Oregon Route 202

Editor’s Note: Garmin GPX file added at the bottom

The first time that I rode through in August of 2007, the western stretch of this road was a wondrous piece of pavement with fresh, racetrack-smooth pavement that was to die for even in the wet.

Then the paving stopped. And it became an adventure road. It was wet, gnarly, bumpy, frost-heavy, and oh yes, highly twisty.

With either a fresh coat of pavement or dry weather, Oregon 202 would’ve been highly enjoyable. As it was, between the damp weather and the logging trucks on Monday morning, it was very nerve-wracking.

Riding out of the south end of Astoria Oregon, one easily finds oneself on this old forest highway. It starts on the south side of Astoria where US101 splits off to the right and crosses the Youngs Bay Bridge. Once you get out of the Astoria area, there’s little to nothing for services. Make sure that you’re fed, fueled, and hydrated before leaving town.

It’s not rather unexpected in this particular damp part of Oregon, but this road has a couple of nice waterfalls.

The small waterfalls along the roadway are rather pretty and a nice spot to rest and stretch. This one, Barth Falls, along the Klatskanie River is only a drop of a few feet but has an interesting little fish ladder to the left.

Barth Falls, along Oregon Route 202
Much to my surprise and even though it looms large on my maps, the town of Jewell isn’t really a town but rather a spot where the farmhouses are a little closer together. It’s very easy to miss the turn down Fishhawk Falls Highway, that is if you’re heading back to 101. There’s also no services there, so you’re out of luck until you get to Mist or back to 101.

If you’re heading back to Portland, you might was well stay on 202 until you meet Oregon 47. From there you can pick any number of excellent backroads that will take you back to the big city.

  • Towns: Astoria, Jewell, Mist
  • Length: 43
  • Counties: Clatsop, Columbia

Microsoft Streets & Trips file for Oregon Route 202 (Available soon)

Garmin GPX format file for Oregon Route 202

Overview Map:
Overview Map of Oregon Route 20

Google Map:

View Larger Map

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Adventure, Twisties, Western Oregon | November 23rd, 2007
3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. admin Says:
    October 4th, 2007 at 2:47 PM

    Amusingly enough, Google Earth also has an indicator that shows there was a Bigfoot sighting 2-3 miles south of Barth Falls in August of 1999.

  2. admin Says:
    June 20th, 2008 at 12:30 PM

    Just ran this road about a week ago. The logging trucks have been very active on this road, as evidenced by the extremely poor pavement quality between the top of the first ridge and Jewell.

    Between Jewell and Mist, the road wasn’t nearly as twisty but the 50mph sweepers were extremely smooth and conducive to serious corner drives.

  3. Speed3 Says:
    December 24th, 2011 at 12:11 AM

    I rode 202 southeast out of Astoria in October, 2011. The surface of the road is bumpy with many dips and potholes from the mountain top down the 10 miles into Jewell, no doubt from the logging trucks. If not for the less than ideal road surface, the road is fun with lots of twisties into Jewell. From Jewell to Mist the road surface is pretty smooth but posted at 50 most of the way with many straights along pastures and farm houses. I took the left turn from Mist northbound on hwy 47 to Clatskanie, which was a delight. The road surface was smooth and much of the forest had been cleared of trees so sight lines were continuous through several turns. Lots of twisties kept me on the sidewalls until a few miles south of hwy 30 which goes through dense hardwood forest with blocked sight lines. Watch out for deer. The road follows a stream. I was there at 4 pm and saw four does.

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