I woke up Wednesday morning excited about a full day separated from my Trek 520. Considering all the rain and dirt the bike was stained with the previous day, I think it needed the break from the road also.
Instead, Sean and Mel were kind enough to show me around the cool city of Astoria and explore other nearby places.
First we went to the Astoria Column, which is a tower on a large, seemingly never-ending, winding hill in the middle of the town of about 9,000 people. From the column, I had a great view in all directions.
To the west, I could see where the Columbia River poured out into the Pacific.
To the north, I had a great view of the approximately 4-mile bridge that leads over to Washington (someone told me that it's the second-longest bridge in the country -- behind Michigan's Mackinac, I assume). I also could see the rolling hills of southern Washington and the point known as Cape Disappointment.
To the southeast, I could see Saddle Mountain, which loomed above all its neighboring peaks and was immersed in clouds. It isn't close to being the tallest peak in the state -- that would go to the enormous Mt. Hood by Portland -- but it appeared pretty intimidating from a distance.
And due east was the Columbia, which was hosting several ships on the foggy but somewhat sunny Wednesday afternoon.
After lunch down by the water, we drove over the bridge -- which, apparently, can be biked, but I wouldn't try it; there's basically no shoulder -- and went to Cape Disappointment for some hiking. (Hey, what's a day without some real exercise?)
First, we walked an easy 0.5 miles to a deserted ocean beach. We knew that a lighthouse wasn't too far down the shore to the south, so we started walking that way.
That's when we encountered a large rock outcropping in our way. So, of course, I started climbing it. And before I could look down, I was close to 100 feet above Sean and Mel.
After a few minutes, they joined me on top of all the rocks, and we all enjoyed the amazing view in front of us. I especially liked all the different rock structures in the shallow water to our left. The waves crashing on the rocks made the scene even prettier.
We didn't have a straight shot to the still-out-of-sight lighthouse, however, so we headed back down and went to Cape Disappointment. There, we took a marked trail 1.3 miles to a lighthouse, which offered great views in just about all directions.
I had to chuckle at the trail we took, because it was marked "difficult." Actually, it was quite easy and only steep in a couple small sections. But it was neat and, besides the lack of precipitation, gave me a rainforest feel at times because of the green plants around me.
It reminded me, a bit, of some of the hiking I did in Australia.
And it made for a great time.
From there, my off day was truly lazy. It included a stop for a delicious double ice cream cone, and then a pair of stops at local breweries to cap off the night.
No biking was involved, but the day didn't lack excitement and good times.
Thanks to the tour guides for making it happen!
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