Anacortes-Seattle, the long way ...

[michisteiner]

Hi,

I'm on a cross-country trip, ending it on the ACA Northern Tier after self-routing in the east and TransAm in the middle.
Somewhat belatedly -- i'm now at the eastern border of Washington state ..., i realize that i arrive in Anacortes with more time to spare than a simple ride to Seattle would take to catch my train back east.  Hence my question:

Does anybody have a good suggestion for a 3-4 day trip from Anacortes
to Seattle?  The olympic mountains come in mind but i have no idea
what would be good routes, whether there is a decent level of services
around and whether this time of the year (more specifically, end of
next week) would be a good or bad time to ride there.

Some background: i love mountains, so this is not a problem as long as
it's not steeper than 10% (unfortunately, my original bike broke down
and i have now a suboptimally geared second one ..) -- if there is a
nice out-n-return climb where i could drop temporarily my trailer,
though, it gladly could be steeper ... and distance-wise 70miles/day
would certainly be fine, i.e., 200-300 miles total.

thanks!!

BTW: If anybody has alternatively some suggestions on great day hikes
along route 20 worth a day off the bike, that would be great,
too.  But no, while i would like to climb Mt. Baker, i'm not equipped
with the right gear for that :-)  But hikes of 15 miles and 3000ft
elevation gain would certainly be fine ..

PS: Some (limited) info on my trip is on
   http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/headwest
and
   http://picasaweb.google.com/steiner.michi
...

[michisteiner]

BTW: just as full disclosure, i've cross-posted the same request also to
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/forum/board/message/?o=3Tzut&thread_id=137208&v=3&page=1&nested=1#137208
and
http://www.cascade.org/Community/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=15611&STARTPAGE=1

[FredHiltz]

Sorry I cannot help with the Seattle destination, but would like to suggest a ferry ride to the San Juan Islands and a bike ride to the top of Mt. Constitution. The islands are beautiful, low traffic riding. If you are as lucky as I was, you will get a tremendous 360-degree international view of mountains, ocean, the islands, and the Straights from the summit.

Fred

[johnsondasw]

The San Juan Islands are a great idea, as mentioned by FredHiltz.  This week, it may be wet Fri-Sat, and should get better late Sat and Sunday.  The San Juan area is drier than most of the  Western Washington due to the rain shadow provided by the Olympic Mts. 

I have ridden around the Oylmpic Peninsula, mostly on the main highwayt 101.  It was a great ride of 322 miles.  It will probably be quite wet Fri-Sat, especially on the western parts.

You can also ride from Anacortes down Whidbey Island, another rain shadow area.  On Whidbey, you can take a ferry across to Port Townsend. and then work your way back to Seattle by, for instance Bainbridge Island and Windslow ferry.  Check the maps, ask locals, etc.  This is all great biking country, when not too wet.

Have fun!

[michisteiner]

Thanks for all the suggestions which helped to make a memorable end to my trip. For a brief account of what i ended up doing, see my post on http://www.cascade.org/Community/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=15611&STARTPAGE=1

[FredHiltz]

That's a nice report. Thanks for checking back in. You stirred up some good memories here.

Fred