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Posts Tagged ‘best scenic roads’

The glorious scenery of Western Washington is shrouded in a blanket of temperate marine clouds for several months per year. Many of us riders keep our wheels turning throughout the year, despite it feeling like you’re riding through the vegetable section at the grocery store — the constant mist keeps us fresh.

When the sun begins to burn through our winter blanket, riders are very eager to hit the road. The lingering snow in the Cascade mountains and foothills pushes adventures to the lower elevations. For this reason, one of my favorite spring-time rides is out on the island, Whidbey Island.

Whidbey Island sits just off the mainland in the waters of the Puget Sound. It basically runs longitudinally, with the main roads going North-South. The Seattle-metro area sprawls to the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry that serves Whidbey Island. For our most recent Whidbey Island road trip, we decided to start to the north and ride south.

Rainbow Bridge in La Conner crosses the Swinomish Channel.

Our ride actually starts near the Snohomish and Skagit county line. There are a handful of non-freeway routes that will get you up to the starting point in Conway and on to Fir Island Road. Fir Island Road slices through lush Skagit Valley farmland dividing it up into sections of land held above water by a vast system of dikes. The fertile land produces many cash crops, such as tulips, iris, potatoes and more. The flowers are particularly popular with tourists during the Skagit Valley Tulip festival held in April every year.

Fir Island turns into Best Road as it climbs up a small hill. As it drops down again, turn onto Chilberg Road toward the historic town of La Conner. The town has many food and retail options. We take the very first left turn onto Maple Avenue  to circumvent the busy business core. Rainbow Bridge soon arches gracefully over the Swinomish Channel that once carried steamboats north from Seattle and on to Bellingham. On the other side of the bridge we ride through the Swinomish Reservation and almost immediately turn left onto Snee Oosh Road. Now firmly on Fidalgo Island, the road provides beautiful views over the waters of Simlik Bay before connecting with Reservation Road to continue north where we follow Washington State Route 20.

We aren’t ready to turn toward Whidbey Island just yet so we ride past the intersection for SR20 and Deception Pass Road. Instead, we head to the round-a-bout in Anacortes and follow it all the way around to Commercial Avenue.

Mount Erie is the highest point on Fidalgo Island. It offers great views to the east, west and south.

We wind through the neighborhood to H Avenue and Heart Lake Road. This road takes us through the incredible park known as the Anacortes Community Forest Lands.

According to a Wikipedia article, the area was once a city revenue source from logging, the local community banned together in the 1990’s to stop logging operations and create multi-purpose trails for hiking, horse and motorized use. Within the 1,500-acre ACFL park is Mt Erie. At 1,273-feet, Mt. Erie is the highest point on Fidalgo Island. Riding up the paved and twisting road to the top opens an incredible view of the San Juan Islands, Cascade Mountains, Mount Baker and even the Olympic Mountains on particularly clear days. After taking in the views, which includes Whidbey Island to the South, we fire up the Suzuki V-Strom 650 and stroll back down the hill to Heart Lake Road and continue South. At the “Y” intersection, keep the left and Campbell Lake Road will connect with SR20, Deception Pass Road.

Motorcycling past Cranberry Lake in Deception Pass State Park on Whidbey Island, WA.

Originally, explorers thought that Whidbey Island was a peninsula. Explorers make mistakes and the small passage of Deception Pass is aptly named for it’s trickery of the famous Vancouver Expedition. Lucky us motorcyclists, the Deception Pass Bridge carries road-goers 180 feet above the turbulent tidal waters below. We ride slowly along the nearly quarter-mile long bridge expanse to soak in the views as we cross. At the intersection past the bridge is the entrance to Deception Pass State Park. A Washington State Discover Pass is required to enter. The gate keepers insisted that we hang our pass on the bike or risk a $99 ticket. It wasn’t the best welcome to a paying customer. We feel unwelcome at Deception Pass State Park and leave.

Now officially on the island, there is one main route north to south comprised of two roads, SR20 and SR525. These roads are busy. There are many side roads that provide a more scenic experience. We trodded off along the northwest portion of the island before arriving to Oak Harbor. The map below shows the actual route, but I highly suggest putting the map away. You’re on an island. You’re not going to get lost, but attempting to is the beauty of being on Whidbey Island.

We find ourselves on Dike Road by accident. To the west, the buzzing traffic of SR20 was visible. It looked hectic, but was well camouflaged by the views of the water trapped by the dike and surrounding grassy field. My head turns to the east jus as my wife chimes in in over the wireless intercom, “Look there’s a Bald Eagle perched right over there.” Just 100 yards into the tidelands was the large bird feasting on young minnow-sized fish. Nature and wildlife is abundant on the island. All you have to do is let the beaten path sink into the camouflage, slow down and enjoy it.

Bald Eagle as seen from a dike on Whidbey Island. Wildlife is abudant on the island.

My #1 pillion and I take turns calling the preferred direction of travel at each intersection. We run into several dead ends. Some were well forested, while others developed communities. Most dished up scenic views of what makes the island life so enticing.

Eventually our somewhat random calling of directions brings us to downtown Oak Harbor. We walk the main strip, grabbing ice cream at Popsies (http://www.popsies.com) and coffee at Whidbey Island Coffee as we meander in and out of seas of antiques, gifts and Paint Your World — a great little store where you paint your own pottery.

