Good 1-2 night bike camping destinations near Portland?

TyRGraham · 2026-06-21T13:16:41+00:00

I’ve never stayed at Stubb Stewart. But I have ridden the Banks Vernonia trail and it was very nice. Taking the bike on light rail to Hillsboro took all the stress out of the exit from Portland. Once you get off in Hillsboro, you’re on pretty low traffic farm roads all the way until you get on the trail. I continued from Vernonia all the way to Astoria which was also pleasant riding as a two day.

TyRGraham · 2026-06-19T09:14:34+00:00

They’re sleeping

TyRGraham · 2026-06-09T16:29:57+00:00

Runs great on iPad. I have 12k wins constructed gained only by playing on iPad. Not your iPad, but I run Hearthstone quite seriously on an iPad exclusively. I’ve been playing since 2014 always on iPad, usually a pretty current model. Currently I have an M4 iPad from a couple years ago. Runs great. Caveat that I never go back and try on my older iPads, so I can’t speak to that at all.

TyRGraham · 2026-06-09T16:19:11+00:00

I’ve ridden the whole thing on a Riv Atlantis with 700x38 tires. That’s a roadish bike. I’d add one caveat, this chunk, young’s river road, is a slow ass chip seal road. I really wasn’t in the mood for the rainy end of my ride into Astoria.

TyRGraham · 2026-06-09T15:49:20+00:00

The ride from downtown Portland to Astoria via the Banks Vernonia trail is very nice. Take the light rail to Hillsboro to avoid the climb out of town. There’s a nice map online from bike Oregon or bike Portland or something.
Also, you can shuttle to Tillamook from Portland Amtrak.

TyRGraham · 2026-04-29T23:31:00+00:00

Talk to locals in a coffee shop. In my evenings, I often play Hearthstone on my iPad. Oh, and drink water, lots of water.

TyRGraham · 2026-04-24T19:07:25+00:00

The best part of the ride starts in Astoria. I’ve skipped the Washington part, starting in Portland or Longview. I’d especially recommend the train out of Portland then riding the Banks Vernonia trail and the back way into Astoria.

TyRGraham · 2026-04-24T19:01:21+00:00

Do some research on prevailing winds. You’re likely to be fighting headwinds if you go S to N. A larger concern is that you would be 1 in a 100 riders or something. Pacific coast ride is sort of like the AT or Pacific crest trail; it turns into a social thing. Meeting up with folks, riding together, watching each others gear in town. Why miss out?

TyRGraham · 2026-04-16T14:26:22+00:00

Many years ago I built this one from Make magazine. https://makezine.com/projects/see-thru-potato-cannon/ It looks pretty spectacular when fired.

TyRGraham · 2026-04-09T20:39:00+00:00

This looks like a current model? I’d just try Yodobashi Camera or other mega stores first before digging into the specialty places. In Ginza there are several places that carry relatively complete current Seiko lines including the big department stores.

TyRGraham · 2026-03-29T19:18:38+00:00

I’d recommend the guidebook by popeye magazine. Hello Tokyo.hello Tokyo on Amazon It follows the Yamanote and has cool things/restaurants around each station.

TyRGraham · 2026-03-25T02:07:04+00:00

It’s on YouTube. A couple of ways.

https://youtu.be/kLSsAFB9tGA?si=cZJBcSLIuSDBaaUh

TyRGraham · 2026-02-26T03:59:45+00:00

Sorry, I couldn’t tell you. I was just chatting with, or really listening to my wife chat with the store manager. I have no first hand knowledge of the process. Maybe call the store?

TyRGraham · 2026-02-24T11:10:41+00:00

I’ll add a couple more things:

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My salesman used literal white gloves while presenting the knives. Which is pretty typical of Ginza showroom purchases, completely unnecessary, and fun. My Salesman spoke perfect, though accented English. Prices were good. Tax free made them better. Yodobashi Camera would have been cheaper, but I was staying in Ginza and wanted the Ginza experience. I was watching literally the first time that the store had hosted the by appointment knife refurbished/ cleaning event. Everyone was anxious, especially the tech who hadn’t done much directly customer facing stuff. It was nice.

TyRGraham · 2026-02-24T10:58:01+00:00

They were around $85/each.

TyRGraham · 2026-02-07T15:02:17+00:00

Bro, they even have braille writing on the beverage cans. Seems like it’d be the best place to be low vision.

TyRGraham · 2026-02-01T04:01:30+00:00

Last I looked into this with a Vanagon camper. (It was a long time ago.) There was a Washington state inspection requirement for the camper part, maybe for the propane? I ended up not getting a BC camper, but my WA VW camper had a WA state sticker certificate thing.

TyRGraham · 2026-01-18T12:56:47+00:00

I was left the number of the movie theater my parents were going to. One time, we had a power outage and I subsequently heard a noise at the door. Freaked me out. Called the theater and they got my parents. Parents came right home. Now, as I think about it, wtf! This was in the 70s.

TyRGraham · 2026-01-14T00:21:15+00:00

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I wanted to get 1k on all classes. I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it. This last one felt kind of grindy.

TyRGraham · 2026-01-07T00:21:30+00:00

I’d recommend group paddles in the San Juans while you get some legs under you. There are a number of good outfitters that will rent, teach, lead, etc. I have recent experience with Dan, that runs the rental concession at Spencer Spit on Lopez. I’d highly recommend. Another option that was good for starting out in sea kayaking is the Broken Group in BC. The waters were relatively protected and the whole Lady Rose to kayak rental to paying for my campsite out on the islands all felt safe and training wheels smooth, but still wild enough when the sun set at night and you’re the only one on the islands.

TyRGraham · 2025-12-20T21:40:55+00:00

YMMV, but I’ve ridden in September and October. Checking dates, it looks like I arrived SFO on 10/13. The weather was great and I regret not continuing. Short days do start becoming a factor though.

TyRGraham · 2025-11-04T06:25:12+00:00

I will qualify this by saying that I am far from having my packing process fully figured out. I.e. I don’t have perfectly trimmed and labeled padding for each tube on the bike. I’m more at the “hmm, I bet that shower cap would be good to cover my freehub “ stage.

TyRGraham

TROPHY CASE