Rootless in place

The Current Commute

Written by robert on November 10th, 2013

Mural on the walls surrounding the Capitol Hill light rail station project

Since I’m back in the workforce and commuting daily it seems apropos to document my current commute. This will differ significantly from my previous commutes in Woodinville and Kirkland in that I am now right in the heart of the major city of city. A completely urban commute in contrast to my previous suburban routes. It is the shortest of the commute routes I’ve had at around 4.5 miles but is certainly the most hilly with a big climb up Capitol Hill on my ride home every day.

 On 12th Ave in front of my Apt, across from Seattle University

My route begins on 12th Ave, right across from Seattle University. From my dwelling place on the First Hill/Central District/Capitol Hill boundary it’s just a few blocks north to the Pike/Pine corridor in the core of Capitol Hill. I stuck with 12th for a few more blocks when I first started this commute, but construction that has extended beyond the sidewalk and into the road has led to my taking a short jog on Pine and continuing north on 11th.

On 11th east of Cal Anderson Park

This change takes me around the east and norther edges of Cal Anderson Park which in the summer was filled with people camping – both genuine and the recreationally homeless. Now it is only the genuinely homeless and people in transition living out of their cars. This is city life but it is a daily reminder of the true economic realities we live in.

On 10th next to the future Capitol Hill light rail stationt

On the northern edge of the park there is an entire block behind a temporary wooden wall covered with quaint murals from local artists. This is the future site of the Capitol Hill light rail station; a project which can’t get wrapped up soon enough in my opinion. I’m commuting from Capitol Hill to the U-District and the light rail will cover the route. This will be a nice option for icy days (typically the only weather I won’t commute in) but with a 2016 completion date who knows where I’ll be living and what job I’ll be working.

On 10th, staying east of Broadway

I wend through Capitol Hill neighborhoods basically paralleling the more heavily trafficked route on Broadway Mostly uncontrolled intersections in these areas with roundabouts. I have seen shocking amounts of poor round-about usage, sometimes clearly deliberately but much more often deriving from confusion. This only makes one less confident in the drivers around you.

Heading down Capitol Hill

Eventually the road quality becomes so poor that it is preferable to jump onto the more busy 10th for a spell including the epic descent from Capitol Hill. No actual pictures from the descent as this is a busy route with plenty of parked cars, intersections and traffic to keep an eye on. This will certainly be a major hazard on any potentially icy/snowy days – it is already a bit sketchy on just rainy days.

A brief respite from the busy roads on the now side road of Broadway

The Hill is descended in two steps with a brief jog on Roanoak which is even briefer for the bicycler and one can turn off at Broadway next to Roanoak Park and cut through residential streets. Eventually though it’s back to major streets for the descent down to the University Bridge. I do take another jog here to cut out some lights and the traffic but it’s pretty much all major roads from here on out.

Descending to the University Bridge. I-5 to the left

Crossing the University Bridge one is now in the University District dominated by the University of Washington. The bridge dumps you right on to Roosevelt which is one way in each direction separated by a block. An exit off of Roosevelt to two separate feeder streets almost right off the bridge is one of the more dangerous bits of the commute. Otherwise from here it is a gentle climb up into the District Proper.

Descending to the University Bridge. I-5 to the left

Looking east from the University Bridge

My place of work is actually on University Ave so I make my way north and east as I go. At first I’m riding through neighborhoods of student housing and apartments that cater to students. This gives away to merchants and other community services. This is an older area of the city but with plenty of recent and in-progress construction. Crowded with students from all over the world it has a very cosmopolitain yet transitory character. A nice location to work as it is packed with places to eat and drink and such resources that students may find valuable such as book and records stores.

The end of my route. Just past the light on the right is my building.

So that’s my current commute; highly urban but with some really nice stretches. If interested I’ve got a few more photos from the commute in this Flickr Set: 2013 Commute.

Posted from Seattle, Washington, United States.

Posted in Commuting | 1 Response »
Tags: 2013, Bicycling, Capitol Hill, Commute, Commute 2013, Cycling, Seattle, University District, wa

An Autumn Mixed-Terrain Ride

Written by robert on October 27th, 2013

Atlantis in the Leaves

It’s been one of those weeks and as so often is the case there is no better therapy than a nice bicycle ride. I’ve been pining to get back to the mountains and while I set out too late to really get into the Cascades I did make it to the foothills. I ended up following the Mountain to Sound Greenway which is a sequence of trails interspersed with road riding: I-90 Trail -> Issaquah-Preston Trail -> Preston-Snoqualmie Trail with a brief sojourn on the East Lake Sammamish Trail. While separating one from traffic (and I-90 which this route parallels most of the time) these trails are usually wedged in where they can and are thus a lot hillier than one might expect. The Preston-Snoqulamie tail is a genuine rail-trail which runs nice and flat except where bridges are gone (such as over the Raging River Valley).

