I had a lovely opportunity to ride this road recently. While the weather wasn’t anywhere near perfect, it’s probably what you can also expect along the Oregon Coast most of the year.
This road does lack a bit in engineering with its frequent bumps and dips, but it’s a fine weekday cruise. Weekday, you ask? Yes, just about every report that I’ve received from other riders mentions that this road has a fair bit of traffic on it. I rolled through on a damp Monday and saw no one else at all, but apparently this is definitely not the case on the weekends.
This road, like OR SR53, has a tendency to run through existing small creek drainages systems and is thus often below grade level. No big deal until you start coming across deer in the sometimes tight shrubbery-lined corners. I saw several while I was on this road: at 10am in the morning, in the rain. Must’ve been some hungry deer.
Back to the road itself, it’s really a rather enjoyable road, but like many of these coastal roads, are perhaps better enjoyed on something with a bit of suspension travel or dirt competency. These roads are mostly built on what are very large, permanent sand dunes and any road that gets large trucks will start to deform quickly.
If you can catch this one, I do still recommend it. It beats the hell out of sitting on 101 behind dozens of RVs puttering through the corners at 35, but don’t expect perfectly track-smooth surfaces and clear lines of sight either.
The scenery on this route is rather mediocre, so I’ve included a nice shot of Nehalem Bay at the north end of Miami River Road, just a few miles or so west of the OR 53 junction.
Photo by Michael Cornelius (Creative Commons: AT-SA)
- Road Name: Miami River Road / Foley Creek Road
- Counties: Tillamook
- Length: 13
- Towns: Garibaldi, Wheeler
Overview Map:
Google Map: