My National Geographic map of the United States now had quite a few past bike routes traced with a black marker. Looking to fill some of the voids, it was apparent to me that I could no longer delay visiting some of the attractions afforded by the area from northern California to the far northwest through Washington State.
This area was not my first choice because of my favoritism toward the Southwest. The Northwest’s reputation for copious amounts of precipitation kept this trip on the back burner for the first eight years. Yes, the 1985 Portland to Wyoming trip began in this area, but I knew I would almost immediately be headed in the direction of drier climates. Now, I would be headed into potentially prolonged stretches of rain.
As it turned out, I had great weather through California and Oregon. And, in Washington the rain was at most light, usually only misting. One afternoon in the heart of the northern Cascades it began to rain steady and hard, but again I lucked out by arriving at the little hamlet of Marblemount just as the rain became heavy. I stayed at an old hotel / tavern and spent the afternoon comfortable and warm, having a few beers and watching the miserable weather through the window at the bar. By morning it was just a mist again and later in the day I found myself east of the main Cascade range and in a semi-desert environment.
This was the first trip with the Avatar that required me to disassemble and pack the bike at the end of the trip. In anticipation of this, I had arranged beforehand to prepare one of the bigger bike boxes and ship it by motor freight to Bikecentennial (now Adventure Cycling Association) in Missoula, MT. They agreed to receive it and store it in their basement until I arrived. This worked out well.
Overall, the trip was another success and included many of the best known attractions in the Northwest: Reno, NV; Lake Tahoe; Lassen Volcanic N/P; Mt. Shasta; Crater Lake; Mt. Hood; Mt. St. Helens; the Olympic Peninsula; the Northern Cascades; and the northern areas of Idaho and Montana.