Minimalist Touring Smugness

Yes, I know. It's been a long time since I've posted a comic. I need to do more...

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San Juan Islands (and Skagit County Too!) Tour report, Part Three: Fidalgo Island and Skagit Valley

Sunday September 15. I made a quick breakfast while listening to the CBC again (this time from the Vancouver station, not the Victoria one), broke down camp and made it in time to catch the ferry just around 10 am. Another foggy morn on the water, but this one more so than it was on Friday, so much so that the crew was sounding the horn every couple minutes. Thankfully we didn't hit anything and pulled into Anacortes safe and sound around 11 am.

Now what? I decide to see if I could get in a little riding around Fidalgo Island before the rains came. First, I headed west from the ferry dock to Washington Park, just about a mile or so. Washington Park is on a little peninsula, part of it the ballfields and picnic areas of a typical city park, the rest of it a forested preserve with all the Doug Firs, Madronas, and Oregon White Oaks of a forest in this neck of the woods. There was a couple mile drive that looped and winded through the park, so of course I took it, marveling at the view.

After the ride, I decided to take a break at a covered picnic shelter. That's when I heard the thunder rumbling in the distance. I made lunch while listening to the Weather Band and waiting to see if the storm would come. It didn't, but I decided to scrap my plans for further island exploration and hightailed it back to my host's house where I spent the rest of the day bumming around and hanging out with my hosts (who wined and dined me very well!)

I awoke on Monday September 16 to more mist and fog. Oh well. The distance between Anacortes and Mount Vernon was barely 20 miles and very flat, so it would be a quick ride. I didn't really feel like hanging out in either town for an extended period of time. (While they are both nice, they aren't overwhelmingly interesting for "hanging out" purposes.) So I decided to go the long way.

First I headed south through Whidbey Island to get all the way down to Deception Pass on the south tip. I went up and down a few hills while passing through some of the very lovely forest lands owned by the city of Anacortes.

I've been to Deception Pass three times before, but the pass and bridge is always nice for a quick stop. The fog was pretty intense here.

Then northbound on busy SR 20. The first mile or so had a very minimal shoulder, but it improved after that. I got off the main highway just south of March's Point and took Reservation Road southeast towars La Conner. Here's the other crossing over the Swinomish Channel to get back to the mainland, and the only bridge off the island I hadn't crossed yet, Rainbow Bridge.

La Conner was an interesting place, for sure. It seems like this area of the world has numerous "off-the-map" towns that were founded during Victorian times and languished in obscurity for decades until folks rediscovered the place. La Conner is one of those places. It felt like a smaller version of Port Townsend, with its classic downtown and many Victorian-era buildings all around. Of course, towns like this tend to be a tad on the touristy side, so after much searching I ended up eating at a pub that had the best food prices, and a great view of the waterfront.

After lunch, I biked up to the top of the short-but-steep hill that overlooks the downtown for a nice little view.

Initially I had hoped to head north from La Conner to Edison, another one of the cute out-of-the-way towns in the area. But I had already hit 30 miles and wanted a more direct route back. So I headed east across the Skagit flatlands, then up along the Skagit River itself into Mount Vernon. I found Mount Vernon Brewery and celebrated with a couple post-tour celebratory beers. From there, another few miles to my Warmshowers host on the north side of town, where I enjoy a nice night of conversation about touring.

And that was pretty much it. On Tuesday morn, I got up early and caught the Amtrak Cascades train out of Mount Vernon at 9:15 am. 6 hours later I was back in Portland.

While the tour didn't go exactly as planned, I'm really happy to finally have biked around a couple of the San Juan Islands. Now I just need to get back up there and finish what I started!

More photos here.

San Juan Islands (and Skagit County Too!) Tour report, Part Two: More San Juan, and a little Lopez.

When I last left you fine folks I was camping out on San Juan on the night of Friday September 13. The next morn, Saturday September 14, I awoke to heavy wet fog. When planning the trip, I thought about bringing my bivy sack because of its smaller size and relative lightness. But I decided to bring my 1-person Passage 1 tent from REI instead, as there was a bit of rain in the forecast. Rain or not, it's a good thing I brought the tent, as it would have been less pleasant to deal with the fog in the bivy.

Wake up, make breakfast while listening to CBC, pack up, say goodbye to the fellow cyclotourists, and head out. Today I would be heading to the southern tip of San Juan Island to see the other part of San Juan Island National Historic Park, the "American Camp" part. This was the most challenging, yet rewarding part of biking on the island, as the road wound up and down hills and afforded occasional views, though most everything was still fogged in. After awhile the road leveled out a bit, and I passed through some farmland and by False Bay. Looks real enough to me.

American Camp is the yin to English Camp's yang. English Camp sat on a protected bay, American Camp was on a wide-open and windswept peninsula. The views of this hardscrabble landscape were stunning, though.

