RF Patrick
Four TWBC members, Carla Gramlich, Steve Brown, Bob Myrick, and myself, started Carla’s “North Cascades Bicycle Ride” at about 11 AM on Saturday, August 7 through Sunday, August 15 at Start Up, WA (West of Gold Bar, WA and East of Monroe, WA) We are doing “self contained” touring. We have all of our gear in our panniers to campout. Bob Myrick pulled a BOB trailer, which contained his gear.
The weather was dreary and just about to rain. We rode West on Highway 2 (AKA the “Get off the road, a**hole” Highway) to Monroe…then back roads to antiquey Snohomish for lunch. From Snohomish we rode North on an old rail bed converted to trail half way to Granite Falls. Rolling up hills took us into Granite falls for flat tires and a second lunch at the Chevron/McDonalds. At this point a detour was initiated. We backtracked south a while then headed West into the rain. More “Get off the Road, A**holes” made for a harrowing ride into Smoky Point to spend the night.
The plan was to pitch our tents at the Smokey Point RV Park. Somehow Carla bargained with the RV Park lady to let us stay in the park’s Rec. Room. Lots better than tenting in the rain. Dry sleeping bag, hot showers, and a laundry…who could ask for more on this 52-mile day?
Six or seven miles from Smokey Point to the downtown of Arlington on this Sunday morning. “Where should we eat?” Someone asks. My experience as a telephone man told me to look down the main street and find out where all the cars are parking. This is where the local folk eat…and that’s what we did.
A stop at the Safeway provided us with tonight’s dinner…25 miles and a flat tire for me and onto Darrington for lunch and dessert. Darrington is the gateway to Glacier Peak back packing and mountaineering recreation areas. It is also a logging town. I felt some hostility towards “Us cyclists” in this town. We met a group of cyclists from Atlanta, GA (from the Eastern Bicycle League) where doing the same route as us, but sagged and with higher mileage each day.
After lunch we biked twenty miles north on Highway 530 to the town of (don’t blink) Rockport. There is not much left here except a quickie mart store. The State Park was an uphill mile West on Highway 20. The park provided nice tent sites. We were able to stay in an “Arondack” style shelter with bunk beds. We ate dinner from our camp stoves. The mosquitoes were very thick here so I set up my tent to get away from the goulish bloodsuckers. Lucky Bob…he found a discarded Therma-Rest mattress and clothesline…and I found a flashlight. There is no rain in sight.
After a camp stove breakfast we cruised along the Skagit River for 8 miles or so to the Shake Mill Café in Marblemount. Carla found this place on the Internet…and we had to stop and have the “giant cinnamon rolls”. They were large like a small bike wheel.
Down the highway in Newhalem…we visited the National Parks North Cascades Interpretive Center which is quite nice and worth the ½ mile diversion from Highway 20. This is where we met a trio (an Aunt and a niece and nephew) of cyclists going east to Chicago. These folks were “self contained” like ourselves. Auntie pulled a BOB trailer, like our Bob Myrick.
Newhalem is a “company town” owned by Seattle City Light. The town is where the Ross Lake dam project employees live. The town is in a park like setting and the people are very friendly. If you are in this neighborhood…be sure and stop at the store for some fudge and a hotdog. Bob sure enjoyed the coffee here.
From Newhalem where the road sign says, “Last Services for 65 Miles”, we went uphill and east toward Ross Lake stopping at the Gorge dam visitor viewpoint. Down the road Carla and Steve took the Ross Dam elevator tour. Bob and I climbed a long steep hill to descend to Colonial Creek Campground. The elevator that Carla and Steve toured just happened to deposit them at the top of the long steep hill that Bob and I just climbed.
Colonial Creek Campground is a National Parks site. There is running water, electricity, but no showers. We had a nice camp stove dinner. I retired early to the quiet setting. Bob, Carla, and Steve attended the amphitheater ranger talk.
We packed up and left camp early to attack this dreaded day. This is the day that we go over Rainy Pass (elevation 4856 feet) and Washington Pass (elevation 5477). Our present elevation is about 1100 feet according to Steve’s altimeter. Off we go. Carla and Steve stop at the Happy Creek trail walk and Bob and I head on up the hill. Auntie and her BOB left camp ½ hour before and Bob and I catch up with them in no time. The weather is turning out to be clear and not too hot. Up, up, and up we go the 25 miles to Rainy Pass. I noticed that most of the steep climbing up this pass is not at the top…but in the middle of the climb. The steepest part of the climb is two to five miles down hill from the summit.
