The beginning of 2015 found me waylaid by a cold and thus I didn’t get out on my bicycle until January 5th 2015. As per my wont I didn’t get out of the house until late and I ended up doing a fairly standard ride here in the Puget Sound area: South Lake Washington Loop. I rode the anti-clockwise on the loop from the I-90 trail on the west side to the I-90 trail on the Eastside. Then I rode the south half of the loop around Mercer Island before return to the westside. Two days later I did the North Lake Washington Loop again in between the I-90 trail and this time the north half of the Mercer Island Loop. It has been clear and cold with an inversion layer keeping in fog and smog, which presented some pretty views which I’ll present some photos of here with captions. For more pictures check out my First Rides 2015 photoset on Flickr.
Looking down at Beacon Hill, Seattle and in the distance the Olympics
Atlantis on Lake Washington looking at the I-90 Floating bridge
At Seward Park looking at Mount Rainier across Lake Washington
Mercer Slough reflecting an overpass
Atlantis Above I-90 floating bridge
Above Lake Washington with the 520 floating bridge to the left
The end of the 2014 has been marked by unusually wet and warm weather (pineapple express!) interspersed with unusually dry, clear and cold. Sure it’s not the approaching absolute zero of the midwest or what have you, but it’s been cold. However I wanted to get in one last ride for 2014, plus I needed to get some ingredients for a New Years potluck and I’ve had those coffee outside plans hanging fire so on NYE’s I set out for a little jaunt around the city.
I-90 with the Cascades in the Distance
As always I set out late, so I rode across Beacon Hill, stopping only once at a stairway that gave me the above view of snow speckled Cascade Mountains. It’s only been four months since my summer tour in the mountains, and I have to say I’ve been pining for them a bit. Both the Cascades and the Olympics, snow covered, but well below average, are really looking lovely on these crisp, icy blue days.
On the Waterfront
After this brief photoshoot I rode down the hill into the ID where I picked up Spicy Tofu Bánh mì for lunch at the always great Chu Minh Tofu & Vegetarian Deli. From the ID it was a short jaunt though Pioneer Square and the interminable construction to the waterfront where I had a wintery picnic.
Spicy Tofu Bánh mì
On the water there was stunning views of the Olympic Mountains across the Sound and Mount Rainier to the South, somewhat obscured by the Port and haze. While I was eating a train that was just five engines steamed up the nearby tracks. After lunch I took some pictures on the beach, but the cold air and fell winds soon pushed me back onto the bicycle. It was one of those days where you long for the climbs to warm you up and dread those icy descents.
The Mountain
I rode up the Elliot Bay Trail and then did the a clockwise loop around the Magnolia neighborhood. This begins with a good climb up to Magnolia Avenue which hugs the bluffs above the sound. Some nice views south and west of the Sound, West Seattle, the Peninsula and the Olympics. I kept moving though and when the road turned inward a bit I took a residential road that dived down right to sea level and then pretty quickly followed was a steep climb out. This brought me to Discovery Park which I pretty much just rode across and through until I was back on the scenic loop route.
Making Coffee above the Ballard Locks
I cut over to the Ballard Locks and as I was about to descend down to the locks proper I noticed a little secluded picnic area. I decided to pull off over there and finally have make my coffee out of doors. Third time is the charm! It was much cooler in the shade (and it wasn’t that warm to begin with in the sun!) so I was pretty happy when the coffee was bile’d and I sat for a spell enjoying it in the company of Ryōkan.
Coffee and Ryōkan
Even though this was a pretty isolated part of the park a few people did come through. A homeless guy came through and I chatted with him a bit. Mainly about the cold weather, but he was also curious if I’d seen his buddy on a ten-speed. I had not. He wandered off and I read this poem:
In town I finish begging for food.
Content, I carry the cloth bag,
wondering which place to call home.
Could that be my home near the white cloud?
The Spillway
My coffee drained I was rapidly cooling down, so I packed up and headed down to the locks. There were people out at all the parks I visited on this day. It may be cold, but it is sunny and many people are off – I’m not the only one wanting to get outside. The locks were active as I was down there, a series of boats cruising into one of the locks and then slowly rising up as they are brought to the level the lake. A series of announcements from the Lock commander gave everything a bureaucratic edge.
