Port Orford to Harris Beach State Park

Oregon and Northern California Bike Trip: Day 6

Leaving the Seacrest Motel, we headed up into the woods, passing Humbug State Park a few miles in. The terrain seemed mostly uphill, and we ran into some construction along the coast. As we passed, a construction worker pointed out toward the ocean and there we had our first whale sighting of the trip. We first saw fluking and then the tail in the air. Just a few miles down the road we saw another whale in a bay lined with rock outcroppings in the ocean.

Working mostly into a headwind in the morning, we came to the town of Gold Beach around lunchtime. We turned into the Barnacle Bistro, a spot I had found on Yelp before the trip. The Yelp recommendation could not have been more accurate, and we had one of the best meals of our trip. Jo had the Polish Beer Bomb (sausage, mushrooms, onions, swiss cheese on ciabatta bread) and I had a grilled Tillamook Cheddar cheese sandwich with pesto sauce.

In the afternoon, we were blown by a slight tailwind, and passed the distance without incident, except for seeing a porcupine on the side of the road. We came into Harris Beach State Park tired and ready for a break. After starting to set up camp, we headed to the showers, and returned to find much of our food eaten by crows. The birds had pecked through grocery bags and wrappers and left only the plastic. Despite the setback, our morale was boosted by finding a laundry area at the campsite, which we took advantage of to dry many of our wet clothes that had gone undried with the fog of the day.

We rode, unloaded, about a mile into Brookings for dinner at another Yelp recommendation, the Vista Pub. Jo sampled a "Quick Wit" from a local brewery and I tried first the Boneyard IPA, then the RPM IPA (the Boneyard was amazing!). We dined on grass-fed burgers that had matured just six miles north, and much of the rest of our meal was sourced from the immediate vicinity (one can taste the difference).

We left Vista Pub pleasantly satisfied and head back to our campsite, where we threw the frisbee around a bit. We also met Matt, a fellow traveler who had been making great time down the coast. He just recently graduated from college in Milwaukee and started from Seattle just 7 days earlier.

Garmin 500 Data:

Distance: 53.92 miles
Elevation Gain: 2,982 feet
Avg Speed: 10.4 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 12.3 mph
Max 42.3 mph
Avg Temperature: 65.8F
Min Temperature: 60.8F
Max Temperature: 77.0F