reaching out my hand
I catch
a single falling leaf

I wanted to get to the Issaquah-Preston Trail which is one of my favorite mixed-terrain routes. This trail is a rocky dirt path paralleling I-90 that ends (appropriately enough) at Preston. From there you an take one of the best paved trails in the state The Preston-Snoqualmie trail which is a rare paved trail in the woods. These are all routes I’ve ridden many times and have reported on more than once in these pages but I think this was the latest autumn ride I’ve done on this route. The paths, especially the more wooded sections were deeply buried in multi-colored leaves which was beautiful but rather buried the many large rocks on these trails. Still it was great to be in the cool mountain air, with the fog shrouded foothills looming above. I wish I’d set out early enough to ride further into the mountains – the dwindling light always a factor this time of year.

Issaquah Creek

I only rode a couple of miles on the Preston-Snoqulamie Trail and decided to stop at a section of the trail that crosses a gorge above a stream. Of all the times I’ve ridden the trail I’ve never gone down to this stream which I rectified on this trip. It was pleasant here; this part of the trail has turned away from I-90 and I was down far enough that the few other users of the trail were mostly unnoticeable. After a bit of a break by the pools of water I backtracked down to Issaquah and had a couple of beers and some onion rings at the Issaquah Brewhouse. While I was there, a ‘Thriller’ “flash mob” broke out right in front of the pub which lasted the length of the song and as I returned to my bicycle broke up. On my ride east I was on the north side of the I-90 following the Mountain to Sound route, for my return west I stuck to the south side on the hillier route on the edge of Newport. But I had to back track on the I-90-Mercer Island-et al bit back home.

 Pools on a feeder creek to the Raging River

I made it it home in the dark around 7:30 having done around 50 miles on this day. An even dozen photos from the ride can be found in my An Autumn Mixed-Terrain Ride on Flickrset on Flickr.

Posted from Issaquah, Washington, United States.

Posted in Ride Reports | No Responses »
Tags: Autumn, Autumn Rides, I-90 Trail, Issaquah, Issaquah-Preston Trail, Mercer Island, Mixed Terrain, Preston-Snoqualamie trail, Ride Reports, Seattle, Washington State

Autumn ride around the sound

Written by robert on October 8th, 2013


The Mountain as seen from Fay Bainbridge State Park

After an unseasonable cool and rainy September the first weekend in October was one of those perfect PNW Autumn days. I’d recently gotten a new camera (a Nikon 1 J2 for you trainspotters out there) and I went out for rides on both Saturday and Sunday with picture taking as a goal but taking advantage of the beautiful weather as my primary motivation. I’ve been wanting a bit more of a “prosumer” camera for a while with a goal of note only being able to take better photos but being somewhat forced into greater deliberation. That is I’ve done a lot of shooting “from the saddle” and I’d like to think I have a certain proficiency at it. While this allows one to easily document one’s travels it tends to generate a lot of photos and frankly I think this style of documentation just isn’t all that interesting. I’ve moved away from this style of photos in the last couple of years but I felt that having a camera where I’d have to get off the bicycle and spend time on each photo would further facilitate this.


Seattle Waterfront

I initially planned to ride down to the Seattle Waterfront and meander along Elliot Bay, perhaps into Magnolia and along the Ship Canal. But as I rode down (heavily under construction) Jackson Street and then up Alaskan Way I decided instead I’d ride around Bainbridge Island. I turned off at the Ferry Terminal and caught the ferry ten minutes later – good timing!


Seattle from Space Needle to Smith Tower

It was a fantastic day out on the waters and as Seattle receded in the distance our ferry was amidst countless sailboats and other recreational watercraft. Mount Rainer, of which I would take many pictures throughout this day, was commanding to the Southeast, particularly towering above the West Seattle Bridge. Arriving at Bainbridge Island, I quickly disembarked (always nice that bicycles are first on first off) and riding into town I quickly got onto the Chilly Hilly route which circumnavigates the island anti-clockwise. But as I was riding I began to think that I’ve done this loop plenty of times and it would actually be more fun to strike out on a more unfamiliar routes. I began to think that I could pretty easy cross the bridge to the mainland and ride up to Kingston and take the ferry across to Edmonds and then make my way back to Seattle.


Good kite flying weather

So I pulled over at a little store and sitting on their porch consulted Google Maps and worked out a route. It turned out to be only 15-16 miles to Kingston from here, which seemed like a perfectly reasonable Sunday afternoon ride. That settled I continued on to Fay Bainbridge State Park where I sat on the beach, ate a sandwich and watched the sailboats, kites and beachcombers. I didn’t linger too long as there was riding to done, but it was a pleasent break on the beach.


Sailing around Bainbridge

From Fay Bainbridge I was able to stay on nice, country roads usually deep in the woods with occasional open fields of glimpses of the water, but eventually I had to take Hwy 305 off the island. Not a bad road as hwy’s go – big shoulder and at least on a sunday afternoon, not heavily trafficked. It crosses a nice bridge over Agate Pass after which I took an immediate right and headed north. This was a pretty busy road but again with a good shoulder and among the trees. This road brought me to Suquamish which was right on the water. I made brief stop here primarily to take pictures and consult the map, before hitting the road again.


Totem Pole in Suquamish

From here the roads became particularly fine riding. Mostly in the woods a bit away from the coast, it was just ideal riding. Winding roads, a bit of up and down, brilliant colored trees amidst the evergreens all lit by the westering sun. I left the Google Maps route , following a red Dan Henry, at Indianola Road which took me a bit in the opposite direction of Kingston for a spell but was more scenic. Once again it was just perfect riding, especially once I turned onto South Kingston Road where the climbing I’d been doing turned to descending. This route descended down Appletree Cove on twisty roads through the trees. Very nice! After Appletree Cove, there was a slight climb and I turned on West Kingston road which heads straight to the ferry terminal.


Autumn in Kingston

However I didn’t ride straight to the ferry – it being 5pm I felt a stop at the Front Street Ale house was in order. I checked on the ferry schedule and resolved to catch the 6:10 sailing and thus spent a nice hour drinking a couple of beers and eating a couple of appetizers. Fully sated I left the pub a bit before 6 and pretty much rode right onto the ferry just before the cars began loading. It was again a beautiful trip with the sun setting behind the Olympic Mountains and Mount Rainier, Seattle and Edmonds all glowing in magic hour light.


Mount Rainier in the gloaming

It was deep twilight as I arrived in Edmonds and I had a good 20 miles or so to get home. I’d jotted down a Google Maps route from Edmonds to the Interurban Trail while on the ferry and in the dwindling light I set out on it. There was a pretty stiff headwind now and it was definitely chillier – I wish I’d brought some socks along! Google kept me mostly on the signed bicycle route and by the time I reached Shoreline I pretty much knew my way home. I took the Interurban trail – which has a nice new cycle track along Bitter lake – and then the signed Interurban route to Fremont. From there it was a short jog on the Burke Gillman Trail to the University district and then my commute route home.


Sun setting behind the Olympic Mountains

I made it home by 8:45 after having ridden about 48 miles all told. It was a great Sunday afternoon ride with two ferry trips and a nice loop around a good chunk of the Puget Sound.

Check out more photos in my Flickr photoset of this ride: An autumn ride around the Sound

Posted from Bainbridge Island, Washington, United States.

Posted in Ride Reports | No Responses »
Tags: Atlantis, Autumn, Autumn Rides, Bainbridge Island, Edmonds, Ferries, Ferry Boats, Kingston, Mount Baker, Mount Rainier, Photography, Puget Sound, Rides, Seattle, wa

Bombing around Beacon Hill

Written by robert on August 25th, 2013

Quickbeam at the southern end of the Chief Sealth Trail

I haven’t been riding the Quickbeam too much since moving back to Seattle. Seattle is a hilly city for a single speed, but I’ve been thinking I want to use it for commuting instead of my Atlantis and toward that end I’ve been waiting for some new gear. Primarily the small olive Sackville saddlebag you can see in the above picture. I’ve mounted that with the Nitto Saddlebag Grip so that I can just grab the whole bag when off the bicycle. Other upgrades include Velo Orange hammered fenders that I put on a couple months ago, new waterbottle cages and dedicated front and rear lights.

After putting on the new bag today I thought I’d see how I’d do on the Seattle hills. So I took a rambling route up Beacon Hill and while wandering around up there saw a sign for the Chief Sealth Trail. Now I’d ridden at least a chunk of this trail not long after opened, but it was a diversion from a Lake Washington Loop and on finding it pretty hilly and in the wrong direction I only did a mile or so. It is indeed a hilly trail and is a good workout on a single speed. Overcast and grey today with light spitting rain, it was rather comfortable riding really. Only when I came home did the rain become steady if not very heavy. Anyway I failed to bring my camera so only took a couple cellphone pics as seen above. A nice day of bombing around Beacon Hill and I look forward to riding the Quickbeam more.

Posted from Burien, Washington, United States.

Posted in Bombing Around | No Responses »
Tags: Beacon Hill, Bombing Around, Quickbeam, RBW, Rides, Seattle

The BioLite Campstove considered

Written by robert on August 18th, 2013

Making tea on the Biolite Campstove

I picked up a BioLite Campstove this spring and have taken it on two short tours around Washington State: 4 day tour around SW Washington and a week+ trip to Victoria BC. I wouldn’t consider this extensive testing by any means but I can certainly offer my impressions so far. Let me set the stage first: so far I always tour solo, self-contained and do fairly ambitious cooking. That is to say I’m not just boiling water, I’ll actually cook things where it may take a long time (like rice say), you are pretty active in the minding the cooking (like a stir fry) or you need temperature control (something like oatmeal, or the rice, etc). I’ve been using alcohol stoves since I’ve been touring and I’m a pretty diehard Trangia fan since picking one of those up a couple years back. I also have been experimenting with electronics and charging systems for most of my tours. These experiments I’ve pretty well documented in these two posts on my blog: charging systems and charging systems revisited.