Another few miles down the road and I was at the end of Cattle Point and its namesake lighthouse. I hoped to catch a glimpse of a whale or somesuch, but nothing, alas. Just more great views of landscape.

Then I headed back into Friday Harbor to catch a ferry to Lopez Island. I had been taking a slow, as-it-comes approach to island exploration and didn't feel like rushing to catch a ferry. I had all intents of taking it easy in Friday Harbor and catching the 5pm ferry. But closing in on Friday Harbor I realized that I might just make the 2:30 ferry after all. So, I hammered on in, made a brief resupply stop at the grocery store, and got on the ferry with just minutes to spare.

The ride didn't take long and I got off the ferry just after 3. Here at the Lopez terminal they make cyclists wait in a staging area until the cars get off, as there is a hill getting out of the terminal. I didn't find this hill nearly as bad as some other hills out of ferry terminals I've dealt with. And there is a bike lane, so I don't really understand the point in making us wait in this circumstance, other than not having 50-150 cars whiz by you in succession.

Anyways, it was a shortish 5 miles to my camping spot of the night, Spencer Spit State Park. I wasn't as enamored with Spencer Spit as I was San Juan Park. Both did provide hiker/biker sites, but the devil's in the dtails. San Juan had it in a prime spot with a great view, Spencer Spit had it in the back of the park on what appears to be a service road.* (There was a back hoe and piles of dirt at the end of the road.) While wooded, I could still hear the campers in the main loop. And weirdest aspect of it all was the "picnic table" provided with each site. Rather than normal size, it looked like a normal-sized one cut in half the long way. (They did provide "regular" picnic tables and a fire pit in the one communal site.)

At this point in the trip, I had reeled in some of the expectations I had going into it. Initially I had hoped to do "an island a day", with Orcas being the probable third. But getting onto San Juan on Friday I switched to the "take it as it comes" mindset and slow things down. Now I was more into the idea of skipping Orcas for maybe Shaw, or maybe not. I had planned to circumnavigate Lopez on Sunday and probably spend the night at Spencer Spit or take the ferry over to Shaw.

These plans all changed when I turned on the weather band while setting up camp. I had known for days that there was a chance of rain starting Sunday, but the new forecast was much more dire. They were now calling for thunderstorms and a good 20-30 mile wind. I've dealt with thunderstorms and wind on tours before, but this was when I had no other choice. I didn't feel like sticking it out and camping on Sunday in these conditions, especially since I didn't care much for the campsite. I got in touch with my Warmshowers host in Anacortes and they said it would be okay to stay on Sunday night. So I'd be returning to the "mainland" a day sooner than expected, cutting my island explorations short. While it was a bummer, I planned to make the best of it.

But first a quick exploration of Spencer Spit. Despite my grumblings about its camping facilities,** the spit itself was cool and I got some great views. I didn't get to watch the sun set as I did on San Juan (the spit faces eastward), I did hang out there after dark and get to watch ferries pass by in the night. I did best to enjoy my evening on the beach, knowing full well it may be the last one I spend on a saltwater beach before 2014 (or at least while the weather is still good.)


*There is one hiker/biker site right on the water. But it's only one and it was taken. There were "walk-in" sites with a waterfront view near the lone hiker-biker site, but they were regular priced and already full.
**Another gripe, I could find only two bathrooms in the entire campground, and each men's room only had one toilet. Two toilets total for a pretty sizable place.

San Juan Islands (and Skagit County Too!) Tour report, Part One: Getting there and San Juan Island

I've been wanting to do some touring on the San Juan Islands for quite some time. The San Juans are an island archipelago in Washington State north of Seattle, between Vancouver Island and the mainland, in the meeting spot between Puget Sound, Strait of Georgia and Strait of Juan de Fuca. These hilly islands, while touristy, are supposed to offer rustic charms and great views. While I had never set foot on any of the San Juans before this trip, I had been through the San Juans a few times, as the international ferry between Vancouver Island (Sidney BC) to the Washington State Mainland at Anacortes passes through the islands.

The one tantalizing issue with a San Juans tour is getting there. While the San Juans are close enough to Portland to make it work for a five-or-so day tour, it still is far enough away that it would take a full day and change to get to, and then a good part of a day to return. While there is a direct train connection from Portland to Mount Vernon, the closest stop to the Anacortes ferry terminal, the train only runs once daily, departing from Portland around 3pm and arriving in Mount Vernon around 8pm. In September, this is after dark, and the ferry terminal is 20 miles from the depot, so realistically this would work if I wanted to stay in Mount Vernon for the night. But I wanted to stay in Anacortes so it would be only a couple mile ride to the ferry in the am.

Bikes in the baggage car.

Instead I decided to take the morning Amtrak Cascades from Portland to Seattle, then take local transit to Mount Vernon. So I woke up early on Thursday morning, September 12th, to haul ass down to Union Station to catch the 8:30am train. Thankfully I had pretty much packed up the Long Haul Trucker the night before, so getting out of the house was quick and easy.

