How to get home. Anacortes to NJ

[jwrushman]

I hope to be doing a "mostly Northern Tier" ride from NJ to Anacortes this summer.  I should be finishing in the first week in August.  From Anacortes, I was planning to ride south to Deception Pass - it seem like a good place to "end".  My question is, from there, what's a good way to get back to NJ?  Bicycling is not an option!  Do I ride down to Bremerton, take the ferry to Seattle, and fly back from there?  I should I backtrack and pedal up to Bellingham and fly from there?  I plan to ship my bicycle back by BikeFlights.  I'm thinking that cycling around Seattle may be congested.  But going out of Bellingham adds an extra leg to my flight.

[CMajernik]

The Bremerton ferry arrives in downtown Seattle. It's about 3 blocks from the ferry to one of the Link light rail stations which can take you to the airport. And I think it allows bikes but you need to check that to be sure. So you really wouldn't have to cycle in downtown Seattle very far. Where will you ship your bike from? I think that's the key question. The Sea-Tac airport has a station to take your bike apart.

https://www.portseattle.org/Sea-Tac/Parking-and-Transportation/Ground-Transportation/Pages/Public-Transit.aspx
https://www.portseattle.org/Sea-Tac/Parking-and-Transportation/Ground-Transportation/Pages/Bicycle-Resources.aspx

Or, as you said, return to Bellingham and fly from there.

[jamawani]

Take the Wash State Ferry out to the San Juan Islands - San Juan/Friday Harbor has a county park on the west side (sunset) but is the busiest. Lopez has a county and a state park and is laid bach - a small village with store and cafe.

From Anacortes there is scheduled airporter service to SeaTac - a bit expensive but easiest. You can also take public transit with a few changes down to SeaTac. The cheapest way is to take Transit to Everett and catch Amtrak all the way across - - if you have the time. You bike only costs something like $10 extra and they have bike boxes at the station. Empire Builder to Chicago then Lakeshore to NYC-Penn.

I caught Amtrak from Penn Station to Seattle after I finished an X-C last summer. Three days - but time to unwind.

[indyfabz]

I did the reverse when starting tours from Seattle up to the Northern Tier. Took the Bremmerton ferry from town up through Deception Pass to join the route between Anacortes and Bay View. Wasn't bad at all. Fort Worden in Pt. Townsend is a great place to camp. Also stayed at Kitsap Memorial S.P. Find a LBS in town, have it box your bike and have it shipped home from there via bikeflights.

I got out there via Amtrak, but that is when you only had to take one train from NYC though Philly to Chicago and then one from CHI to Seattle. It's more complicated now since they got rid of the Broadway Limited that went from NYC to CHI. The NYC to Pittsburgh service, where you hook up with the Capitol Limited to CHI doesn't have a baggage car.

[jwrushman]

Thanks for the replies.  It gives me several options to check out.

[John Nelson]

Check out the Bellingham airport too. It's 50 miles closer than Seattle and sometimes flights from small airports are cheaper than flights from larger airports.

[canalligators]

A quick search shows at least one airport shuttle from Anacortes to Sea-Tac.  We did the opposite in '03 to start our WA ID MT ride in '03.

Where will you have to take your bike for BikeFlights?

[indyfabz]

Where will you have to take your bike for BikeFlights?

You can take the boxed bike to any FedEx shipping location, including any FedEx/Kinko's store. For $5 more you can have it picked up at a LBS. For return shipping, I opt for the latter when I do loop tours away from home. Whatever shop I ship the bike to holds my box. When I am done, I simply drop the bike off at the shop, give them the shipping labels and go have a beer. For shipment out, I use a LBS for packing that is less than a block away from a FedEx/Kinko's location. The shop packs the bike and walks it to FedEx/Kinko's.

[Wilierboy]

I second the suggestion to end your trip in the San Juans.  #1 bike touring location in the US according to Lonely Planet and the BBC, top ten in the world! Lopez Island is super bike friendly, with lots of biker campsites too.

You might be able to piece together a few cheap Allegiant Air flights from Bellingham to get you back to NJ.  Nice ride to Bellingham from Anacortes, too.  You can drop me a line if you have any more questions about the area.

[pmhayden]

Lopez Island is super bike friendly, with lots of biker campsites too.

http://lopezfarmcottages.com

Stayed here on Lopez, rode around the island.  Buy some cheese and bread in the village grocery store, a bottle of wine. Ride again.

San Juan has more roads, and interesting historic parks.

Orcas is less populated,  but the shoulders are a bit narrow.
http://northbeachinn.com/

Anyway, if you do not need to go anywhere, but just want to ride, it is awesome. And not that expensive if you camp.