One of my recent touring goals has been one reducing overall dependency on services. Two aspects of that IMO are buying fuel and charging devices. So the BioLite seemed to offer solutions to those problems. Now as always I’ve done my research and knew that the BioLite is not going to offer much charging unless you just sat there feeding the fire for hours. However in my experience if you are serious about charging stuff what you want is an external battery and you should always keep that charged. You also should keep your devices charged as well instead of running it all the way down. The goal should be to be able to only drain your batteries in a give day as much as you can recharge in a typical day. That is if you use 10% of your smartphone battery per day you should be able to charge it 10%. So anything that offers additional charging along with its primary function is an advantage – if and only if it does the primary function well.

Cooking soba noodles with tofu and veg

So how does the BioLite work for cooking? I have to say not bad. I made soba noodles the both times I used it, which is a pretty go to dish for me. However it’s not one that demands a lot of temperature control. I mean its nice to turn down your stuff once the water is boiling so it doesn’t boil over but you can deal. You can control the fan speed on the BioLite between high and low and that gives you a rough temperature control. You also as you use it build up coals inside and you actually can have a nice lower temp burn up going. But it’s hard to keep it at that. This is because you need to constantly feed the stove. It’s small – which is good cause otherwise you wouldn’t tour with it – but that means it doesn’t hold much wood. For pure boiling of water from my kettle it pretty much kicked ass, at least as fast as my Trangia with kettle.

I have a style where I tend to either setup or take down my camp while cooking (if the food prep isn’t too demanding). This is true in the morning especially where I always make oat bran and coffee and can pretty much have all my gear beyond the cooking gear packed by the time breakfast is ready. This is much more difficult with the BioLite. Since I used my Trangia cookset with the BioLite I carried it packed with the alcohol burner me and used it for breakfast cooking.

Getting the water boiling water for my Soba noodles

So my thoughts on this is that the best way to use the BioLite is to carry another stove, one that ideally fits in your cookset and thus isn’t much more bulk. One could carry less fuel in this case – basically one bottle of HEET being the typical minimal amount I can buy. One would want to use the BioLite as much as you could but in the cases where you find no twigs – say in grassland type camping – or where you don’t want to feed the fire, or are in a rush you use your other stove. This does bring up the last point worth mentioning. The BioLite is pretty heavy and bulky as far as it goes. Since you have to carry at least some sort of cookset along with it, your space for your cooking gear is a lot bigger. If you could use it exclusively the weight savings on carrying fuel would I think be pretty close but the bulk is unavailable. In multi-person groups I think a lot of these problems would be alleviated – the bulk is less of an issue, someone needing to constantly mind the stove is less of an issue, carrying a backup is less of an issue.

Using the Biolite to charge an external battery pack

I did use it to charge my external battery on my first time using it and it worked fine. But I’d need to do a lot more experimenting with it to say how much I’d count on charging in a typical cook session. Unless you just barely use your devices I wouldn’t count on it to keep your stuff charged. But if you have another system (generator, solar or frequent mains access) it certainly will help. I did not end up using it to charge on it’s second outing as I’d forgotten my iPhone USB cable (D’oh!) and that was the only device I’d really run down. It can’t charge the iPad, hence the external battery which it CAN charge, but I think it’d be perfect for “topping off” a smartphone which I’ve come to realize the trick to self-charging devices on tour.

Getting the fire going

I suppose it’s also worth noting that this is a fire you are cooking over. So there is smoke, soot and flames. I rarely made campfires in camp myself but I do enjoy them. The BioLite does give you a nice, easy to make fire for that purposes. But you do smell like smoke and your cookgear gets a lot more dirty. As noted you also really go through the little sticks and it’s worth trying to get larger ones going after the fire is well and truly burning. I gathered a much larger supply on my second use of the stove and still found myself running through them by the time I was done. For me I’d have to gather a pretty good stash the night before if I wanted to cook breakfast with the stove.

Anyway as I use it more I’ll post some more experiences. In the end I think it works as advertised but there are a lot of things to consider. But this is the case with any cooking gear so everyone will have to decide what the tradeoff and benefits they are willing to make.

Note: I always intended to review the Biolite Stove here, but I ended up writing a long post over on the Adventure Cycling forums after my first use of the stove which I’ve based this post on.

