Seaside to Manzanita Oregon

Captions from the top: Roosevelt elk, nice tunnel safe for cyclists, Cannon Beach view, The signs along hwy 101 for cyclists, ocean view along road.

Seaside - Manzanita, October 21
Day 5- 31miles

We left Seaside pretty late in the day after hanging out at the Hostel and Taking care of some business around town. The Oregon Coast is actually quite hilly. It seems that between every town we cross over at least one big hill or divide and then drop down into the next town. This was true from Seaside to Cannon Beach. Cannon Beach, we found, is a pretty high end vacation/resort community. It seemed like every other house had a sign on it about vacation rental homes. As soon as we arrived here it started to rain on us so we headed into a restaurant called Mo's. My mom recommended, or actually more or less demanded that we go here to eat. It was pretty good. They are known for their clam chowder and it was excellent. Dani had it in a bread bowl and I had some Halibut fish and chips.

Greg

We left Mo's and headed for Nahalem Bay State Park, which is near the town of Manzanita. While taking a break on a large hill, the weight of the BOB trailer caused it to fall over and jacknife Greg's bike. He realized soon after that this had bent the part of his frame where the derailleur attaches. The nearest bike shop would be in Tillamook, so Greg had to adjust his shifting the bent derailleur and make the best of it until tomorrow. On the way we climbed a very large pass which was historically a troublesome spot for travelers. People used to travel on the firm wet sand of the beach before there was a coast highway. This mountain juts out into the ocean and has always been hard to cross. As we neared the top, we were engulfed in fog. A very thick fog. We could hear the ocean below but we could not see it. We turned on our lights and proceeded carefully. We decided to keep going because we knew the fog would burn off as we came down the mountain. Sure enough, it was all clear when we got to Manzanita, at the bottom of the pass. We stopped at a store and got some fresh apples, bread and beer.

Just as we were entering the state park, I spotted a herd of Roosevelt elk. It was cool looking at them and seeing how much bigger in body they are than our rocky mountain elk. Their antlers are definitely smaller also. The reason for that difference is due to the large amount of food out here, but relatively fewer minerals in the soil to build large antlers.

When we got to the campground, there were no yurts available, oh well. Maybe next campground. I was sure to keep our food bagged and hung from a tree branch at this campground. I learned my lesson from the raccoons at Ft. Stevens. We even met another camper who asked us if we had been harassed by the raccoons yet. Thankfully, we had no trouble with them. I guess hanging food works as well for raccoons as it does for grizzlies.

Dani