Pacific Coast Bike Tour Day 3: Centralia to Longview

The night we spent at the Motel 6 in Centralia was one of our best decisions to date. The following morning we woke up more refreshed than ever.

Packing up the bikes and hitting the road!

We headed over to McDonalds and scarfed down the breakfast of champions before starting our long day of riding.

Centralia to Castle Rock, WA

Our plans for the day was to get from Centralia to Castle Rock, WA. The ride was a little less than 40 miles but considering we weren’t sure how many hills we would encounter along the way we thought that Castle Rock might be the perfect place to plop down our tent and spend the night.

As it turned out, the scenery, weather and the ride was the best we’ve had to date. The sun was shining, and the roads were relatively flat for most of the ride. We chatted as we rode side by side past old farms and endless fields in the distance.

Farms, fields and Llamas

At one point during the ride we rode past this really interesting looking dome shaped home in the middle of nowhere.

The last 15 miles of our ride to Castle Rock we cruised along winding roads through a forest that we cannot seem to find the name of on a map.

Tall trees, winding roads and waterfalls

After cruising through the forest we stumbled upon this big opening in the trees to our left. No trespassing signs were posted but there was no way we were going to miss out on snapping a few photos of Mt St. Helens in the distance.

Will snapping a few photos of Mt St. Helens

Horses were grazing at the edge of the road as we pedaled on to Castle Rock, WA

Photos courtesy of Will!

Welcome to Castle Rock!

When we arrived in Castle Rock, WA all we wanted to do was eat. We figured we would stop into the town hall before lunch and ask them if there was any place to camp in the area. I walked into the office and chatted with a few of the secretaries about places to throw down our tent but nothing really came of it. The end of the conversation was more about where we were from, where we were headed and so on. I headed upstairs to the police station to ask but they were closed. Closed?

We jumped back on our bikes and headed south until we came across Lions Den Park. We parked our bikes and enjoyed a few sandwiches along the edge of the river.

Since there was nowhere to really camp in Castle Rock, we decided to push on towards Long View (12 miles). We contacted a few hosts in Long View on WarmShowers before taking off and within 5 minutes, we had ourselves a host!

Castle Rock to Long View

The ride from Castle Rock to our hosts house in Long View wasn’t too bad. It was relatively flat up until the end of the ride. I started to feel a very light aching sensation on the inner part of my knee caps but I didn’t feel as if it was something I should worry about.

By the time we reached our WarmShowers host, we were exhausted. As soon as we pulled in the driveway we were immediately greeted by Laura and shown to our bed for the night.

Laura’s husband Clark arrived home from work about 30 minutes after we had settled in. We spent a few hours chatting about bicycle touring over some pizza and drinks.

Before we knew it, it was time for bed again. Tomorrow our goal is to cross the Lewis and Clark bridge into Oregon and make our way west to Astoria, OR

As usual, wish us luck!

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Note:  We would like to send out a BIG THANKS to the Carroll family for hosting us and feeding us. You guys rock!

Today’s Mileage: 53 mi