Posted in Bicycle Camping | No Responses »
Tags: Bicycle Camping, BioLite, Camping, cooking, Gear, stoves, Woodgas

Back on the road

Written by robert on June 4th, 2013

I’m back on tour again, another shortish jaunt; this time a bit over a week. I’m heading up to Victoria, B.C. In Canada to see some experimental classical music concerts. I don’t plan to “live blog” this one but I’m thinking I’ll use Track My Tour. So if interested follow along here: Tour into Silence. I will post pics and write-up as per usual upon my return. If you are curious about the concerts I’ll be writing about them on my music blog: Wandelweiser Concert series.

Posted from Shelton, Washington, United States.

Posted in Cyclotouring | 1 Response »
Tags: bicyclecamping, Cyclotouring, Olympia, Tour Into Silence, Touring, Victoria

May Micro-Tour Day 4

Written by robert on June 3rd, 2013

Atlantis packed up and ready to roll

May Micro-Tour day 4
The last day of the tour is of course the ride home. Now when I was camping at Twin Harbors, just a few miles up the road, I rode back to Olympia in a straight shot, which I intended to repeat. It is a few more miles, but the route I did that time took a rather northeastern jog that added a few miles so I hoped it wouldn’t be too epic. It was going to be about 70 miles regardless, but being that home was the destination it didn’t matter too much when I arrived. I ended up waking up pretty early and was out of the sack before 7am and thus able to cook, pack, cleanup and hit the road by 9am, which is a good start for me.

One last look at the ocean

I bid farewell to the ocean and then I was back on hwy 105 heading north. There was a decent amount of people out and about — primarily people claming at the beach and presumably people heading inland for work or what have you. This route has become pretty familiar to me and there really isn’t too much to tell. The last time I rode it, in October, it was pouring rain, whereas today it began overcast but was pretty clear and warm by 11. The trip has about four distinct legs to it and the first is 105/101 to Aberdeen an undulating route crossing over mudflats and wetlands.

Riding over mudflats

This was in the nice cool morning and riding the mostly gently rolling hills was pleasant enough. At one point a pickup truck was passing three cars and as it came near me a gigantic red buoy flew out of the bed and bounced on the road in front the car he’d just passed. The truck swerved back into his lane and kept on driving. The car behind him, which I was almost parallel to, though on the opposite side of the road happily, swerved, braked but hit the buoy anyway, shooting it across the road. I passed all these cars right after that and was happy to be past the fray. You see crazy things on the roads.

Wending along the Aberdeen to Cosmopolis trail

The next stage is from Aberdeen to Montesano and is mostly on a nice paved trail through Aberdeen an on to the tiny burg of Cosmopolis. I stopped at little park in Cosmopolis to take off my leg warmers and socks and to eat the sandwiches I’d made for lunch. It was only about 11:30 and it was getting hot. Then it is nice back roads around Blue Slough a bit of hwy 107 and then under why 12 and you are in Montesano. From Montesano to Olympia it is pretty much going to be on hwy 12, but my Google Maps route put me on frontage roads as much as possible. I’ve ridden most of these plenty of times but there was a couple of new stretches this time. One of these had me cross 12 and then ride to the south of it in farmland where a very aged dog had a go at chasing me, but clearly the spirit was willing and the flesh weak. As I came round a bend and out of some trees I could see the cooling towers of the mothballed WPPSS (pronounced whoops) nuclear power plant. The landmark in this part of the state.

Farmland under the shadow of WPPSS

Alas shortly after this it was hwy 12 for a long stretch. There is a huge shoulder and not much by the way of on/off ramps and of course the highways stay pretty flat. But it was hot, boring and endless traffic. The scenery was mostly farmland in the valley with the Willapa Hills way in the distance. I was pretty easy to keep up the pace and just grind out the miles. I have to admit that by about 45 miles or so I was feeling pretty tapped out, and I still had 20-30 to go. I pulled off at a rest stop on my 49 and hung out there for a while. Refilled my bottles with cooler water, ate some food and relaxed in the shade. I ran into a woman there who was driving to Olympia to possibly buy a Trek 520 for touring use. She’d toured when she was younger and was getting back into it. Small world.

Crossing over 101

From the rest area on it was all 101 until the nearly Mud Bay. This bit of 12 is pretty interesting as it runs in the foothills of the Capitol Forest hills and is not very developed and is filled with some old trees and babbling brooks. I welcomed the shade for sure! Then the route took me on the “Old Olympic Highway” which allows one to bypass the 12/101 merger and ride in the countryside for a few miles before crossing over 101 and down to Mud Bay. From there its the final hump up the long hill on Mud Bay road into West Olympia and then down again to downtown Olympia. One last hill up toward the capitol and then through neighbors and I was home. Thanks to the early start I made it home around 4:30 in the afternoon. Plenty of time to break down the touring rig and get everything squared away before delving into some beer and food.