Still water in the lock
I walked my bicycle across the locks and through the park grounds and I was back on my bicycle. I rode through town and onto the Burke-Gillman Trail, which has a new separated bikeway in one of the previously more dangerous spots in Ballard. I took the trail to Fremont, where I stopped at the PCC and took care of that shopping I had to do. I loaded my groceries into my front basket – my saddlebag had my cooking kit and daybag in it – and in the now setting sun I began to make my way home. I took a mix of the BGT, waterfront roads to the U-District where I was able to take my old commute route.
The sun had set as I climbed up Capitol Hill but there was this layered yellow-orange-red glow outlining the Olympic Mountains deep in shadow above the Space Needle and the Seattle skyline. Glorious. Since the traffic seemed fairly low on this NYE’s I rode on broadway and the entire length of the newish cycle track. There was still a glow in the sky behind Sodo and the distant mountains as I crossed the Jose Rizal Bridge and began my climb up to Beacon Hill. I arrived home around 5:25 in nearly total darkness after having ridden just over 25 miles on this cold, New Years Eve. A fitting end to 2014.
See and realize
that this world
is not permanent.
Neither late nor early flowers
will remain.
As I noted in my Solstice Ride post, I’d set out with the thought of walking along the shore and making some coffee (or tea) in the out of doors. That did’t end up happening as my wandering nature got the best of me and the lure of exploring new territory proved stronger. With the weather predicted to turn clear and much colder over the next week, plus frankly I’ve been feeling a bit sedentary these days, I set out yesterday amidst heavy clouds, wind and threatened rain on a second attempt at making coffee out of doors.
I’ve been contemplating taking part in an organized ride (!) next year that begins in the AM in Redmond so I thought I’d ride there and gauge the miles and and time that would require. But the straight shot there isn’t super scenic so I decided I’d ride to and around the east side of Lake Sammamish. There I’d be able to stop at the park and make my coffee.
There were gashes of blue sky amidst the layers of grey clouds and low black clouds blowing in on the wind. This rainy weather coming in was warmer, if not warm, and the hilly route over Mercer Island kept me warm enough. Exiting Mercer Island I continued on the I-90 Trail to Issaquah. Here I encountered Lake Sammamish State Park, but decided I’d stop a bit further on, on the east side of the lake. From Issaquah I was able to hop on the East Lake Sammamish Trail which pretty quickly took me to the Lake Sammamish State Park and boat launch where I’d planned to stop. But there were no picnic tables there so I decided to press on to Marymoor park.
Back on the trail, which is newly paved inside Issaquah city limits, but the moment you cross into the city of Sammamish it reverts to the old hard packed gravel. At which point I returned to the road. I hadn’t been on the road long when I saw a cyclist pushing his ride up from the trail and he yelled out to me. I looped around a turned out he had a flat and had neglected to bring 5mm allen wrench to remove his front wheel. I of course had my multi-tool and helped him out. He was a pretty fast tire changer so it wasn’t that long before I was back on the road.
Following the edge of a lake the road has it’s ups and downs. The wind had shifted too, so what had been a cross/tail wind was now more of a head wind. But I was in trees enough that the wind wasn’t much of a problem, but it had blown in low, dark grey clouds and as I pulled into Marymoor Park, it was quite dark, though still an hour and half before sunset. I wanted to make my coffee on the lake so I made an executive decision that I’d ride a loop around Lake Sammamish and make my coffee at Idylwood Park just on the west side of lake. But as I pulled into the main parking area of Marymoor park the skies open up and a real downpour began. I rode to the park concession building which had large eves. There were two other cyclists sheltering there along with a couple arguing in Russian. We all waited out the worst of the downpour but set off one by one as it slackened.
At this point I abandoned my plans to ride around the lake – not a bad road but in twilight and pouring rain I figured a more direct route was advisable. Plus I ended up taking that direct route I had wanted to judge the timing of. This route follows the 520 Trail to the outskirts of Bellevue and then takes more out of the way roads to where it intersects with the Lake Washington Loop route which then connects to the I-90 trail. During this ride the rain slowed and there was just showers on and off for most of the rest of the way. I was about to cross onto Mercer Island the sun set and through gaps in the clouds at the horizon I could see the orange, purple and yellow glow.
I was back on the I-90 trail and simply reversed my earlier route across Mercer Island and then onto the Beacon Hill Greenway. It was after five pm, just fully dark and my odometer ticked over to 41 miles as I rolled to my front door. Once again I failed in my making coffee out of doors, but it was a satisfying ride on a gloomy winter day.
