9 days from Portland, Oregon

grantmac

grantmac

Commuting between NL & UK
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Planning our next big trip to US - June/July 2025. We rented from Motoquest in 2022 and picked up 2 GS's in San Francisco but for what ever reason they have closed their operations down there. I refuse to deal with Eagle Riders as my experience in the past has been shite.
Routes and hotels should be pretty easy but interested in any tips people might have who know the area. Planning on around 300 km per day so a total of around 2500km for the 9 days riding.
 
Are you doing a circular trip? or something like this?
 

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Crater Lake is well worth a visit.
As is Phil’s Frosty in Shady Cove, OR…if you like ice cream that is.
 
If you go north Seattle is cool, visit the space needle, Pike Place Market and of course the tosser’s version of Mecca, the first ever Starbucks

The Boeing factory tour is good too 👍

Portland is OK but they over hype it a bit
 
2 must visits are Crater Lake and Lassen Volcanic Park both of which are just stunning and within easy reach of Portland.

You also have to ride up to Mt St Helens which is not only a great ride but you get to see all the crap caused by the eruption in the 80's.

Both Oregon and Washington State are full of wonderful roads so you can't really go wrong to be honest.
 
Sgt Bilco said:
2 must visits are Crater Lake and Lassen Volcanic Park both of which are just stunning and within easy reach of Portland.

You also have to ride up to Mt St Helens which is not only a great ride but you get to see all the crap caused by the eruption in the 80's.

Both Oregon and Washington State are full of wonderful roads so you can't really go wrong to be honest.
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He's right you know. That road up to Mount St. Helen's is an absolute belter.
 
OR is pretty - lots of mountains, big trees, beaut coast, great camping (free), and, of course, Sasquatch. They also like their brew pubs up there (I’m in San Francisco). The Columbia River Gorge is beautiful - waterfalls, fish ladders. Also, McMenamins Brothers pubs are dotted around the place (eg, Barley Mill Pub) and are well worth a checking out. Then check out Mt Hood and work south. Bend is cool, too (great brew pubs), as you make your way to Crater Lake (do a lap around it). From there you could work south to Oregon Caves, then west to the coast, and ride back up along 101 to Astoria.

But you’re not far from Canada. And the Canadian Rockies are awesome. It’s two days up to Whistler, another two days across to Banff, and then come back down through the Canadian Glacier National Park via Calgary. You can choose how you get back to Portland from there, but no matter which way you go it’ll be great riding and beautiful. Keep in mind, though, that in June/July it can get hot up there, and it can get smoky from wildfires - that’s already happening now a bit further east of where I just mentioned. https://fire.airnow.gov/
It may or may not do either when you’re there, but something to keep in mind. In the case of either heat or smoke, the coast is generally your friend.

If you can be flexible and you like some of the above options you might plan an alternative route just in case.
 
Sgt Bilco said:
2 must visits are Crater Lake and Lassen Volcanic Park both of which are just stunning and within easy reach of Portland.

You also have to ride up to Mt St Helens which is not only a great ride but you get to see all the crap caused by the eruption in the 80's.

Both Oregon and Washington State are full of wonderful roads so you can't really go wrong to be honest.
Click to expand...
I still have a hankering to do the Washington and Oregon bits we had to miss in 2018.
 
thanks all, I have some ideas for routes and will post these tomorrow so you can all let me know what you think. Thanks Dirty-t, I see you are in Frisco - We used to rent from Dubbelju but they closed and now Motoquest stopped. Some great suggestions for where to go! Thanks all!
Shakey, maybe you want to tag along to our trip.... :)
 
Me and the missus did a road trip around the North West last September. A lot of the coast towns are rife with homeless, drugs and crime: enough for us to stay well away from them.
The Coast Road down to Golden Gate Bridge and then across to Kings Canyon National Park and the Giant Sequoias, Yosemite is amazing, then back up through the Red Wood forests would be my route.
Things had changed a lot since we were last there 4 years previously and everything seemed expensive.
 
If you get the chance go visit the Spruce Goose at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum about 90 minutes SW of Portland


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Wasn´t the Spruce Goose at Long Beach in the early 2000?
I can remember visiting it there when we lived in California
 
Grant, great that you're going west, Young Man!
There's really so much/too much to see and your own experience will guide your balance of miles/views/experiences. I-5 will help you gain rapid distance heading due north out of SFO, although you will miss Sonoma/Napa Valley and so a circular route on lesser highways will give more 'engagement'.
If you decide upon any form of circular your I'd recommend using the coastal route from north-to-south heading back to SFO. This puts you hugging the cliffs (right hand side of the road) and gives spectacular views. Canon Beach, OR is a good spot to hit the coast from Portland. And South of there from Crescent City, there's the Redwood Highway. - As an earlier reply notes, the smaller coastal towns have decayed due to a decline of resource-based economies and the tsunami of opiods).
I'd say northern Montana/Glacier National Park/southern Alberta is too much of a stretch, IMHO
 
Thanks all. As we will now be heading out from Portland due to bike hire options here are the routes that I put together at short notice. Covers all that we want and what has has been suggested. Still very preliminary. Starts and stops are accurate to the intended hotels. in order to view better suggest google maps once you have opened the files (Gold members only I´m afraid)
Will probably start looking at setting something up shortly as soon as flights become available.
Feel free to comment. Rentals from Motoquest of Portland. OR

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Devon said:
Me and the missus did a road trip around the North West last September. A lot of the coast towns are rife with homeless, drugs and crime: enough for us to stay well away from them.
The Coast Road down to Golden Gate Bridge and then across to Kings Canyon National Park and the Giant Sequoias, Yosemite is amazing, then back up through the Red Wood forests would be my route.
Things had changed a lot since we were last there 4 years previously and everything seemed expensive.
Click to expand...
I have been there almost every year since 2017 (except Covid years) for bike trips. I also lived there back in the early 2000´s (southern Cal). Indeed many of the coastal towns between LA and SFO are pretty grim. Eureka used to be a bit of a hip place to be in the 80´s but totally run down and loads of homeless people and drugs.
Generally last trip in 2022 we found it had all gotten pretty expensive. US$ was level with the Euro so gone were the cheap overnight says at a Holiday inn for 50 bucks!
I think the US has changed substantially to when we lived there.
Anyway its still a great place to ride and if you plan well in advance you can usually find decent places to stop at OK prices.
 
You are going to love days 6 and 7. The roads through that area are fantastic.

I don't see Mt St Helens on there?
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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