cyccommute 

My daughter and I are doing part of the Lewis and Clark Trail this summer. We are going to do the section from Missoula, MT to Astoria OR. Rather than back track to Portland to get transportation back home to Colorado, we would like to continue from Astoria to Seattle. Anyone have any good route suggestions for the Astoria to Seattle leg. We were thinking about going up the coast to the Aberdeen area and then across to Seattle. Any suggestions about routes, must see sites, places to avoid, etc. would be appreciated. Thanks.

Dougmt

I've been through that are quite abit... The bridge at astoria (101) is awesome and the ride on 101 into WA is awesome but you do lose the ocean. I'm not sure about getting into Seattle though. I'm looking at taking the train to Seattle from Kalispell MT (only 4o some bucks) but I too am having trouble getting a workable route from the train station to the ferry that goes to whidbey Island.
Your gonna have a blast doing though......
Good luck with the route!!!
D

blauger

There aren't a lot of choices for this route but I think going up to Aberdeen and then taking Hwy 12 & 8 to Olympia is your best bet. Depending upon the amount of time you have I would recommend going up to Oysterville, the peninsula is very nice. Tokeland on the north side of Willapa Bay is also a nice little place. Also,instead of following 101 all the way to Aberdeen, the route along 105 is very nice as well. Hwy 12 & 8 to Olympia is mostly 4 lane with wide shoulders but busy as Ocean Shores is a pretty popular place in the summer especially on the weekends. It's not a bad drive though.

From Olympia you can either go up to Shelton and then on to Bremerton and catch the ferry to Seattle or continue on to Tacoma and then take the bike path from there to Seattle. The Shelton to Bremerton bit can also be a little busy but it's a nice drive. Another option would be to go to Tacoma and catch the Ferry to Vashon Island, ride to the north end and catch the ferry to Seattle.

khuon

Go to Astoria and pick up Hwy 30 East. Take that to the Longview-Rainier Bridge. Then cross over into WA and take the reverse route of the STP from there to Seattle. You can find a copy of the STP route on Cascade's website.

Kodama

The STP route is about the least scenic route you can take into WA though the easist. Defintely do the Astoria -> WA Coast route. Get the Kirkendale and Spring Bicycling the Pacific Coast which includes routes to and fro SeaTac as well as the coastal routes you are planning to take. As for getting from SeaTac to Whibey check out this thread (as well as this one) over at the Cascade Cycling Club forum and feel free to raise specific questions there.

Don Johnson

Cyccommute,
As Blauger indicated, get off 101 at Shelton and head towards Bremerton on Hwy 3. You will pass through a little town called Belfair on the way. There's another route from Shelton to Belfair that will get you off Hwy 3 and is a bit more scenic but a little complicated to describe here. Anyway, once in Belfair, you'll want to take the OLD BELFAIR HIGHWAY and not Hwy 3 into Bremerton through a hole-in-the-wall called Gorst. Traffic on the old highway is more conducive to cyclists (fewer vehicles going slower) and it's a bit more scenic, in my opinion. Once in Bremerton, you can hop a ferry (1-hour ride) to Seattle.

PM me if you want me to forward ferry info, etc. Also, unrelated, thanks for your responses concerning the T800. I took delivery the other day and it really is a nice ride.

Until later,
Don Johnson

jamawani 

Howdy CYC -

I've done it in the other direction.
401/4 is a bit shorter with less traffic, but I'm guessing you want to get out to Ft. Canby and Cape Disappointment on US 101. Then 101 north to South Bend has some occasional nice views of Willapa Bay. 101 was being widened when I biked thru a few years ago. I'm guessing that it has good shoulders, but I'm also guessing that it has extra lanes and higher speeds. 105 is a very long detour along the coast with some ticky-tacky beach stretches. South of Aberdeen you can cut northeast on 107 to Montesano then the old Hwy 12 to Satsop. There are two state parks - Lake Sylvia and Schafer - with camping depending on how far you go - Sylvia is 80 miles.

From there head northeast on the county road to Matlock and Dayton and catch 102 which comes out 6 miles north of Shelton. 101 along the Hood Canal is fabulous! If you want to cut over to Bremerton, I'd take 106 rather than 3. State traffic maps show far less traffic, although I've never tried it. But if you head on north on US 101 you can also access a great corner of Olympic NP from Hoodsport. Then you can cut over from Quilcene to Kingston - and the Wash ferry to Edmonds.

Or you can head on up to Port Twonsend and end your trip there. It's a great town and would make a sweet ending point. There's shuttle service to Seattle:
https://olympicbuslines.com/schedule.htm
Or you can keep ridin on Whidbey Island to Everett.

The backroad stretch from Montesano to north of Shelton is really nice. You could make the trip from Astoria in two fast days - three to Port Townsend - four to Port Townsend looping back to Seattle - plus add a day or two for Olympic NP.

Best - J

AAA has an excellent Olympic Penninsula map plus regional maps of the North Cascades, Central Cascades, San Juans - - and I just checked - - Lower Columbia. These are incredible maps for the cyclist.

jamawani 

Oops - I didn't check your date.
All is not lost - I ordered me a Lower Columbia map.
Hope you had a good trip.

cyccommute 

We had an excellent trip. Since it was her first tour, I cut the distance short and we road from Missoula, MT to Astoria, OR (about 700 miles). We did pretty short days and, other than the heat of Eastern Washington and the cold of Astoria, we had a really good time!

Don Johnson

I didn't either. Sorry!