I was inclined to take a ride in the short amount of sunlight available on the Winter Solstice and thought I’d head to the beach at West Seattle and bile up some coffee. I loaded up my trusty Atlantis with my camp stove, alcohol, some coffee (also tea, in case I decided I was done with coffee for the day by the time I pulled over), put on my winter ride togs and set off just a bit before noon. I decided that I should get lunch in West Seattle before any other activities so I took the most direct route there. I exited Beacon Hill on Columbia which is pretty much a direct I-5 and West Seattle Bridge entrance. I thought there was an exit that wouldn’t put me on either of those highways but as I descended past the point of no return I became less sure. I decided to just press on figuring I could get off the first exit on the West Seattle Bridge if I had to. It being Sunday, noon-ish, there wasn’t a lot of traffic which made these decisions easier. I always think one needs to take a certain amount of chances when on is riding, especially on routes. This one worked out okay as before I was on the West Seattle Bridge proper I was able to exit onto Spokane Street. From there it was a straight shot (with a short jaunt around a stationary train blocking the way) to the Alki Trail.
Atlantis in front of West Seattle’s most distinctive building
Over the Duwamish and onto another trail to Avalon and then the long slow climb up to downtown West Seattle. I rode down California street, past the Sunday Farmers Market, to where it intersects with Fauntlaroy where I stopped at Zeeks Pizza for lunch. While I’m mostly a Neapolitan Pizza kind of guy Zeeks makes this Thai Pizza, that barely counts as a pizza, but I find myself needing to have every so often. Being out of their delivery radius in my current dwelling this seemed like a good opportunity to avail myself of this fine item. The Thai “pizza” is a pizza crust with peanut sauce, cheese and then Thai approrpriate veggies: broccoli, red onions, green peppers, bean sprouts, julienned carrots, cilantro and so on. Such a great thing. Since pizza – even if it’s basically Thai-fusion flatbread – requires beer so I paired it with a Reubens BrewsRoasted Rye IPA, which had distinctive rye notes and was appropriately winterly robust.
I didn’t linger overly long at Zeeks and was soon enough back on the road and heading down Fauntleroy toward Lincoln Park where I’d initially thought I’d get back on the Alki Trail and find a beach to bile up my coffee. But it was only a mile or two away from where I’d just had lunch so I thought I’d keep heading south on the coast and stop at a convenient park when I felt moved for coffee. I passed the ferry terminal and then there was a pretty good climb up from sea-level. Trying to stay on the coast I stair stepped through little residential streets until I was on Marine Drive. There were plenty of big houses on the bluffs above the water but not much by way of parks or access to the beach. But it was nice riding with the occasional great views of the sound. At one point way up ahead I could see a point sticking way out into the sound. It looked too far away to ride to on this short day, but I filed it away for future explorations.
The road curved inland to make it’s way around a cove and I noticed that I was on a route used for some bicycle ride with an ‘R’ symbol in it’s Dan Henry’s. As I’ve related many times in these pages, following random Dan Henry’s is a favorite pastime of mine so once again I set off on unknown routes. I was in suburbia now with the occasional busier arterial, but clearly this route was working it’s way toward that point I saw. There was several good climbs on this route but it flattened out as I came into Burien. Old Town Burien, which I can’t ever recall having visited, looks pretty nice. A brewpub of the Elliot Bay Brewery, numerous good looking coffee shops, several books and a big brand of the Seattle Public Library all along the main drag. I kept following the Dan Henry’s even though the sun was waning and it had really clouded up from the days earlier partial cloudiness. I even felt a few drops of rain.
Dwindling sun over the sound on this, the shortest day of the year
The Dan Henry’s led me into the woods and down a real steep winding road, that I was hoping I wouldn’t have to climb out of. It opened up, right at sea level on the sound. I rounded that point I saw earlier and snapped the above pictures. Wind was blowing from the south, it was pretty cloudy now and much cooler. But I’d soon heat up as I climbed back up to Burien. Thankfully it wasn’t a there-and-back and the road and the Dan Henry’s hugged the water before climbing back up. At last I reached a point where the marked route was heading back down to the water and further south where I felt I had to start making my way back home. I pulled up Google Maps and found that I could return to 4th Ave which I’d ridden into Burien and follow it almost all the way up the Duwamish Valley. So this I did.
