Today's ride is a short loop through WashCo's rail past and automobile present. 

The circle can be completed in under 20 minutes but most cyclists will want to ride here from either Cornelius, Hillsboro, North Plains or Forest Grove on their choice of flat low-traffic roads. Riders from Banks also have a short connenction but will have to brave crossing highway 6.

I rode clockwise from the south but either direction is fine.

Roy

I begin the loop from the unincorporated community of Roy. It was originally built up as a stop on the Pacific Railway and Navigation Company line that used to run to Tillamook. While the railroad ceased operations in Roy a long time ago, the town has survived as a cluster of small recreational farm properties surrounded by highways and commercial agriculture. 

It’s named after the landowners who ceded the property to the railroad in the early 1900s. At the time the Roy post office was founded in 1904, it boasted between 100-200 residents. That number is probably unchanged to this day.

The Franciscan church and cemetery remain the most prominent features. The church is always open to bikers in need (or at least its bathrooms are).

Wilkesboro

From Roy, follow the trainline northwest along Wilkesboro Road to the next destination, the former terminus of the United Railways line that ran to Portland.

In the early 20th century, this was a minor rail hub. In addition to the United Railways and PR&N lines, the Gales Creek and Wilson River Railroad connected Wilkesboro to Glenwood (Today, highway 6 follows the old rail route).

Although far less important to today's economy, remnants of all these tracks continue to operate. Wilkesboro is a mess of oblique railroad crossings that can snag bike tires.

The town population was always small (<<100 people). Any memories of downtown, shops, or post office is long gone. Recreational farms properties (small not commercially viable plots) line both Wilkesboro and Aerts road.

Tillamook Junction

Turn back east and take Mountaindale Road. There's still two more locations to stop by on this trip but they aren't really communities and may be mistakes on the map.

Continue along the road through serene farmlands until you're abruptly stopped by U.S. 26, the busiest road in the county. Look to your left to the 6/26 interchange: you've found Tillamook Junction!

I'm not sure why the WashCo GIS database lists the Junction as a Local Community Area. It's not the only baffling inclusion. Sure, nearly every resident of WashCo has probably passed through Tillamook Junction, but no one remembers it fondly or calls it home. It’s the very definition of a non-place.

In any event, this limited-access high-speed interchange is probably about the worst place in the whole county for a cyclist. I snapped a few photos from Mountaindale road. 

Patient and brave cyclists can scuttle across Hwy 26 here (I have) but it’s much safer to head east to the Dersham Road overpass or west to the Banks-Vernonia trail underpass.

Today, I'm going to backtrack a few miles and turn left on Roy Road to complete the loop. I pass another non-community along the way.

Christie