This summer has been amazing and this weekend we capped it off with a bike camping trip. Every time I bikepack/bikecamp/tour or what the fuckever you want to call it; I’m reminded of how nice it is. The pace is mellow, nothing heavy on my back, and we can eat at restaurants if we want. The adventure starts as soon as you start riding your bike down the street.
We ride our bikes down to the Goose Hollow MAX stop. This way we skip all the tedious stops downtown and packed cars. Then we take the MAX all the way out to Hillsboro to the end of the line. As a group we all met up in downtown Hillsboro and had lunch at the Farmer’s market. Then through 10 miles of farms and fields we ride to Banks. Here we pick up food and alcohol and commence the Banks-Vernonia Trail.
The trail is paved and follows an old railroad grade. Our goal was to make it to the walk-in camp spots in Stubb Stewart State Park. If not, we would push on to the terminus of the trail in Vernonia where there are several places to camp. We scored enough spots for all 11 of us.
At dusk we set off to Vernonia, another 12 miles for dinner. The brewery is awesome as always. I’ve done this trip a few times and its one of those worth repeating every year. In the pitch dark night, we ride back on the trail. Its so nice to be off-street and not have to worry about the cars. I wish I had more pics, but its much harder to take photos on bike than while backpacking 😦
Back at camp, its on to drinking and imbibing 🙂 With around 50 miles crushed today we crashed a bit early. The next day we traced our ride back stopping in Banks for an awesome breakfast.
This trip is easy to put together and the accessibility cant be better. Anyone with a bike, backpack, basic camping gear, and $16 for the camp spot and two MAX trips can do this trip. Even better is having a rear rack and pannier bags making things 10 times easier.
.douchepacker. 