74 miles ridden today
221.4 miles ridden for the tour

Pictures from today: May Micro-Tour day 4
All the pictures from this tour: May Micro-Tour photoset

Posted from Olympia, Washington, United States.

Posted in Cyclotouring | 2 Responses »
Tags: Aberdeen, Atlantis, Bicycle Camping, Bicycle Touring, Cosmopolis, Cyclotouring, Grayland Beach, May Micro-Tour, Olympia, Pacific Ocean, Spring Touring, SW Washington

May Micro-Tour day 3

Written by robert on June 2nd, 2013

May Micro-Tour day 3
With the shift in the tour route I now was able to take a day off and spend it on the beach. So I did. I spent the morning on the beach, walking up and down, taking pictures and letting the constant wash of the surf cleanse my mind. After a few hours on the beach I decided that I’d go out for lunch (the only time on this short jaunt) and rode into Westport where I went to the same cafe I went to last time I was here.

Cranberry Road Winery and Bogwater Brewpub

On my way back I stopped at the Cranberry Road Winery and Bogwater Brewery. They didn’t have any of their beers ready for consumption yet — they’ve only been around since Nov. 2012 — but had plenty of other brews on tap. I had a couple and then took a growler of Rogue Double Chocolate Stout back to camp.

Mostly cloudy on the coast

Dungeness Crab (dead)

I took another good long stroll on the beach enjoying the rather grey day. It wasn’t too cold, but definitely not as sunny and hot as it had been. The skies began to break up toward the end of the day and it would be much clear on the following day. Back in camp I drank my beer and ate some shelled peanuts while I read news on my iPad.

The pleasures of camp

Eventually I made dinner and after cleaning up, took an evening stroll out to the beach. The sun had and it was nearly dark out at the beach. The clouds were rolls of darkness with a faint gloaming in between. After a brief jaunt in the wind and waves it was back to the tent for some reading, journalling and sleep.

The Atlantis minus panniers for today's jaunt

19.8 miles ridden today / 143.4 miles ridden to-date.
Pictures from today: May Micro-Tour day 3
All the pictures from this tour: May Micro-Tour photoset

Posted from Grayland, Washington, United States.

Posted in Cyclotouring | No Responses »
Tags: Atlantis, Bicycle Camping, Bicycle Touring, Cyclotouring, Grayland Beach, May Micro-Tour, Pacific Ocean, SW Washington

May Micro-Tour day 2

Written by robert on June 1st, 2013

Fellow traveller

May Micro-Tour day 2
There is nothing quite like waking up in your tent in the woods to the not so dulcet tones of a child bellowing through a megaphone. Fortunately it wasn’t too early and I’d slept pretty decently, but talk about a motivation to get out of bed. It was a grey morning again but would soon clear up to blue skies and warmer weather than the day before. I had another ~50 mile route to ride so I wasn’t in too much of a hurry so I made breakfast/packed up and then walked around the park a bit.

Rainbow Falls

I walked to the titular Rainbow Falls, which is more an intense section of rapids than ‘falling’ water but is certainly a nice stretch of the river. I leisurely cleaned up, packed up and headed out around 11 am. The route took me on a road fronting the Chehalis for a couple of miles before it intersected with the Willapa Hills Trail and I was back to riding on crushed gravel. The trail seemed increasingly little used with grass growing through the gravel and stretch that seemed more like a foot path along the river. It was nice scenic riding with little wind and soon sunny and warm. However the trail itself was increasingly loose gravel and at times I found it more amenable to jump onto the chip seal of hwy 6. I rode on the hyw for a few miles and then came across a road grader chewing up the shoulder up ahead and right before I reached it I jumped back onto the trail.

Riding along the river

About an hour on the trail and I reached the tiny town of Pe El. Now this route I had been given from Google Maps was basically taking logging roads over the Willapa Hills down to the Columbia River. I knew I’d be in this hills come lunch time, so I left the trail and rode into town. There I found a grocery store where I picked up sandwich making supplies and various other eatables. By the time I was finished shopping I figured I’d just ride to the town park and eat lunch. This I did in a park with a WWII era tank as a memorial.

Veterans Memorial in Pe El

Riding back to the trailhead I found that road grader I’d encountered earlier tearing up the entrance to the trailhead parking lot. Strange. There is very clean, cool water at the Pe El trailhead so a refilled all my water bottles with this and returned to the trail. The trail was still gravel at this point but even less used than in the previous section (see here). I was riding a track through tall grass and seemed to be only used by local dog walkers. Now my Google Maps route had me on this for a while and then take a Weyerhauser Company road to a numbered forest road. I wandered around various unsigned roads trying to work this out and ended up on a private Weyerhauser road that I continued on for a bit until I hit a gated maintenance yard. Outside this yard was dozens of abandoned logging and earthmoving machines rusting away in the tall grass.