4th went up and down and there was definitely some traffic on this route but it had either bicycle lanes, or a mostly empty parking strip most of the way, so on a Sunday afternoon it was fine enough. It more or less ended at Westcrest Park where you could either head east into South Park or West into White Center. I rode through the park on dirt trails – which was good fun – and then through residential neighborhoods until I dove down into the valley and onto the Duwamish Trail. From there it was an easy jaunt over the 1st Ave Bridge and into Georgetown. Pretty deep into dusk now, I made my way toward I-5 where I had previously scouted a signed bicycle route up to Beacon Hill. This worked out well and I soon crossed I-5 and was up onto the Beacon Hill Greenway. I made it back to my pad right as the sun was sinking below the horizon, lighting up the clouds a dark orange.
This rather aimless route turned out to be really great, with certainly a few sections I would tweak for a longer ride. Those Dan Henry’s I was following I ended up seeing again when I was on the Duwamish Trail. I figure that route followed to coast perhaps as far as Dash Point State Park and then cut east to the Green River Trail where it would eventually connect with the Duwamish Trail where I encounter those symbols. That would be a pretty great ride and I want to get back out there and do the whole thing. But that would certainly require more daylight than I allowed on this day, but could very well be a good winter ride.
I put the route up on to RideWithGPS as you can see below. My odo stated 31.1 miles for the ride and the below route is as well, so I think I recalled the route pretty well.
As the days get shorter and the temperatures lower I’ve found that I’ve been enjoying taking little short rides on my Quickbeam. I’m generally more of long exploratory ramble kind of guy, but I often set out late as the mood strikes. In the winter that leads to my riding being a lot more utility based, or the occasional pre-planned more “epic” outing. But since I’ve moved to the Beacon Hill neighborhood in South Seattle, I find short rambles in this still fairly new to me region to be a nice way to squeeze some riding into the minimal daylight.
The city as seen from Jefferson Park on Beacon Hill
Riding around Seattle, which is plenty hilly, on the Quickbeam I found doable but wasn’t loving it. So last spring right before I set out on tour I converted it to a three speed. I had a wheel built with a Sturmey-Archer S3x fixed three speed hub, to which I put on a freewheel cog. Then it was simply a matter of running cable up to a bar end shifter. I did take some care with this, using nice brackets where I could as this is a “permanent” change as far as I’m concerned. With the tour looming I abandoned the project, nearly complete but needing a lot of fine tuning. Well I’ve mostly got it dialed in now and I really love it as a three-speed. It’s still a bit of effort to get up some hills and of course some of the steepest require the “fourth gear” (i.e. pushing) but that’s all part of the charm. The Albatross bars have taking some getting used to, but I love just rambling around the neighborhood, perched up high checking things out. Perfect right for running errands, or like on this day, just head out for a couple of hours in the dwindling late autumn sun.
Since returning from tour I haven’t had a lot of chances to get out in the (nearly) always beautiful PNW Autumn. My bicycle needed a bunch of work and it took getting into a new place and emptying out my storage unit to have the necessary tools. Then a visit to family out of state took me away during prime early October weather. On my return – just last Thursday – it looked like persistent rain had moved in early. Well that forecast changed and it was looking to be just overcast on Saturday clearing up in the evening, with Sunday being mostly clear with temps reaching the low 70s (F). Reading this post from Cliff Mass I saw that the lows had been unseasonably high and thus I decided an overnighter was in order.
Atlantis - ready to ride
I had decided to embark on this trip pretty late and I did have a couple of final tasks to complete on the bicycle. In the above picture you can see my Atlantis as set out. Since returning from tour I have replaced the Shifters, the pedals, the middle chainring, the chain and the rear derailleur. This morning I replaced the cassette and the rear tire and I was ready to go. Since this was just an overnighter I only needed two meals and a few pieces of off bicycle clothes, so I was able to pack as minimally as possible. In the saddlebag (a Grant Peterson top 5!) I have my sleeping back, inflatable pillow, Trangia cook set, rain gear and the off bicycle clothes. In the basket I have my air mattress and my Grab Sack (another top 5!) with my camera, journal, iPad Mini and such in it. In my Hobo Bag (best h’bar bag ever) I stuffed in my toiletries and food bag. Strapped on the back rack is my tent with the poles along the top tube. Pretty amazing how light a load camping requires for just one night.
clearing up
It had rained that morning but by mid-afternoon the clouds were breaking up. I had decided to camp at Fay Bainbridge Park on Bainbridge Island. This is the closest campground to Seattle and it’s really close – I rode 12 miles to the campground. This has it’s positive side – I left around 2:30 and on a day when it is dark by 6:30 that meant I was able to setup and cook while it was still light. Of course I would prefer a bit more of a ride when I have more time, but there is no reason one could ride clockwise around the Island from the ferry terminal and get in those miles. But on this day the late departure, plus the ferry trip and 7-8 miles on the island worked out just fine.