Once at the top of Rainy Pass we descend about two miles only to climb up hill two more miles to Washington Pass. The grade of Washington Pass is a lot steeper than Rainy Pass, but the accent is only two miles. The last slow mile is very alpine and nice to look at while going 4.5 MPH. At the top, I wanted to stop at the viewpoint. Little did I know that it was ½ mile from the highway and just as steep as Washington Pass…but it was worth it. The WADOT built a very nice rest room facility there. (I imagine that it cost over a million bucks…and worth it) A National Parks volunteer, who could have been Ruth Ann from the old Northern Exposure TV show, was in her little visitor booth handing out maps and guide books. Here we met a pair of cyclists “doing the hills” from Ross Dam to Winthrop and back. They were preparing for WIMPROD.
From the Million Dollar Rest Room we descended18 miles to the little burg of Mazama. At the Mazama Store Bob and I had sandwiches, cold drinks, and coffee. Carla and Steve catch up with us within 20 minutes. It is now 90 degrees outside, HOT!
The Mazama Store marks the beginning of the new terrain: down hill along the river. This concept is mostly a lie…because the road usually follows the adjacent hills, not the actual river. So…we ride the 15 miles to Winthrop. This day is the only day that we will not stay at a campground. We stay at the Virginian Resort. It’s a log cabin with a pool. It was nice to not sleep on the ground.
After oatmeal with raisins at Winthrop’s Duck Inn Restaurant…off to Alta Lake we head. Down hill we go, but it is AGAINST THE WIND. Personally, I would rather ride up Rainy Pass than ride against a strong head wind…the wind is fickle, unpredictable. Hills are unchanging and predicable.
We travel to Twisp via the back roads at Bob’s suggestion. The scenery while riding along the hills and near the river is very pretty. We view orchards and small farms along the way. More back roads to Methow and then on to Pateros. About ½ mile east of Pateros is the location of the Rest A While Fruit Stand and Bakery. It is hot out and we are riding against the wind. The Rest A While became our “Oasis of Desserts”. This place has an orchard out back with fresh baked peach cobbler, nectarine strudel, coffee cake, espresso, cold drinks, and fresh fruit. We made the Rest A While our lunch stop and then headed into Pateros to pick up groceries for this night’s camp stove meal.
A steep two-mile ride took us to this night’s campground, Alta Lake State Pa rk…which is not my favorite campground of the trip. I was hoping for rest here…but received mostly noise from our camping neighbors.
We are now off to Chelan heading south on Highway 97 from Pateros. It’s uphill and for once the wind is at our back. Bob suggests a back road route off of the highway to Chelan. Carla, Bob, and I travel this route that has a long gradual uphill beginning. Steve follows the highway. The back road route proved to be quite scenic with apple orchard views.
We arrive in Chelan and have lunch, a nap in the park, buy groceries, and then off to Lake Chelan State Park. Carla had requested that our reserved campsites be near the rest rooms. This campsite was just that. After 9 PM the park quieted down and I was able to get a good nights sleep. Carla mentioned that she listened to the women’s restroom stall doors slamming into the night.
We made a stop at Rocky Reach Dam on our way to Wenatchee. We toured a very nice visitor center and museum for a couple of hours. It would be easy for me to spend all day in that museum. We had lunch at the dam restaurant and asked questions to the college student tour guides. An engineer who was having lunch near us provided some answers to my hydropower questions. On to Wenatchee we bike.
We camped at Wenatchee Confluence State Park. This park is very different from the others we had stayed in. There were no big trees. The park was like a housing development with streets, driveways, lawns, but no houses. This park was ‘anal-retentive’ compared to the others. Mr. Ranger was upset at Bob for stringing up the usual camp clothesline seven feet off the ground to dry our laundry. “Some kid might get tangled up in it”, Mr. Ranger said.
