking the ocean with a magnificent panoramic view of the Oregon coastline. After a very lazy morning soaking up the last sunrise of our journey we made it to Astoria around two o’clock. We cut across the middle of Astoria to get to our victory ice cream parlor, thinking it would be shorter than going around. The distance may have been shorter, but I forgot to take terrain into account and we ended up ascending some of the steepest hills that we have encountered across the whole dang country. After that comical nightmare, I spent an unreasonable amount of money on an unsatisfying amount of ice cream. We celebrated again with some delicious Indian food later for dinner.
The following morning Jenny and I said our good byes as we parted ways. She was going to ride to Portland where she would fly out, heading back to Michigan. My trail friend, Hoops, who had been driving around the country living in her car for the past month, picked me up from Astoria and we headed up to Olympic National Park for a week. After that, I got a bus from Seattle to Montana where my dad had been vacationing. I then bummed a ride off of him back to Michigan, stopping at Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands for a couple of nights before making it back home.
I spent a portion of my free time this summer reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau, making sure I read it “Thoreau-ghly”. I want to leave you with one of my favorite passages from his book. “I learned this at least by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours”.
Much love,
Lynne Wummel