Camping at Fay Bainbridge
The campground has an upper area with walk-in camping and a lower area with sites under the hill and along the beach. There is an electronic pay station down there where I paid for the hiker/biker site, a reasonable US$7. I then proceeded to ride around for half an hour trying to find said h/b site. I never did. I did an internet search and found via Google Books a map of the park which indicated that the h/b area was in the walk in area. As there was no-one camping up there (there was about half a dozen campers on the beach) I just took a space up there. This was a good deal as I was able to utilize the covered picnic tables for cooking. I setup, cooked, and by the time I cleaned up it was pretty dark. I took a cup of green tea to the beach and sat there in the glow from Seattle listened to the gentle surf and the rumble of the passing ferries.
a creaking frog,
the bobbing glow of eyes,
this misty autumn night
Camping at Fay Bainbridge
I slept late and took my time making breakfast and packing up and then headed down to the beach. It was a lovely morning with blue skies streaked by torn up clouds. Pretty windy too, with stiff gusts of wind. Since I had left late and took the short route here my plan was to ride around the island before heading home. I’ve ridden Bainbridge plenty of times, but usually (mostly) follow the Chilly Hilly route which circles the island, staying on roads that can support 7000+ cyclists. But on this day I started following Dan Henry’s on the road in the shape of a pie and green arrows painted on the road. These routes took me on narrower roads that dove down to the water and then right back up, across the island and through Fort Ward Park.
Port Madison Bell with Atlantis
It was such a lovely autumn day, with big gusts of wind blowing leaves all over the road. I finally accomplished something I wanted to do for a long time: I caught a falling leaf while riding alone. A big gust of wind blew a bunch of leaves toward me and without thought I just reached out and caught a large blowing right by me. The Dan Henry’s wended a route on and off the Chilly Hilly route so I saw the usual landmarks: Port Madison, the Bainbridge Island Frog, many views of the Puget Sound and of course mostly took me on the great Bainbridge Island side roads.
Cormorants all in a row.
The Dan Henry’s eventually took me on this climb up the middle of the Island and then wound down to Lynnwood which had really been built up since last I was here. I had lunch at the Treehouse Cafe there, a location where I have many times had an ice cream cone but never actually stopped for lunch. Well the food was good and while I had a sandwich it looks like they make a good pizza as well. I walked around Lynnwood a bit checking out all the new shops and restaurants before rejoining the Chilly Hilly Route for a stretch. The Dan Henry’s pretty quickly took me off the route and I ended up riding through Fort Ward – completely new territory for me. Well this former military fort, now a small park right along the edge of the island allows one to ride a bit more along the water. Especially if you continue onto South Beach road after the park.
Heading up Toe Jam Hill Road.
Riding the narrow road right on the edge of the island is quite scenic and with the wind blowing out of the south, a nice ride. Of course you do then have to ride up Toe Jam Hill which was by far the steepest hill I’ve ridden on Bainbridge. There are longer hills and plenty of pretty steep hills, but this one took the cake. As you rounded the curve pictured above painted on the road was “Good Luck”. I did make it up the steeped, cracked pavement and after a bit more time on the heavily wooded Toe Jam Road, I turned onto Country Club road which took me back to the Chilly Hilly route which I’d follow for the rest of the day.
One of my favorite spots on Bainbridge Island, is this memorial park with a Tibetan Prayer Wheel. As always I stopped and spun the wheel and took in this peaceful spot. But after leaving the park I rode steadily back, along the Chilly Hilly route primarily, back to Eagle Harbor and the ferry. I needed to be back home before six and while there was still plenty of riding I could have done on Bainbridge, not to mention the quaint little town of Winslow which I’ve never really explored, I headed straight to the ferry terminal. Of course I did end up waiting a bit for the next boat, but I enjoyed the waning day and being on the water. The ride back featured stunning views of a cloud enshrouded Mt. Rainier, big fluffy clouds hovering over the Seattle cityscape and many sailboats out enjoying this windy, beautiful autumn day.
