Oregon Trail

Astoria, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina
July 10 to August 6, 1999
26 riding days   3470 miles   133.5 miles per day

This is a route through the north central United States following the Oregon Trail and Trail of Tears Route. Since so many of you have ridden a Northen PAC Tour in the past we wanted to scout a new cycling route that also had a historic theme. After looking at several routes we decided that the Oregon Trail made for an interesting tour across the western half of America. This tour includes eleven different states that offer great coast to coast routes. This is a good tour through some new country and suitable for the ambitious new or veteran PAC Tour cyclist. This tour is limited to 50 riders.

There is a good mixture of mountains and grasslands the first 2,000 miles. The Blue Mountains of Oregon were a major barrier for pioneer wagons. These mountains are still an obstacle for cyclists but make for interesting riding. There are many historic markers lining the way about the Oregon Trail. The section we will bicycle in two weeks took a wagon train almost six months to travel in 1850. Learning about the Oregon Trail as we ride adds a lot of appreciation for the earlier travelers. We are looking forward to visiting landmarks such as Scottıs Bluff, Register Cliffs and The Dalles which saw so many tired wagons trains pass their way 150 years ago.

This tour is actually two tours in one. The second half of the route crosses a new way through Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky. We spent a lot of time finding small country roads through these states. Although we are no longer on the Oregon Trail we will travel the roads of Daniel Boone and Abraham Lincoln. We then merge with the Elite route in Tennessee and continue to Charleston, South Carolina.

a brief history...

From 1804 to 1806 Lewis and Clark explored the northwestern United States from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean. They had hoped to find an all water river route across the country. Their meandering route took them through South Dakota and Montana before reaching the west coast near Portland, Oregon.

A few years later another group followed the mountainous Lewis and Clark route across the Rocky Mountains. By the time they got to the Pacific Ocean this group had lost many of their supplies and members to storms and Indian attacks. The survivors took the most direct way back to St. Louis discovering a new flatter route across Wyoming and Nebraska and saving hundreds of miles. This route became known as the Oregon Trail. From 1840 to 1860 more than 300,000 pioneers followed this route back to the west.

The July 1999 PAC Tour followed much of the Oregon Trail from the Pacific Ocean back to Missouri. We took a liberal interpretation of the Trail and followed the best cycling options across Idaho, Wyoming, and Nebraska. It took 16 days for this section. From Missouri, we proceeded east across Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina. This section took 10 days.

Itinerary

Larry Schwartz and Judith Jolly kept daily journals of their travels during the 1999 tour. These logs are referenced in the last column of the itinerary. You can access them one at a time, or go sequentially through them.

	Begin Astoria, OR (Pacific Ocean)			Go
Day	Date	Finish	Miles	Journal
1	Sun 11 Jul	Portland, OR	109	Go
2	Mon 12 Jul	Boardman, OR	157	Go
3	Tue 13 Jul	La Grande, OR	107	Go
4	Wed 14 Jul	Ontario, OR	124	Go
5	Thur 15 Jul	Mt. Home, ID	132	Go
6	Fri 16 Jul	Burley, ID	139	Go
7	Sat 17 Jul	Soda Springs, ID	141	Go
8	Sun 18 Jul	Pinedale,WY	159	Go
9	Mon 19 Jul	Lander, WY	136	Go
10	Tue 20 Jul	Casper, WY	153	Go
11	Wed 21 Jul	Torrington, NE	150	Go
12	Thur 22 Jul	Ogallala, NE	162	Go
13	Fri 23 Jul	Lexington, NE	115	Go
14	Sat 24 Jul	York, NE	134	Go
15	Sun 25 Jul	Nebraska City, NE	111	Go
16	Mon 26 Jul	Bethany, MO	128	Go
17	Tue 27 Jul	Macon, MO	121	Go
18	Wed 28 Jul	Jacksonville, IL	153	Go
19	Thur 29 Jul	Salem, IL	132	Go
20	Fri 30 Jul	Madisonville, KY	150	Go
21	Sat 31 Jul	Lebanon, KY	131	Go
22	Sun 1 Aug	Dayton, TN	128	Go
23	Mon 2 Aug	Dahlonega, GA	134	Go
24	Tue 3 Aug	Greenwood, SC	137	Go
25	Wed 4 Aug	Orangeburg, SC	121	Go
26	Thur 5 Aug	Charleston, SC	106	Go

Alan Bazard and Paul Church also kept daily logs. You can see them at another site. Many thanks to Alan for sending the photos on this page.

	Start Oregon Trail - Astoria (Alan Bazard & Paul Church with Tex)
	Henry (3yr old) made the ride
	Independance Rock - Oregon Trail
	Riders on the Oregon Trail
	The Ocoee River - Tennessee
	Riding into Folley Beach - South Carolina
	Going Crazy on the Beach
	Finish - Folley Beach SC (Paul Church & Alan Bazard with Tex)