Say you have an outdoorsy friend you want to spend more time with. Say you’d prefer an easy adventure without passports or plane trips. Say you both own bikes. I’d say you could do a lot worse than to pedal down the glittering Pacific Coast. It’s an adventure to share, from your own back yard.
The bike route along the Pacific Coast, from Vancouver, B.C., to the Mexico border, is nearly 1,800 miles — more than 2,000 with side trips and city tours. It takes a couple of months to do it up as a grand tour. But it’s also accessible and satisfying in shorter treks.
Photo courtesy of Bill Thorness Pacific Coast cyclist Bill Thorness celebrates the milestone of reaching the Golden Gate Bridge.
My Mountaineers guidebook “Cycling the Pacific Coast” shows you how to tackle it, whole or in parts. The Washington state route could take you six to nine days, the Oregon coast eight, and the north, central and southern California, nine, eight and five days.
But that doesn’t count those magical places you find along the way that entice you to meander the less-traveled path, which may also divert you from plentiful tourist traffic. And it doesn’t count travel to or from your starting and ending points, surmountable challenges.
Washington might be too familiar for hometown friends, although it holds perhaps the most route variety. But have you sensed the Oregon coast at fifteen pedaled miles per hour? You will smell and even taste the briny breeze, hear the sea crash and the gulls cry off the sea stacks, and squint at the sunset across glittering waves.
From Santa Monica, the side streets of Los Angeles can safely deliver you to famous Hollywood Boulevard and nearby Beverly Hills.
Or get yourself to Crescent City and set off into northern California, with coastal landscape ranging from untamed to luxury, in the center of which is an oasis of ancient redwoods looming in the fog.
Central California’s dramatic Big Sur curves and bridges give way to flat farmland and a landscape that is baked by the sun.
And if you hit southern California, its palm trees swaying, the nearly continuous coastal communities and bike trails might turn you toward urban diversions, but the warm sand of the surfing beaches also beckons.
Whatever you choose on the Pacific Coast, epic in scope and the most popular adventure cycling route in America, you’ll find a nearby excursion like no other.
About the presenter
Bill Thorness is the author of “Cycling the Pacific Coast: The Complete Guide from Canada to Mexico” and “Biking Puget Sound: 60 Rides From Olympia to the San Juans,” both from Mountaineers Books. He has also written two guides on edible gardening, Cool Season Gardener and Edible Heirlooms.
A member of the Society of Professional Journalists and an area writer for nearly four decades, Thorness has written for numerous regional publications, including The Seattle Times.
Photo courtesy of Bill Thorness / A typical scene along the Pacific Coast cycling route, which uses long sections of Highway 101 and Highway 1.
He is finalizing his memoir “All Roads Lead to Rome: Searching for the End of My Father’s War,” which will be released from Potomac Books this fall, and tending a young orchard in the Chimacum area.
See his work at billthorness.com.
About the series
Traveler’s Journal, a presentation of the Peninsula Trails Coalition, raises funds to buy project supplies and food for volunteers working on Olympic Discovery Trail projects. Shows start at 7 p.m. at the Dungeness River Nature Center, 1943 W. Hendrickson Road.
Photo courtesy of Bill Thorness / Two friends are loaded for a bike camping adventure — right down to the personalized bike license plates.
Admission is a suggested donation is $5 for adults. Attendees are encouraged, but not required, to wear mask.
For more information, email Arvo Johnson at amjcgj@gmail.com.
2024 Traveler’s Journal Series
When: 7 p.m., Thursday, March 14 (door opens at 6:30 p.m.)
Presenter: Bill Thorness
Presentation: “An Adventure into the Great Nearby: Cycling the Pacific Coast”
Where: Dungeness River Nature Center, 1943 W. Hendrickson Road
Cost: Suggested $5 donation (adults)
Coming up: “Quebec and the Maritimes by tandem” with Jen and Tony Burgess, March 21
Photo courtesy of Bill Thorness / The super-oxygenated air of the redwood forests are a haven for cyclists traversing the Northern California coast.
Photos courtesy of Bill Thorness Vineyards are planted “sideways” (on hills running perpendicular to most wine country landscapes) in the Santa Ynez region just north of Santa Barbara.
Photo courtesy of Bill Thorness / The Oregon Coast sea stacks provide plentiful photo opportunities, and the best use of a selfie stick.
Photo courtesy of Bill Thorness / Just off Chuckanut Drive on the north Washington coast, Taylor Shellfish provides everything needed for a DIY seaside oyster lunch.