On tour this summer, just outside of Yakama on a hot mid-July Day I started hearing a rhythmic thunking as I rode on an overpass. I pulled over and slowly pushed the bicycle forward looking for things dangling, or rubbing or something. And look what I found. This is why I use Marathon Plus tires and don’t even bother messing with other tires on my Atlantis. I rode over 2000 miles, fully loaded, in the Cascade and Sierra Mountains after this incident. The tire, while plenty worn now, is still in service.
Bottle in hand,
I climb out on this great rock.
Since Heaven and Earth began
it’s stood a thousand feet above the water.
I raise my cup and smile at the sky,
and the Heavens whirl until the sun shines out of the West!
I could sit here on this rock forever! hanging my hook
like the wise men of old.
At least I’ll send this to those who came before me here:
may the music I make, make harmony with yours.
-Li Po
Day 60
After a fairly fitful night sleeping on my coach seat on the train, I spent the rest of this day riding up to Tacoma. Sunrise was a bit past 6am and in the pre-dawn light we moved on the western side of Mt. Shasta. From this angle the mountain looked spare and barren as when I rode past it’s southern extents but there are a few more glaciers visible on this side. As the sun rose this was quite a striking scene. I ended up having breakfast and lunch in the dining car and there they fill every table with guests. On the border with Oregon the train takes one valley over than the one I rode down on and it was a lush wetland and lakes fed by Klamath Lake. Whereas the valley I’d ridden down was dry, barren and almost desert-like. Water, the staff of life. North of Klamath Falls was some really stunning scenery as the train rode high up on a valley wall over trestles and through tunnels. The valley was filled with trees and the far walls were craggy cliffs. Further on it went to the east of Mount Bachelor and the Three Sisters – neat to see stuff from the tour from this perspective. However best part of the Coast Starlight IMO is from Olympia to Washington.
down from the mountains
only mountains of the mind remain
like dragonflies over water
From Olympia the train cuts across the Nisqually Valley and actually onto the coast. I don’t know if it does much travel on the Coast in CA before San Francisio but this is the only section actually along the open water, albeit the Puget Sound, from that point on. The sun is always setting in this section as the train comes up in the summer and as you pass Anderson, McNeil and Fox Islands the sun was sinking toward the water. Finally after 26 hours on the train it pulled into Tacoma Station right on time. I had to get off at Tacoma because as far as I can tell only three WA stops have baggage service: Vancouver, Tacoma and Seattle. Happily my bicycle came through all right and with no hassles (especially as I hadn’t taken off the pedals as they require) and I very quickly straightened the handlebars and minimally strapped things on to ride the couple blocks to the bus station. There I had a few minutes to re-combobulate the bicycle a bit more and catch the bus to Lakewood where I managed to catch the last bus to Olympia. I can’t say how happy I was to see that that bus didn’t have a full bicycle carrier! Finally just around 9pm I was back in Olympia, exactly 60 days after I left.
beyond the vast expanse
the fiery sun sets
behind jagged hills
This was been a great tour with achingly beautiful scenery the whole way. I’m so happy I did it and now as autumn approaches, my favorite season, I’m happy to be back in the Pacific NW. Over the next days and weeks I hope to write a post-mortem and get some pictures uploaded. Stay tuned for all of that. Thanks to all who’ve read my attempts to capture this trip. I know I couldn’t do it justice and I hope that I at least gave an impression of it.
