And A Little Bit More

To the Canadian border.

Since some of us had tagged the Mexican border just before the trip started, some of us felt compelled to go on and tag the Canadian border.  I joined up with the California "kids" - Gail and Diane.  I had also done the Mexican border trip with them.  They had several of their friends with them, including Wendy who had previously done the Southern Tier and Atlantic Coast trips with us.  They also had three support vehicles so they gladly took me along.  We drove back to our Sedro-Woolley hotel and started pedaling north from there.  By coincidence we met Judy in the parking lot.  Her husband was driving support for her to do the same thing.  So..... Six of us headed north to the border.  It was a pretty quick trip, since some of the California contingent had a ferry to catch in the afternoon to start a San Juan Islands bike tour.  Just one picture along the way.

Traffic was ugly on Highway 9 for the first 20 miles or so.  After that we got onto the side roads for a much more pleasant experience.  All smiles at the border - Gail, me, Diane and Judy.

While they all got in the cars and headed south, I crossed the border to be picked up by my sister-in-law Elizabeth.  A nice way to end an outstanding trip!

Stats for the day:
63 km / 39 miles from Sedro-Woolley WA to the Canadian border at Sumas
960 feet up
970 feet down

Stats for the entire trip:
3640 km / 2261 miles from Mexico to Canada
132,000 feet of climbing (and descent)
To put that into context - a commercial airliner generally flies at between 30,000 and 40,000 feet above sea level.  We climbed 3 to 4 times that distance - yikes!  I'm going for a massage tomorrow.....

Done, Done, Done!

Well, another epic is in the books!

With only 28 miles to cover today it was a pretty relaxed start. And - the sun has returned. Yay!!  Breakfast at 8 and everyone left fairly close together. The slower ones got out first and the faster ones a bit later, but very relaxed the whole way with the group coming together often on the quiet roads.  A bit of a winding route, but quiet & scenic. Lots of fields of crops before giving way to coastal views at Padilla Bay.

We crossed over the Swinomish Channel and into Anacortes.

Onto the Tommy Thompson Trail at Fidalgo Bay.

We stayed on target for arrival at Rotary Park in Anacortes between 11 and noon. A few incidents along the way. Pam took a little spill requiring some clean-up and a few bandaids, and Cindi had a flat  tire.  We rode the last few miles on the bike path as a group, arriving to see family and friends waiting for us and taking pics to capture the moment. I was fortunate to have some folks there welcoming me in. My brother Ron, sister-in-law Elizabeth, niece Sarah and her husband Jon. Thanks to them for making the trip on Father's Day. Emily had set out a delicious picnic lunch for us all to enjoy.

Then a quick ride over to the hotel. My room wasn't ready, so spent a few hours strolling the main drag of Anacortes with the family. Nice.

The hotel is lovely. I have my own room tonight, but will be up early in the morning to ride to the border with the California gals.

We had our final group dinner at the hotel tonight. Great meal and such a great group of women!  Lots of laughs; I'll miss them all. Re-entry is always a tough go after such a long trip.

Stats for the day:
46 km / 28 miles from Sedro-Woolley WA to Anacortes WA
504 feet up
591 feet down
Weather:  just fine.  Mix of sunshine and clouds with comfortable temps.


And yes - my third epic; my third EFI (every fabulous inch). Three of us EFI'd this time - Ann (also EFI'd on the Southern Tier and the Atlantic Coast), Barb (who was also sous chef every night and morning!), and l'il ol' me. Certainly the most challenging for me considering that I couldn't walk so much as a city block for the first few weeks!

Water, Water Everywhere

In the rivers, creeks and babbling brooks and in puddles on the roads.  Oh - and coming from the sky and lots of it pooled in my shoes all day.  Well, I'm so happy we had such a nice day yesterday for our long and scenic ride.  Now that we're nearing the coast again the weather has turned on us.  We're definitely in the rain forest and I guess there's a reason for so much lush growth, moss, ferns, etc., etc.  The clincher, though, was when we rode past fields of crops of various types and there was not an irrigation device in sight.

We stayed in rather rustic cabins in the middle of nowhere last night.  The folks with single rooms were back in the woods and hoping the cougars didn't find them.  The weather lived up to the forecast today.  It was just starting to rain as we ate our breakfast outside.  It had turned into a steady rain by the time we got on our bikes.  Just about everyone agreed that if we were at home with the choice of whether or not to ride - we would be doing something else today.  I headed out last again today and was just going to hang out at the back of the parade, but then the rain started to come down a bit harder so I picked it up a bit, but still at sub-sweating pace.  Moisture management.........

Gotta say I don't really know what sights I missed, as I had my head down a lot - dodging puddles, stones, potholes, etc.  We were on backroads most of the day.  Plus - very little traffic.  Minus - fairly rough chip seal and no shoulders.  I only stopped for 2 pictures.  One of the Baker River.  I'm assuming this originates somewhere on Mount Baker - my favourite mountain of all time.  The second pic is a sign coming into our destination town of Sedro-Woolley.

