On Friday I set out with my Dad to ride up to his cabin on Guemes Island, north of Anacortes, WA.
Our route led us through three counties and clocked in at just over 110 miles.
I started on Capitol Hill in Seattle. Taking the Burke-Gilman and Sammamish River Trails north to Woodenville where I met my Father who’d started at his home in Beaux Arts. From there we road north to Snohomish where we got on the Centennial Trail.
The Centennial Trail is an old railroad right of way that’s been turned in to a bike path er … Multiuse Path. In this case it seemed to be aimed at bikes and horses, with much of the paved trail having a dirt path paralleling it for horsies.
This trail took us as far north as Arlington where we cut East and proceeded to be foiled by a bridge that was out for construction near Silvana. After blundering around to find a route we were headed north again on the Pioneer Highway, a gorgeous route through the Skagit Valley.
The low point of the ride was definitely when we were stopped by a Park Ranger/Sherriff’s deputy along the Centennial for riding in a section that was marked as “closed for mowing”. The section in question was about a 1 mile stretch in the very middle of a five mile stretch of trail that had no road crossings. I argued that the state patrol would not close off the freeway 2 miles after the last exit without providing ample Detour sinage, he didn’t see my logic. We were told that we’d be receiving citations by mail.
It was the longest bike ride I’ve ever had by about 5 miles. It felt really cool to ride from end to end a trip that I have made countless times by car. Yay bikes!
