Brilliant, this is golden! I did originally sketch a route all the way through from Vancouver Island -- Seattle -- Portland -- Pacific Coast to San Fran but time constraints mean that it's likely we'll just start with city breaks in Vancouver, Seattle and Portland by train before setting off on bikes to the coast. And the book + ACA maps are definitely on my shopping list, so thanks for confirming. Good shout on the charging; I'm not sure yet just how techy I want to be but I'll have a phone and probably Garmin as minimum.
One thing that would be useful would be to see if my rough itinerary is feasible, needs serious rethinking, or if there are any tweaks you'd advise. Did you have a particular stopping point in mind each day? Or a rough daily mileage target? Does daily mileage vary greatly, based on terrain/how you're feeling/unexpected diversions? Are the camp sites frequent enough to just set off for the day and stop when you see one at the right time? I prepared the following - extremely hypothetical - plan purely based on Google Maps and stopping points where there are place names on the map. (I'm sure these details will change, since the camp sites we're likely to stay at aren't shown on Google.)
Saturday – flight to Vancouver
Sunday – Vancouver
Monday – train to Seattle
Tuesday – train to Portland
Wednesday – Portland
Thursday – Portland – Rose Lodge (79 miles)
Friday – Lincoln City – Carl G Washburne State Park (70 miles)
Saturday – CGW – Coos Bay (62 miles)
Sunday – Coos Bay (rest)
Monday – Coos Bay – Honey Bear Campground (68 miles)
Tuesday – Honey Bear – Jedediah Smith Redwood Park, CA (62 miles)
Wednesday – JS – Patrick’s Point State Park (64 miles)
Thursday – PP – Humboldt Redwoods NP (70 miles)
Friday – Humboldt Redwoods (rest)
Saturday – HR – Westport Union Landing State Beach (73 miles)
Sunday – WU – Anchor Bay Campgrounds (74 miles)
Monday – ABC – Tomales Bay (71 miles)
Tuesday – Tomales Bay – San Francisco (52 miles)
Wednesday – SF
Thursday – drive SF – Portland (2 drivers!)
Friday – train, Portland – Vancouver
Saturday/Sunday – fly home
How's my daily mileage/rest days looking??
That's another thing... I've been mulling over whether to fly back from SF or Vancouver. Since my brother is in Vancouver, I thought it would be easier to fly with proper bike boxes, leave stuff with him and make our way back from SF over a couple of days. Journey back to Vancouver split between hire car and train, because (AFAIK) we can't drop-off a car over the border, and train from SF looks like a faff. OR we do round trip, take everything with us to SF and fly home from there, giving us an extra couple of days to play with. But then, not sure about bike transit/packaging.
I'll definitely have more, but any thoughts welcome! :)
I find that the first couple of days 60 miles feels like a long way, then all of a sudden 100+ is fine and easily manageable. Just getting used to it makes a big difference for me.
I haven't been to SF but judging by my instagram feed you'll find it easy to find some boxes!
rj
Brilliant, this is golden! I did originally sketch a route all the way through from Vancouver Island -- Seattle -- Portland -- Pacific Coast to San Fran but time constraints mean that it's likely we'll just start with city breaks in Vancouver, Seattle and Portland by train before setting off on bikes to the coast. And the book + ACA maps are definitely on my shopping list, so thanks for confirming. Good shout on the charging; I'm not sure yet just how techy I want to be but I'll have a phone and probably Garmin as minimum.
One thing that would be useful would be to see if my rough itinerary is feasible, needs serious rethinking, or if there are any tweaks you'd advise. Did you have a particular stopping point in mind each day? Or a rough daily mileage target? Does daily mileage vary greatly, based on terrain/how you're feeling/unexpected diversions? Are the camp sites frequent enough to just set off for the day and stop when you see one at the right time? I prepared the following - extremely hypothetical - plan purely based on Google Maps and stopping points where there are place names on the map. (I'm sure these details will change, since the camp sites we're likely to stay at aren't shown on Google.)
Saturday – flight to Vancouver
Sunday – Vancouver
Monday – train to Seattle
Tuesday – train to Portland
Wednesday – Portland
Thursday – Portland – Rose Lodge (79 miles)
Friday – Lincoln City – Carl G Washburne State Park (70 miles)
Saturday – CGW – Coos Bay (62 miles)
Sunday – Coos Bay (rest)
Monday – Coos Bay – Honey Bear Campground (68 miles)
Tuesday – Honey Bear – Jedediah Smith Redwood Park, CA (62 miles)
Wednesday – JS – Patrick’s Point State Park (64 miles)
Thursday – PP – Humboldt Redwoods NP (70 miles)
Friday – Humboldt Redwoods (rest)
Saturday – HR – Westport Union Landing State Beach (73 miles)
Sunday – WU – Anchor Bay Campgrounds (74 miles)
Monday – ABC – Tomales Bay (71 miles)
Tuesday – Tomales Bay – San Francisco (52 miles)
Wednesday – SF
Thursday – drive SF – Portland (2 drivers!)
Friday – train, Portland – Vancouver
Saturday/Sunday – fly home
How's my daily mileage/rest days looking??
That's another thing... I've been mulling over whether to fly back from SF or Vancouver. Since my brother is in Vancouver, I thought it would be easier to fly with proper bike boxes, leave stuff with him and make our way back from SF over a couple of days. Journey back to Vancouver split between hire car and train, because (AFAIK) we can't drop-off a car over the border, and train from SF looks like a faff. OR we do round trip, take everything with us to SF and fly home from there, giving us an extra couple of days to play with. But then, not sure about bike transit/packaging.
I'll definitely have more, but any thoughts welcome! :)