After the caffeine and sugar sink in, we mount the V-Strom and continue south. Without giving away too many mapped constrictions, I suggest you zig to the numerous state parks while you zag to the little towns that dot the island. Just be aware of the state park gate keepers as they aren’t friendly to motorcyclists. The views are worth dealing with their poor service.

Ala Spit offers great views of the Skagit River mud flats and spectacular bird watching from northeast Whidbey Island.

If at any point you need to get home, then SR20 or SR525 will get you on the way. Our next trip to Whidbey Island will likely include a tent. The island can easily be zoomed through and looped with I-5 for road trips out of Seattle. A tent or bed and breakfast would enhance the experience.

A few interesting stops on Whidbey Island include:

• Useless Bay Coffee in Langley
• Meerkerk Gardens just south of Greenbank
• Greenbank Farm, which is a former farm and Chateau Ste. Michelle-owned winery that is now art galleries, café, trails and more.

The town of Clinton is the final stop on Whidbey Island. From here, the ferry crosses over to Mukilteo. As traffic builds the hustle and bustle is hard to escape. The Tin Fish is where I often go for incredible fish tacos while I sit on the patio and let the mainland sink in. It is my personal hyperbaric chamber that helps me safely handle the mainland pressures.

Glines Canyon Dam - by Scott Church

Continuing the relaxed nature of this trip, we weren’t in a hurry to leave the comfort of our sleeping bags. The sun began to warm the ground by the time that we woke up. This was to be our last day on the Olympic Peninsula.

After gathering our food from the bear-proof cabinet, we begin striking matches for a fire. The purchased bundle of wood is too damp to ignite. After many attempts with paper and evergreen branches, I ask the neighbor for some lighter fluid. He offers small fire sticks instead. Now we’re in business. One of our camping favorites is Spam and eggs on bagels or toast. The warm breakfast gives us the kick start needed to pack up and get on with the sightseeing.

We leave Heart O’ the Hills campground at the crack of… oh heck who am I kidding? It was 11 a.m. before we were back on Hurricane Ridge heading back toward Port Angeles. As soon as we reach town we turn west on Hwy 101 for a few miles until we turn South on Olympic Hot Springs Road. This pot-hole ridden road leads pat the Altair campground to one of two dams along the Elwha River.

These dams were built with absolutely no regard for the historical lifeblood of this area. No salmon can make it past the first dam. The dam won’t block salmon passage for much longer. This is the last year that the 100-year old dam will hold back the drainage from the Elwha Mountain Range. In 2011, the dam will come down and hopefully the salmon will begin to climb the rapids to their ancestral spawning grounds for the first time since 1910.

View of the Elwha River and Glines Canyon Dam from overlook

It is easy to see why the owner of the surrounding land, Thomas Aldwell was able to convince George Glines to finance the dam projects at this location. A strong water flow carved a deep and narrow gorge that allows the natural rock walls to do much of the work. The actual dam is perhaps 100 feet long and at 110 feet high. It isn’t a huge dam by any means, but it does hold back a very large amount of wate.r It was interesting to see man’s impact on this area. A future trip may be in order to see it restored to its natural free-flowing state.

Beyond the first dam the road turns to dirt. Many hairpin turns snake their way aboce the dam to a great lookout. The road ends and hiking trails begin just a couple miles past the Elwha Dam overlook. Now familiar with the road, I exercised my throttle hand a bit to make tracks back to Port Angeles.

We arrive to Port Angeles in late afternoon. Despite the heavy tourist traffic, most stores are closed as it is a holiday. A parade marches through town. We walk the parades’ flank and do some window shopping and walk into an antique store or two. Monica is a fan o fthe Twilight books and movies. The small movie theater in downtown Port Angeles is included in a few scenes of one of the movies. This being opening weekend for the latest Twilight movie, the theater and silly teeny-bop tourist trap Eclipse-themed stores are quite busy.

We take some photos and wave goodbye to the numerous cardboard cutouts of the cast members peaking out of windows throughout Port Angeles.

Sunshine Herb and Lavender Farm Sequim, WA - by Monica Ponce-McDermott

We didn’t make it as far as we would have liked. It was time to make our way back home. It is pushing 7 pm when we arrive to the ferry town of Port Townsend. Holiday travelers in their cars are beginning to form a long line for the Port Townsend to Keystone (Whidbey Island) ferry. I find my way around the line and up to the ticket booth. They take our fare for the ride to Whidbey Island and inform us that we’ll be on the 8:30 pm sailing. It happens to be the last sailing of the day. Not knowing the schedule, we are lucky to have arrived when we did. We have an hour to wait until the ferry boards.

We leave the parking lot and ride down main street. Port Townsend is a cute town. It deserves a weekend on its own. We walk along the streets and shoreline until it is time to get on the ferry. We will take the short ride back to Port Townsend in the near future. There is a 50’s themed diner and ice cream shop with my name on them earmarked for future indulgences.

As peninsulas go, there are three options for day trips (west side, north side and east side.).  This is the final article in the four-part series covering the Olympic Peninsula. The trip is  split up into separate articles by day. This allows you to pick and choose which parts best fit with your schedule and what you’d like to see. Time didn’t allow us to make the western Pacific Ocean portion of the Olympic Peninsula. Feel free to use the comments section to post ride reports and places that you have visited in the Olympic National Park. A future trip will include routes to the Hoh Rainforest, Kalaloch and Neah Bay.