Seattle to Anacortes, Pacific Coast

[p.brooks]

I now have to fly to Seattle not Vancouver but I still want to visit the San Juan Inslands.
I need suggestions on how to head North from the airport SEA/TAC through the city and north to some state park/ camping facility.
I will ultimately be headed to Anacortes to get a ferry to Orcas Island.
Any help would be greatly appreciated........Peter

[indyfabz]

Unless things have changed, AC's Pacific Coast Route takes you from close to Seattle and apsses near Anacortes.

In '99 I did AC's group NT tour.  We took a ferry from downtown Seattle and spent the next night at something like Kitsap State Park (cannot remember the exact name).  The next day we rode to Port Townsend and stayed at Fort Worden State Park, which is very nice. Located on the water.  It's a former naval air base and served as the training base in the film "An Officer and a Gentleman." From Port Townsend, we took another ferry and ended up hooking up with the NT route just east of Anacortes. It's not a far ride into town from there. I retraced this route the following year. I cannot remember my route from Seattle to the Pacific Coast Route, but it was not complicated.

Both Kitsap and Fort Worden had hiker/biker sites.

Re: getting from the airport to Seattle, there is a light rail line (the Central Link) that takes you into town:

http://www.soundtransit.org/Schedules/Central-Link-light-rail.xml

[staehpj1]

That will mean going way out of your way if doing the pacific coast.  I'd probably look into bus and train schedules to get to Anacortes and then follow the PC route south from there.  The following link was about a different set of priorities, but may have some useful info:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/744412-Pacific-Coast-flying-in-to-SeaTac?

[CMajernik]

There is also a shuttle from SeaTac to Anacortes. Check to see if they take bicycles.
http://www.airporter.com/shuttle/anacortes-to-seatac-airport-seattle

ACA's Pacific Coast Route #1 map does show routing from Bremerton northward to Anacortes. From downtown Seattle you can take the Bremerton Ferry and follow the route north. Campgrounds are noted on the map.

[Pat Lamb]

We shipped our bikes from Anacortes and took the shuttle from there to SeaTac.  The Airporter is a shuttle to Burlington, and changes over to a bus there.  Not much room for large luggage if they're as full as when we rode it.

[happyriding]

I rode west on the Northern Tier to a spot just short of Anacortes called Bay View, and from Bay View I rode south to Seattle in one day, and the riding sucked.  I rode on crowded boulevards with stop lights every block.  If you are going to ride your bike to Anacortes, I suggest you take the ferry from downtown Seattle to Bremerton, and then ride north on the ACA Pacific Coast route.   When I left Seattle, I took the ferry over to Bremerton to hook up with the Pacific Coast route and headed south, and the roads were beautiful.   The Olympic pennisula (i.e. the land mass across the water to the west of Seattle where Bremerton is located) is supposed to be beautiful(it was too foggy for me to see anything), so riding north should be spectacular in clear weather.

The camping in Bay View sucked, too.  The hiker/bike site no longer exists -- it got replaced by $85/night cabins.  The ranger was still nice enough to give me the hiker/biker rate at a regular campsite.  But the campground was inundated with screaming kids everywhere, the drive-in tent sites were jammed so close together there was no privacy, and smoke from all the campfires made breathing difficult.  There were stereos blasting, and car alarms went off every minute.  Camping there really made me sad.

[tsteven4]

deception pass state park (8 miles south of Anacortes) had reasonable hiker biker sites in 2008.  It would seem to be much, much better than bay view judging by happyriding's post.  It was uncrowded, quiet and separated from the regular camp sites.  As I remember there was a little bit of lifting/pushing to get the bikes up to the site.  No complaints, but you haven't arrived in hiker biker nirvana (Oregon) yet.

I agree with the suggestion to take the ferry to Bremerton.  While we didn't do this I can attest to the quality of the route once you get to Bremerton.

In Kitsap SP we splurged on a regular campsite to get some sun.  The HB sites were deep in the gloom.

[indyfabz]

The camping in Bay View sucked, too.  The hiker/bike site no longer exists -- it got replaced by $85/night cabins.  The ranger was still nice enough to gave me the hiker/biker rate at a regular campsite.  But the campground was inundated with screaming kids everywhere, the drive-in tent sites were jammed so close together there was no privacy, and smoke from all the campfires made breathing difficult.  There were stereos blasting, and car alarms went off every minute.  Camping there really made me sad.

But the view of the refinery is priceless.    Seriously...That's quite the opposite of what I experienced the two times I stayed there. It was pretty empty.  But both times I was there in late May, before the tourist season was in full swing.

Agree about the hike-biker sites at Kitsap.  They don't offer any sun, which would be a plus in hotter areas. If I remember correctly, the hiker/biker sites at Ft. Worden are also among the trees.

[p.brooks]

Thank You all for the valuable info !
A ferry to Bremerton and ride to Kitsap is the way to go. Looking at riding through north Seattle looked like Hell.
There a ferry from Port Townsend across to take Rt 20 north to Anacortes...... Thanks again.....Peter

[adventurepdx]

I know this is a little late, but figured I'd throw out some more info in case other people in the future would need it.

From Seattle to Mt. Vernon, a town about 20 miles east of Anacortes, you can take Amtrak. It runs twice daily, and allows roll-on bike service for an additional $5.

Or, if ya feel like saving some money, you can take a Sound Transit commuter bus from Seattle to Everett station. From there you can hop on a Skagit Transit Route 90X bus that runs during commute hours Mon-Fri:
http://www.skagittransit.org/index.cfm?pageID=36727

The riding from the Mt. Vernon Station to Anacortes is pretty straightforward. West on SR 536 then west on SR 20 across the big bridge, then after bridge/casino get onto March Point Road (the exit right after the bridge). This will go on for a couple miles, then turn right after the Park n' Ride near the coffee place. You'll come across a rail-trail that will lead straight to downtown Anacortes and then it's a few more miles on SR 20 Spur to the ferry teminal to San Juans/Vancouver Island.

You could also take Skagit Transit buses from Mt. Vernon to Anacortes if you like, though you'll have to transfer. And the bus service is limited, so timing is crucial.

Riding north out of Seattle to Anacortes isn't the most thrilling thing, as I've done it once. I used the Interurban Trail north, which varies from decent to annoying. Then I used surface roads to Mulkilteo where I caught a ferry to South Whidbey Island and then rode up the island mostly using SR 525/20.

I've never tried it, but the RSVP route brings you from Seattle to Burlington, just north of Mt. Vernon. It tracks to the east, so it's not the most direct route:
http://shop.cascade.org/sites/default/files/RSVP-Route-Map-2011.pdf

Deception Pass is cool for camping. The south unit (Cranberry Lake) has hiker/biker camping spots. Watch out for the raccoons, though. (They can be a problem at many places on the coast.) North of the bridge is Bowman Bay campground (still part of Deception Pass S.P.) which I liked much better. There's no hiker-biker sites, but most spots offer a great view of the bay, and there was less noise from the nearby Naval Air Station. The drone of jets was omnipresent all night at the hiker-biker spots at Cranberry Lake.