Graveyard of the Earthmovers

At this point I decided to give up on my pre-planned route (Google Maps: always an adventure). I knew the Willapa Hills Trail ran all the way to Raymond on the coast and I’ve ridden out that way several times. I was figuring I could stick with the trail for an easy ride to the coast and then head to one of the campgrounds out there. So back to the trail I went. Now the Willapa Hills trail runs over 50 miles all the way to the coast but from Pe El on, it is unimproved and goes from gravel, to ballast to just a dirt track along the river and through the woods. I began to cast around for way back to the road and happily there was an easy escape route to hwy 6 where the trail paralleled it for a spell.

In which the trail fades away

Now when I was on hwy 6 yesterday it was chip seal, shoulderless and rather busy. But now all of that was reversed and it was perfectly fine riding. In fact the riding at this point was quite pleasant — it was sunny and warm and the road after a bit of up and down descended into a long valley for the bulk of the days riding. However I didn’t really know how far it was to the coast and where I’d be able to go from there. After many miles of this nice valley riding along the river I hit the small town of Labam where I had a milkshake in the sole cafe/store there and was able to use the WiFi. I found that it was both a pretty fair haul to Raymond where 6 intersected with 101 and there wasn’t any ‘cutoffs’ heading NW or SW. I figured I shouldn’t linger and after finishing my milkshake I was back on the road.

Labam!

The whole time I’d been riding on 6, the Willapa Hills Trail was alongside in various degrees of deterioration. Mostly ballast at this point, sometimes it looked more rideable than others. The trestles were not improved without a deck and sometimes they were wiped out by the rivers over which they crossed. I have to say though that if they could get this entire trail improved and especially if they paved the entire stretch this would be one of the epically great trails. Not just in Washington State but one of the great American trails. The wind began to pick up as I neared the coast as did the hills and the traffic. Happily after one fairly stiff climb I noticed the trail was massively improved and I jumped on it. It soon turned back to pavement (hooray) and shortly I was in Raymond.

Metal scultpures in Raymond

I had determined that it was another 40 miles or so down to Cape Disappointment which had been on my original planned tour route and at 50 miles already ridden I felt that was too much. Plus of course I’d have little other course but to ride back north along the route I’d just ridden south. So I decided I’d head north up toward Westport. I stopped at a cafe in Raymond that offered free WiFi (3G connectivity still not being available) and did some Google Mapping. I found that Greyland Beach State Park was a few miles closer than Twin Harbors State Park and as an additional plus I’ve never camped there. So I had a destination which was about 25 miles away. It was around 5pm and while the long days meant I’d arrive with plenty of daylight left it was definitely going to be a fairly late arrival.

Pastureland on the coast

As the crow flies from Raymond to Greyland is not 25 miles, but the road wound along the coast, diving into deep coves and up and down the rocky coastline. The valley interior was used for farms and pasture and eventually it was forested rocky hills that is so common on the coasts of Washington State. I was mostly riding into the fierce winds off the ocean and into the setting sun and being pretty tapped out at this point it was a tough slog. But the sights were worth it and the roads, which can be very busy, where empty at the this time of day. I was happy when I reached the western extents and turned northwards and not directly riding into the wind. It was from that point only five miles or so to the campground which I can’t deny I was relieved to reach. I rode in to the “primitive” walk-in campgrounds which oddly had it’s own parking spaces so you could park and “walk in” to them and pretty directly moved to cooking dinner and setting up. It was dark by the time I’d cleaned up from dinner and I walked the mile or so to the front gate of the campground to pay for the night. Then it was back to my campsite and into the tent for the night.

 Atlantis in the setting sun

66.3 miles ridden today / 127.5 miles ridden to-date.
Today’s planned route: Rainbow Falls to Skamokawa Vista
The route I ended up taking (more or less): Rainbow Falls to Grayland Beach
Pictures from today’s ride: May Micro-Tour day 2
All the pictures from this tour: May Micro-Tour photoset

Posted from Grayland, Washington, United States.

Posted in Cyclotouring | 5 Responses »
Tags: Atlantis, Bicycle Camping, Bicycle Touring, Cyclotouring, Rainbow Falls State Park, Southwestern WA, wa

May Micro-Tour day 1

Written by robert on May 27th, 2013

Atlantis in Centralia

May Micro-Tour Day 1
Since I had myself well packed up the night before I was able to take a pretty leisurely morning and set off pretty much right when I’d planned to. I had about 5 hours of riding to do and felt there was no reason not to have an early lunch and set off around noon. So this is what I did. There was one hitch as about 3/4′s of a mile from my place I found I had left my water bottles in the fridge. So a quick return home where I rectified this and also took the opportunity to also adjust one of my fenders which was rubbing a bit. I was back on the road only 15 or so minutes from my desired departure time.