And to make things even easier, I managed to pare my touring load down to my "minimalist" setup, meaning front rando/handlebar bag (my custom North Street bag), rear saddlebag (Carradice Nelson Longflap, tent strapped to exterior), and to augment my carrying capacity, my small Jandd frame bag. I had been wanting to test my minimalist setup beyond the one overnight I did to Oxbow Park in June, and I felt that this tour was a perfect time to try. There are three reasons for this:

1. I knew that while the San Juans are "rural", they are "West-of-Cascades, not-in-mountains" rural, meaning NOT wilderness. There would be enough grocery stores and markets that I knew I would be able to resupply food on a daily basis, so I didn't need a heck of a lot of food carrying capacity.
2. The weather would still be mild, so I could bring "just enough" clothes (and raingear.)
3. I didn't want to check baggage on Amtrak (and I wouldn't be able to do this on the return anyway), and I didn't want to haul around a lot of stuff between trains and buses.

The train ride passed without much incident (and not much to say about it either, as I've passed this way three times in the span of about a month!) I got into Seattle around 12:30pm, just enough time to get some coffee and lunch before I caught the express Sound Transit bus to Everett at 1:50pm. Originally I planned on taking the Sounder commuter rail train from Seattle to Everett, but I would have to wait until 4pm to catch the first one, giving me less time to get to Anacortes before dark. And now the first afternoon Skagit Transit express bus from Everett to Mount Vernon bus departs at 3:10pm, which meant I could get into Mount Vernon by 4!

Upon arrival in Mount Vernon, I had a quick bite to eat at the food co-op, and then rode the mostly flat 18 miles across the Skagit Valley lowlands westward to Anacortes. (To make up for the relative ease of a flat ride, I was riding into the sun, with a headwind, and I almost bonked half-way down the road.) So I got to Anacortes well before dark, and found the house of my Warmshowers host, who put me up in their "guest cottage". I had a great view of the sunset over the water. I would be sharing the cottage with another bike tourist, Beven, a New Zealander who just finished riding around the islands and would be taking transit south down towards the Bay Area.

On Friday morn (September 13) I awoke early to a foggy morning (to be expected for such a maritime area.) It was a quick ride to the Ferry Terminal, and I made the 9:45 am ferry to Friday Harbor, the "big town" (actually, only town) on San Juan Island, the most populous of the archipelago. Still foggy, I decide to ride the north portion of the island first. The road out of town is busy for a mile or so, but traffic then drops off, and a decent shoulder appears. Not only that, they’ve made special “Bike Turnouts” for us two-wheeled travelers to stop. One of which is basically a bike rest area! The landscape is rolling farms and woods, a bit inland from the water for now. The fog finally breaks when I get to the west side of the island. The road becomes narrower and hillier, and I stop for my first attraction: the English Camp unit of San Juan National Historic Park.

English Camp comes from when the San Juans were jointly occupied by both US and British (Canadian) forces, as there was a dispute where the boundary between where Washington Territory (US) and the Vancouver Island colony (Canada). English Camp lasted from 1859 to 1872. More info about the whole business here. English Camp was a more “deluxe” encampment than the American base on the SE corner of the island, but little is left of it today, just a few buildings. And a great view. Here at English Camp I ran into a couple of other bike tourists, the first (but not the last) ones I would run into. I forget their names, but remembered that they are from somewhere in the SW and they’ve been touring around the islands and sounds for a few weeks. Basically they’ve been doing the tour I wanted to do but couldn’t due to time constraints. (Sigh…) Anyways, the Surly Long Haul Trucker has been…interestingly renamed. (Somehow I can see Surly coming out with a model name like this.)

From English Camp, it was a fairly short ride to San Juan County Park, my camping spot for the night. At this point I had done a little over 20 miles of riding on the island, and it was about 2pm. Early enough that I could set up camp and go explore a little. So I did just that. A few miles down the road was Lime Kiln Point State Park, with its titular lime kiln and also a small and cute lighthouse. Lime Kiln Point is one of the best points to see whales out on the water. Unfortunately I didn’t see any, but there had been an orca sighting the day before.

And then I was back at camp. San Juan County Park has a hiker/biker site for $10 per person a night, a very good deal in these parts. It’s got possibly one of the best views I’ve had from any hiker/biker site I’ve been to, overlooking Haro Strait and Vancouver Island in the distance! You bet I watched the sun set from here. The only drawback to the hiker/biker site here is that it’s right next to the day use area and there is 0% privacy or separation from the rest of the campground, but it was a small price to pay. Besides, most of the campground is pretty open, meaning no one had privacy.

There were two other couples camping in the hiker/biker area. One was a younger couple doing a quick getaway on San Juan, the other an older couple from Lake Oswego who rode up from the Olympia area.

I had an enjoyable evening in camp, making dinner, listening to both Environment Canada’s forecast on the weather band and the CBC station from Victoria on the FM, and watching the sun rise and the stars come out.

More photos here.