Day 35 – Bicycle Touring Waldport to Devil’s Lake SP. Newport, Yaquina head, whales

My stay overnight was nicely concluded with a prepared breakfast and send off from Kevin. Thanks again! From the house, it was overcast, but I didn’t think much about it because the forecast was for no rain. Within 5 minutes after leaving, it started raining. Forecast are much better than they used to be, but still not perfect.

The hard rain was short lived and worth waiting 5 minutes for it to pass. There was on and off drizzly rain throughout day. Sometimes the roads were soaked and other times dry. For the most part, things didn’t get too wet.

I did a few side routes today including a big one with extra climbing at Yaquina head. After climbing up a short hill, I noticed there was a lineup of cars at a pay booth. I almost turned around, but maybe bicycle riders were free like at the Fort Ross park I went to. Creeping up to read the sign, I saw it was. So I bypassed the line and the fee. It was worth the extra distance and climbing as well.

From Yaquina head up through Lincoln city many people were whale watching. Not that I’d ever tried hard, but I have never spotted one in the ocean. At Yaquina head there was a large group of people pointing and looking, so I might as well too. Sure enough, I spotted water spouts way in the distance. It wasn’t directly a whale I saw, but still my first whale sightings. I may have even captured it on video (I haven’t looked at it). Further up, I spotted more at Otter crest. But the hot spot was at Boiler bay. The boats were out, people on shore were watching. I was spotting them and they were close to shore. It took me a while and I was able to capture one on video and photo. That’s a definite sighting.

Beings the weekend, 101 was exceptionally busy and therefore, loud. When I got to the Lincoln city area, my GPS told be to take a back road. I was happy to get off 101, so I complied. I regretted it a short while later as it consisted of a set of short but steep climbs up and down. If only I had known. But too late now, forward and up, the only option. All in all, my side excursions probably added 5 miles and significant climbing. But it made it fun and interesting, so it’s all good.

I arrived at my destination of Devil’s lake state park. It’s virtually in downtown Lincoln city. The hike/bike has a nice grassy area and charging ports. It on a hill with a very steep path. Just what I needed, one more climb before calling it a day. There are two other bike tourers here (Mon and Kevin heading south.

After setting up camp, I walked a short distance to 101 to get pizza (I haven’t had that yet on my trip). But it was closed. I went with Mexican because it was nearby. It was tasty, maybe pizza tomorrow.

Tomorrow I head to Cape lookout. I was not sure I wanted to go there, but my two camp mates gave it rave reviews.

Ride summary: 5/10 difficulty, 51 miles with 2793 feet of climbing. Soon after leaving rain started. Then through most of ride, occasional drizzle and combo of wet and dry roads. Temperature was okay for shorts and light jacket for early part, Slight headwinds, but not a factor. Today’s ride detailed GPS. Tour totals: 1706 miles (49 / day). 97,523 climbing feet.