The (formerly) Red Barn

As previously reported it had been hot and was predicted to continue to be so, but this morning was overcast, grey and cool enough for the leg warmers and socks. Getting out of Olympia I was on well travelled roads, enough so that I was just winging it instead of looking much at my route. Google Maps had a rather strange route but it turned out to be a bit shorter than my assumed one. So at some point I realized my route was diverging from it’s and just struck out east until I was back on track. This added about 5 miles overall to my route. The clouds were starting to break up now and by the time I reached Rochester it was mostly blue skies. From Rochester on, it was new roads for me, still mostly back country roads – nice riding and pretty flat for the most part.

 Road Closed (I rode it anyway)

These backroads took me into Centralia which got increasingly busy as I approached I-5 and crossed under it. The route went around an (artificial?) lake that I’ve seen many times from I-5 but had never been to. In fact I can only recall ever being in Centralia once or twice. After wending around the lake the route went under I-5 again and then made it’s way on frontage roads to Chehalis. These roads presented the first hurdle in that the one I need to take was closed. I rode on it anyway and found to my surprise a new separated bicycle path. I happily rode on this and of course didn’t see a car all the way. The one downside is that street signs hadn’t been replaced yet so I rode past the turnoff I needed to take. But I didn’t ride far as I suspected all along that was my route. So I stopped maybe 1/4 mile up the road and checked Google Maps via my iPad and confirmed my suspecion. So a bit of backtracking and I was back on track.

Clear skies on country roads

Once on this side road the route wended through fields, past the county airport and a golf course. There was a raised crushed gravel trail out here as well (the Airport Levee Trail), but since this road was also technically closed as it only fed into the other closed road there was no reason to not enjoy the empty streets. This route took me back toward I-5 into the small town of Chehalis where I’d find the Willapa Hills Trail which I’d ride most of the way to the campground.

Entering the Willapia Hills Trail

The Willapa Hills Trail is a 56 mile long trail from Chehalis to South Bend on the coast. The vast majority of this is unpaved but it begin with a good 5.5 miles or so paved. This was some nice trail riding through the forests, farmland and wetlands of Lewis county valleys between the Willapa Hills. You cross numerious trestles over creeks, rivers, roads and wetlands. Alas after the trail becomes gravel these trestles also stop being surfaced. That is the tracks are gone and there are slats but no flat surface. When I first encountered one of these I turned back and took a county road to hwy 6 which the route more or less parallels. Highway 6 was not nearly as flat as these trails and at this point it had little shoulder and a pretty steady stream of traffic. So not much fun for the 8 or so miles I rode on it. Soon enough though I cut off the highway into working farmland until I got back on the trail. The trail was crushed gravel now and a stiff evening wind was coming out of the west. This last stage of this days ride was not as congenial though there was some beautiful scenery along the river.

Gravel section of the Willapia Hills Trail

Eventually I crossed the road which was to take me back to Hwy 6 and then a short back track to Rainbow Falls State Park, my stated destination. As I was riding back on 6 I noticed a sign on the other side of the road saying Rainbow Falls next left. Curious, but I rode on. And I found that the state park extends across the river and the highway and that for inexplicable reasons Google Maps leads you to this side of the park instead of the other where the entrance and the campground is. So backtracking again. I crossed the Chehalis River one more time and then noticed another sign directing you to take a right toward the campground – this sign was not present going the other direction, which surely I would have caught. Another mile or so up the road and I reached Rainbow Falls State Park. All of the backtracking and mis-routing I’d done on this day had led to about 11 miles of riding off the Google Maps route.

Biolite Campstove

I did a spin around the campground until I found the Hiker/Biker sites (there was also horse riders only sites nearby) and got myself setup. These were looking like they’d been pretty neglected so far this season, to the point where I had to cross a fallen log to get to my site. I registered and then set up and then cooked dinner. I’d gotten a new stove that runs off of wood that I was testing on this tour and this was my first meal I cooked with it. The BioLite Campstove has a batterypack that runs fans that allows for very efficient and hot fires. It worked quite well for tonights dinner which was Soba Noodles with vegetables and tofu. I also boiled water for tea and cleanup and it worked quite well. The stove is able to charge it’s own batter and if there is reserve power devices connected via the USB port. This also seemed to work out in my limited test. Look for a full report on my experience with the stove to come. After dinner it was pretty much dark so I cleaned up and retired for the night.

61.5 miles were ridden today.
The planned route: Olympia WA to Rainbow Falls State Park
More photos on Flickr: Day 1 Photos, complete May Micro-Tour photo set.

Posted from Chehalis, Washington, United States.

Posted in Bicycle Camping, Commuting | 2 Responses »
Tags: Bicycle Camping, Bicycle Touring, Cyclotouring, May Micro-Tour, Rainbow Falls State Park, Spring Touring, SW WA, Washington State

We can, if we so choose, wander aimlessly over the continent of the arbitrary.