walking alone in the darkness
light pouring out of windows
one foot after the other
all day I said nothing
unable to sleep
the moonlit night
-Santoka
this train is bound for Oly
My train didn’t leave until the evening so this meant I had most of a day to kill in Bakersfield. I was close to the central downtown and let me tell you there isn’t much action on a Sunday in Bakersfield. I found the most active coffee shop in the “arts district” and hung out there until the Art Museum opened. My plan was to spend the afternoon there and then ride to a store to get some supplies for the train trip and the head to the station to box up the bicycle. Well the best laid plans &c – the art museum was closed to install new exhibits. So I went to the natural history museum instead. This was a bit more kid oriented but there was some nest stuff there. Not far from Bakersfield is “Sharktooth Hill” a large fossil bonefield from when the Pacific Ocean ran into the San Joaquin valley. They had many fossils of sea creatures both extinct and still existent. They also had a quite interesting mineral collections with beautiful examples of petrified wood particularly standing out. I spent as much time as I could there but eventually I’d seen it all and I headed out
I rode around town checking out the Fox Theatre, public art, the Aquatic Center – the most active place in town on this hot day – but eventually I headed toward the closest store. Apart from the small central downtown Bakersfield seems to be all edge city of check cashing places, pawn shops, hairdressers and fast food. Needing to eat I was at a Subway when a guy pulled into the handicap spot, didn’t stop and went through the sign and into the window of the next door Panda Express. I took it as commentary on Panda Express’ menu. I got some supplies at the store and headed to the Amtrak station. There I struggled mightily to get the pedals of my bicycle, but the seemed to,have gotten bound on. While I was engaged in the struggle four cops showed up, entered the woman’s bathroom and removed a woman in handcuffs. Welcome to Bakersfield.
I finally just stuffed my bicycle in the box and wrapped in all in duct tape and checked it in. Not long after I boarded the San Joaquin train that would take me up to Sacremento where I’d board the Coast Startlight at midnight. The San Joaquin is a wide flat valley with small hills far in the distance to the west and the Sierras towering to the easy. All cultivated farmland it seemed really flat all the way to the hills. The sun set a fiery red ball over the hills and later on a wavery crescent moon was reflected in the train windows to the east. Only an amazing ten minutes late I arrived in Sacramento and transferred to the Coast Starlight, which was already running twenty minutes late, so technically I left Sacramento the next day.
on the train north
three weeks of travel in five hours
— crickets
Mountains, rivers, and the great earth,
Grass, trees, and the forests,
All are mu.
-Bassui
no goal reached
Lake Isabella is the end of section four of the Sierra-Cascades route and as far as I’m going to follow the route. Today I strike off on a route to Bakersfeild that I put together on Google Maps. This turns out to be just the kind of route that ACA would have done. Once I’d ridden past the lake on that busy shoulderless road I headed up the canyon walls. From there I stayed well above the Kern river for a fair spell on lightly trafficked backroads. This was quite nice, riding through the stark, dry landscape, under the blue sky masterfully painted with white clouds. The Kern was boiling along below over large shattered rocks and there was considerably more greenery down that way. I even passed a couple of campgrounds – wish I’d ridden the few miles west of Lake Isabella and camped at the Hobo Campground.
Eventually though the route descended and joined the main highway to Bakersfield. This road quickly fell to near the level of the river and became a fairly narrow shoulder-free road. Happily most of the traffic was heading upriver, but this is California and there are few empty roads. I kept descending in the canyon but the walls seemed to get taller if anything. Toward the end they were these towering shear rock walls with large crumbling boulder piles. The was a little dam at the end of the canyon which upon passing I left the Sequoia National Forest – the end of the long string of many, many national forests I’ve been in for the last few months.
I exited into a wide valley with a ranch on one side and agriculture on the other which once I climbed out of, I’d reached the far extents of Bakersfield. I was in the San Joaquin valley proper now and it was hot – 97 degrees (F). Google Maps routed me though the ‘burbs and a series of rather depressed seeming neighborhoods until I came upon “Central Park”. This park is along a canal though the central part of town and I rode the paths along that all the way to my hotel. I made a brief stop at Blacktop Cyclery as I needed a pedal wrench for the train trip home. Good guys there, they give me a deal on the wrench as they “liked my (Rivendell) hat”. They came out to check out my bike and were totally into it and the tour. They said that the cycling scene isn’t bad here and they are always working to improve it. I don’t think I’d come here specifically for the cycling but always nice to find good people. It was just a couple blocks to my hotel right across the street from the Amtrak station. Tomorrow I began the trip north.
Atlantis framing Mount RainierLooking down at Beacon Hill, Seattle and in the distance the Olympics
Atlantis on Lake Washington looking at the I-90 Floating bridgeAt Seward Park looking at Mount Rainier across Lake Washington
Mercer Slough reflecting an overpass
Atlantis Above I-90 floating bridge
Above Lake Washington with the 520 floating bridge to the left
Smog over Bellevue
Finger paint the sky
A record of my wanderings, be they by bicycle, camera, foot, or just daydreams.