Day 13

June 4, 2011

This morning I said goodbye to all the folks at the campsite and headed out towards Sunset Bay State Park, a little ways south of North Bend. Looking at this ride on a map, you would notice that it parallels Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, so I was expecting to get lots of pretty views of sand dunes, but the trees were in the way the entire time, so I didn't really get any views of sand dunes. Consequently, the scenery today was quite dull compared to yesterday.

It was really hot today for much of the ride and my bike computer claims that it reached 93 today. I'm not sure if I believe it, but it definitely at least got to the 80s.

The whole day was a bit boring, but it was only 56 miles, so the ride went by pretty quick. Passing throught the city of North Bend was mildly exciting though. There was a cool looking bridge I crossed to get there and since a lot of the cool looking bridges are narrow, they are always a bit scary to cross.

The city was not at all biker-friendly, which is surprising since it's on the Oregon Coast Bike Route. There were no bike lanes or even shoulders for most of the city. Also, none of the major roads had street signs, so I was never entirely sure I was on the right road. I guess Oregon assumes that you know where you are if you are on a big road. That would be a bad assumption for a biker riding through a city he's never been to before. I did make it out of the city though and rode for another 10 miles to my campground at Sunset Bay State Park. I was kindly greeted by the park ranger who told me that camping was free for the day so I could choose any spot that I wanted! Apparently it was “Oregon parks day,” so there were lots of people at the campground. I chose my spot, set up camp, then made dinner.

If you're curious what a typical dinner is for me, I often have deluxe macaroni and cheese with tuna. It comes out to be about 1200 calories and it's delicious and easy to make. The “Deluxe” macaroni and cheese means that it doesn't require milk and butter, which is incredibly convenient for camping. It also means that it's extra delicious. Every day I use my Jetboil stove to make my dinner and breakfast. The pot has a tiny little sleeve on the side and the best use I've come up for it is this:

That evening I went to the beach to check it out. There was exactly one good view in the park. It was a pretty good one.