A couple of long-distance bike travelers have checked in seeking advice on bike routes for their travels this year.
Can you help?
The first is Mitchell Morrison, who is looking for a route from Portland, Oregon, to Spokane, Washington, on the opening leg of his cross-country trek this spring. His eventual destination is his home in Sparta, NJ. He plans to leave in early April and arrive home in mid to late May.
“Do you have any guidance re: a safe and scenic bicycle route from Portland to Spokane? I am riding by myself approx 70-90 miles and camping/hoteling along the way. I love relatively quiet roads with shoulders.”
As you can see from his photo taken in 1980, Mitch has experience with bike travel. He’s made 6 cross-country trips in all.
I suggested a direct route along the south bank of the Columbia River to Kennewick and then heading northeast to Spokane. Here’s a Google Maps link. An alternative would be to follow the reverse Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic Route to Seattle, and then follow the old John Wayne Pioneer Trail (now the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail) heading east, where he’d follow this route (Google Maps) to Spokane from Vantage. The problem with that alternative is that it is a couple of hundred miles longer.
If you have a suggestion for Mitch, you can contact him by leaving a message here or sending an email to him at mitchell.morrison5@mac.com.
Another cyclist seeking some route information is Joe, who left a comment on the blog a few days ago.
Trying to bike from Gooding idaho to Cambridge Wisconsin . What in the world is the best route? Can you help a fella out?
Here’s a Google Maps suggestion, but I have no idea if the route is any good or not. If you have some experience on a bike route through this region, you can share it on his comment, which can be found here: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/10/29/draft-for-u-s-bike-route-system/#comment-1785290.
2 comments
Hi there Gene,
You know I’ll suggest they take a look at the routes we (Adventure Cycling) have mapped to see which parts could potentially be used. You can view an interactive map of the network here:
http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes-and-maps/adventure-cycling-route-network/interactive-network-map/
The next step is to check out state bicycle resources and maybe get in touch with the bicycle coordinators for the states in which routing is needed. Many have online resources as well as printed materials. Nearly every state publishes a bicycle map of some sort that they will send out for free and the coordinators often have more information they can distribute for no charge as well. They generally offer suggested roads for cycling through their state. Here is a link to the contact information for all of the bicycle coordinators:
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/state_contacts.cfm
And here is a link that does not stay as updated, but has some additional online materials:
http://www.pedbikeinfo.org/data/state.cfm
I hope this helps your correspondents!
Jennifer
Greetings. I’m looking to bicycle from Chemult, Oregon (where Amtrak will leave me after I get it in Seattle), to Davis, California. I would welcome route suggestions, including routes that might be longer but flatter.