Day 5: Astoria to Netarts, OR

Astoria to Netarts

73 miles, 13.8 mph

While the distance we covered on Day 5 was not particularly long, this was--in some ways--our hardest day, thus far. It started out pretty favorably. The day started--of course--foggy. US101 crosses over another bridge over a bay/inlet from the ocean. A lower and shorter bridge, it was still a beautiful way to begin the day. Here, US101 runs parallel to the coast for a ways, passing the town of seaside before turning inland and climbing. We made incredible time on the first 18 miles or so, averaging well over 16 mph. That pace was not to last.

Climbing and descending a 7 mile hill out of Seaside, we took a short side trip into the town of Cannon Beach, famous for Haystack Rock, its beaches, coffee shops, quaintness, etc. It was still foggy as heck, but there were lots of people out and about, making pedestrian dodging the sport of the hour. It reminded me of Carmel, CA--a little bit of a playground for the well-off.

We continued for a good ways, paralleling the coast, climbing and descending a series of rolling hills that took us from the top of high, forested hills down to nearly beach level. It was pretty country, but somewhat tiring on our fifth day.
Here we passed lots of parks and beaches--Arcadia Beach, Hug Point, before turning inland and climbing thru Oswald West State park. The descent took us back to civilization and the towns of Manzanita and Nehalem. We stopped for lunch at the Bunk House Restaurant in Nehalem. It had a funky fountain out front, and made a killer BLT. At this point the sun had come out and we were all enjoying the day. This was at the 40 mile point of our trip--the distance at which we normally tried to lunch.

We stayed close to the coast and passed a series of beach towns--Manhattan Beach, Rockaway Beach, Garibaldi, Bay City. At Bay City, US101 headed eastward and slightly away from the ocean--towards the city of Tillamook, most famous for the Tillamook Cheese factory. At this point, the fog had mostly returned. We took a break at the Safeway before taking on the last 7 or 8 miles to our stopping point in Netarts. Those last miles were pretty hilly and everyone was ready for the day to end at that point. When Mark asked whether anyone wanted to take a side, sightseeing trip of 3 miles or so before stopping for the day--he had no takers.

Our hotel for the evening--The Terimore could probably be rated no better than half a star. But the bed didn't break, the shower (mostly) worked and rest, at that point, was what counted most. We had a good meal at the Schooner and went into Tillamook to finish the evening with an ice cream at the Cheese factory. It was delish.