Day 10--ASTORIA BRIDGE!

September 14, 2000
Bay Center, WA to Fort Stevens, OR

A day not soon forgotten. We cycled very flat terrain around a good deal of the remainder of Willapa Bay. About noon we met Will Grover from Austin, TX. He is cycling the coast from Vancouver to San Diego; then cutting east and back to Austin. We leap frogged each other all day. We shared lunch outside a little market called (I kid you not) Okies where Will took a photo of the mutha/dauta reflector cut-outs on our helmets.

Difficult to see the "Mutha" and "Dauta" reflective names on our helmets; yes, that's Okies in the background, probably established by Oklahomans who moved west during the Dust Bowl

We had brisk headwinds all day, but when we rounded the headlands before the Astoria Bridge, we were nearly stopped in our tracks by the strong gusts. The Columbia River was whitecaps, the breaking crests of which were carried to the roadway. Jess and I had just decided to try to hitch a ride across this 4.5-mile-long bridge when a pickup pulled up and offered us a ride. We hadn’t even stuck out our thumbs. We immediately accepted.

The Columbia River (Astoria) Bridge, also known as the Astoria-Megler Bridge is just over four miles long (21,474 feet), and is the longest bridge in Oregon. The main span is a 2,468-foot steel cantilever through truss, and is flanked by five steel deck trusses, one hundred forty 80-foot concrete deck girder spans, and, at the Washington end of the bridge, seven 350-foot steel through truss spans. The bridge was designed jointly by the Oregon and Washington state highway departments. Construction was begun in 1962, and completed in 1966. 

Will caught up with us while we were waiting for a construction crew to clear the road. He (foolishly I thought) decided to try to ride the bridge, which has a very narrow "shoulder," heavy traffic, logging trucks & a very steep hump at the Astoria side. Add a crosswind that was bending Jess' flag nearly parallel to the ground and ripping leaves and twigs from trees, and you have my idea of a nightmare.

On the way over the bridge in the back of the pickup (which was scary enough in itself) Jess decided to tighten the quick-release on her front wheel. It broke off in her hand. So . . . the first thing we had to do on the OR side was find a bike shop. We got directions to Bikes and Beyond, about 10 blocks away. Jess got a new skewer and our problem was solved.

Here’s an Internet photo taken two years later in 2002 of a car
climbing the east side of the Astoria bridge; notice that they
decided to widen the shoulder to about a 2-foot width.

We left our bikes at the bike shop and explored about a bit on foot. We had just helped a new Smoothie place kick off its grand opening when along came Will. It had taken him almost an hour to cross the 4.1 mile bridge. He said that he had to stop and squeeze against the railing for every RV and logging truck. The shoulder was littered with dead seagulls, he had trouble clicking in without entering traffic, and he would NEVER do that again. He was sore and shaky from holding himself and his bike upright and out of onrushing traffic. But he was also proud that he had conquered "da bridge."

Well, we had another 2-mile bridge to cross to get to Ft Stevens on the south side of the Columbia River. The bike shop guy, Joe, told us not to cross that bridge but to cross via old 101. His route, however, would have added about 10 extra miles, so we stopped at a tourist info stand and asked there. The woman at the tourist info center told us that we could walk the first mile of bridge, which was a humped drawbridge (tho nowhere near as steep as the Astoria bridge).

She was wrong. There was no sidewalk and a shoulder narrower than my loaded panniers. We started to ride across when whooosh a logging truck passed and literally blew me into the railing. We both got off our bikes and walked them, an exhausting and terrifying experience because there was no room to walk beside the bike. We had to walk on a 12-inch ledge and lean down to try to steady the bike against the traffic draft and roaring crosswind. I was beat and nearly in tears when we finally reached the causeway section of the bridge, which had a wide shoulder. It still took tremendous effort to ride against the wind and get off the bridge.

Jeff, Donna, Will, and Jessica at the playing cards after dinner

When we got to our hiker/biker campsite at Fort Stevens, Jeff & Donna were already there. Can't remember if I've told you about them. They're from Minnesota, and are traveling to Mexico. We met them in Aberdeen when they were ditching their panniers for two-wheeled trailers. Will, who had gone grocery shopping in Astoria, showed up about an hour later. We all sat around the picnic table wolfing down food and recounting bridge-crossing horror stories. Jess had three salami & cheese sandwiches, 2 peanut butter sandwiches, some licorice candy & 4 beers. I had a tin of kippered herring, several slices of bread, some candy and 2 beers. Bottomless pits, you know.

Route: Hwy 101 from Bay Center to Hwy 401 to Hwy 101 crossing the Columbia River to Fort Stevens; and then another road north to the campgrounds

Weather: Sunny and pleasant until we left Hwy 401 and the protection of the headlands. When we entered the Columbia River Valley we were faced with nearly stop-dead headwinds gusting up the valley from the ocean.

General: Except for the bridges, this was a fun and pleasant day; couple of climbs, but also one very long unearned descent into the Columbia River Valley. It's fun also to have other cyclists to camp with and talk to.