Leaving Wenatchee we now traveled uphill and against the wind on back roads along the hills looking down at the Wenatchee river and the orchards. There were times where we had to travel on Highway 2. This part of the highway is newly paved with wide shoulders. Easy traveling on our bikes towards Leavenworth. I remembered a brewery in Leavenworth that had good fish and chips and ale. I talked about this and Bob and I agreed to go there. Five miles out of Leavenworth I had a complicated flat tire that took two inner tubes and 45 minutes to repair. Bob, Carla, and Steve waited in Leavenworth having lunch at the brewery. I finally caught up with them just as they were finishing their lunch. “How was the fish?” I wanted to know. “No fish here. This place has been changed into a fine Italian restaurant”, said the group. “Bummer”, I said. So we left, bought groceries, and set off towards Plain via 1.3 miles of mud on Highway 203. Fortunately for us the mud had dried up. The highway climbs in elevation for about 12 miles to the top of a hill that then descends into Plain. After quick stop at the quickie mart and llama farm we headed the five miles to Lake Wenatchee State Park. Interesting note: Steve’s altimeter said that we climbed more elevation on this day than the following day, over Steven’s Pass.
Our campsites were nice and not too close to the restroom. Bob and I had pizza and Leavenworth Brewery ale at Cascadia Restaurant and talked with the local people. We learned that this neighborhood severely floods about every four years and the local folks don’t like the idea of, “Microsoft money bought the Cougar Inn and then bulldozed it down”. Carla and Steve had dinner from their camp stove. We attended the amphitheater talk about the worlds worst train wreck…, which happened near Stevens Pass in 1911. The author of the book was the park’s guest speaker who told of the horrible avalanche that covered three trains in the Cascades and 112 people died. Author, Don Moody, also spoke of serial killers in Bremerton and Chinese slave tunnels under the City of Tacoma. Even though his audience was getting up and walking off when he spoke of serial killers…I found him to be a very interesting speaker and a highlight of our trip. There is no rain in sight for this night.
Steve and I stopped at Alpine Falls, which is 8 miles West of the Stevens Pass Summit. There is a visitor center that commemorated the “hammering of the last spike” of the Great Northern Transcontinental Railroad and a very scenic waterfall. There we met Gary Nero who had just cycled out from Ohio and will be cycling to twenty different National Parks. He will visit Olympic and Mt. Rainier National Parks soon.
Down Highway 2 we go towards Skykomish. It is now raining quite badly and the traffic is heavy in our direction. This part of Highway 2 does not have much shoulder, especially on the river bridges. There were times when we were biking on the bridges and there was not enough room for cars. This caused backups and we were sometimes cursed with the usual, “Get off the road, A**holes”.
We travel on towards Start Up getting more wet. At Skykomish Bob takes the back road route to get off the highway. Carla, Steve, and I continue on Highway 2 for lunch in Index. Just Index I have a flat tire next to the guard rail. Steve comes to my rescue with one of his spare tubes. By now I am getting pretty good at fixing flats with all of the panniers on my bike. Wet and hungry Steve and I meet up with Carla and Bob at Index.
After lunch we continue the last 10 miles to the end of the tour, Start Up. The rain and westbound traffic is getting thicker and we are in the middle of it. Steve, Carla, and I are riding as a group. At one highway bridge we all stop and put our bikes on the walkway. I am riding on the walkway about 10 MPH. At the end of the bridge where it transitions back to the road my left front pannier catches on something. My bike is thrown over towards the right and I crash into the guardrail and a pile of sand. Lucky for me nothing was hurt except my ego. I reattach my loose panniers and trek on to Start Up.
Within a few minutes we are all safe and sound back at our cars in Start Up. Us A**holes are finally off the road…for a while.
I wonder why more cyclists did not turn out to ride this ride. I do wish that there were more riders on this ride It seems like I ate more than I expended in pedaling output. I wonder what I would have done if it had rained more that it did…would I turn back? The bike with panniers (or BOB trailer) attracts a lot of nice people who are curious and want to talk. Did I enjoy this ride? Yes…for me, I’d rate it 80 out of 100 points.
I trained for this ride by riding some TWBC rides with gravel in my panniers. Yup, that’s me…that idiot with 40 pounds of rocks in his bags. I also trained on Vashon Island (ferry from Seattle to Vashon…ferry from Vashon to Tacoma) as part of my evening commute from Seattle…more rocks.
I had some problems with my tent, camp stove, and tires. The tent and stove are just old and need to be updated. My tires were cheap non-kevlar belted.