Portland, Gorge area visit

[Ered_Lithui]

It's too bad your visit wasn't a week earlier! This week's weather has been nicer than a lot of the summer was. I wouldn't expect any downpours next week, but this time of year "rain" tends to mean light on-and-off showers for half the day, meaning rain gear will be key. The gorge is a lovely place to ride. Multnomah Falls is about 25-30 miles from Portland, and it's a beautiful day ride out and back -- even in the rain. (Make sure you have good lights for being seen on the winding road.) Cyclocross races (in costume on Halloween) will be in Astoria (2 hours west of Portland) the 30th and 31st.

If you go hiking in the Gorge, I love the Angel's Rest hike. It's a few miles west of Multnomah Falls, with a great view once you get to the top.

If you'd like to borrow a clunkyish but not-at-all-attractive-to-thieves bike for riding in the city, I'd be happy to lend you mine for the duration of your visit (whether or not you choose to bring your own bike). Send me a PM if you're interested!

[jdubble]

Oh I missed this until today. If you want to rent a bike, there are plenty of places. If you want one to explore the city, Clever Cycles rents city bikes, complete with fenders so you'll be ok in the rain. If you want a road bike, I'd try Veloce or Pedal Bike Tours. Might be fun to do one of their tours too - I did one once as part of Pedalpalooza and it was well done.

Check out Rubber to the Road for some good routes if you want to do some rides outside of town. Riding to Multnomah Falls is something I really want to do one of these days. It's more like 65-75 miles round trip - 65 if you start at Mt. Tabor, so tack on some extra mileage if you're starting from downtown, though you could knock some off by taking the MAX out to Gresham first and starting from there. I've ridden the Columbia Scenic Highway out to the Vista House, but never all the way to the Falls. Someday!

Hope you have a great trip and enjoy your time here!

[Ered_Lithui]

Oops. Yes, listen to jdubble. I live near Mt. Tabor and rounded down on the distance to Multnomah Falls. Taking the MAX east would cut down on the distance.

[DebW]

I've been to Oregon and come back. Didn't do any biking, but did rent a car for 3 days and drive to Mt. Hood and the Gorge. Hiked up Dog Mountain and to a number of waterfalls (Eagle Creek Trail was nice). Had rain on 2 of my 3 days. Thanks all for your ideas. It was a nice vacation.