I'm sure it would have been a pretty day in better conditions - lots of mixed forests, lots of moss, ferns, rivers and creeks.  Some trees forming canopies over the road.  And, finally, some agricultural areas similar to the Fraser Valley to the north.

Everyone was into the hotel early, and although some of the rooms were not ready, the hotel folks prioritized our rooms and got us in as quickly as they could.  Glad we haven't had too many rainy on the trip!  Last day tomorrow.........

We had a quick visit with Lynda C this afternoon.  She rode the Atlantic Coast last year with some of us.  She has completely circumnavigated the US, so also knew some of the gals from other rides (eg. Pacific Coast).  Great to see her again!  And - because of the weather (and the desire not to set up our lawn chairs in the rain) we went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant tonight.

Stats for the day:
84 km / 52 miles from Marblemount/Rockport WA to Sedro-Woolley WA
1514 feet up
1743 feet down - getting closer to sea level!
Weather:  yucky!  A steady rain all day and temp didn't move from 9C.

Stunning!

In a nutshell, that sums up today's ride.  Beautiful bright skies, stunning snow-topped mountains and gorgeous lakes.  It was a long day with lots of climbing, but it is no hardship when the scenery is so beautiful.

Given that just a few days ago the forecast was a bit dismal for today, we were thrilled when the updated forecast called for clear skies.  It would have been a bit of trial to ride 100 miles in the rain.  Sure enough, we woke up to a beautiful day.  Breakfast at 5:30 at the trailer.  First up, we rode through the town of Winthrop.  I chose not to go in yesterday, so a nice surprise this morning.  The downtown is based on an old west theme.  Looks like there were some nice shops, but cheaper to go through when they're closed.

At 9 miles we turned off of SR 20 onto the quiet but hilly Goat Creek Road.  

The temperature started out about -1C this morning.  Brrrr!  It stayed cold for quite a while.  Between the early hour of departure and the fact that we rode for quite a while in the shade, everyone was wearing their many layers for quite a while.  After a 5 mile detour we were back onto SR 20 and really started to see the majestic mountains.  At 17 miles we started to climb in earnest so I was down to a single layer.  Pretty sure I was the only one with less than a half dozen layers on.  When I try to preach moisture management, they just scoff.  As we climbed, the mountains just got more and more majestic and snow-topped.  

A little bit of snow in evidence as we neared the top.  Apparently the road is closed for the winter and was opened April 26th this year.  

The last couple of miles reminded me of the Big Bend on the Icefields Parkway.  Same swing out to the left and then diagonally up in front of you.

Here's Ann pointing out the route as a logging truck makes its way up.

Some views looking back from whence we came.  

And - at the top of the first pass of the day.  Washington Pass.  

A quick run down the other side.  Crossed the Pacific Crest Trail for the last time.  At one time a few of us were talking about hiking the last section of the PCT in September.  It just dawned on me that this is probably the trailhead that we would be leaving from (well, the northbound one......).

Then it was another short climb to Rainy Pass.  

Down the other side and the views just continued coming.  Hard to get any mileage in when I want to stop so often to take pictures.  I believe this might be Crater Mountain below.

Into the Ross Lake area.  Ross Lake is a beautiful man-made lake (dammed for power generation).  It is 24 miles long and extends north into Canada.  I've heard that it is a great lake to paddle.  Might have to put it on the list.  

More outstanding views coming down, down, down.  Saw the Ross Dam along the way and then Diablo Lake came into view. Eventually we were down to lake level and crossed it.  

Next up - Gorge Lake.  

At about 70 miles there were two tunnels.  Here's the first.

The second was more of a challenge getting through.  Longer and darker, but no problem as I got through without any traffic.  There were lots of beautiful waterfalls all around - which I failed to take pictures of.  Also - we followed a river (the Skagit I'm assuming) for much of the later part of our ride.  I love hearing and smelling the rivers and forests.  I made a 1.5 mile detour into the North Cascades National Park Visitors Center at mile 73.  In April I had bought a North Cascades hiking book in Canmore.  Now that I've seen the surroundings, I really want to come back and do some hiking!  

Once we left the park the last 15 miles to our cabins in the woods in Rockport were a bit tedious.  A few miles out I met Ann so we stopped in at a winery.  I did a wine tasting (yum!) and she had a glass of wine.  We had a nice relaxing hour or so there and I also had a chance to eat some more lunch.  Perfect timing - as soon as we got to the cabins Cindi rolled in.  She had never done a century (100 miles) before, so Fiona, Ann & I got back on our bikes and accompanied her an additional 5 miles out and 5 miles back to make it an even 100 for her.  So happy she was able to do it!  

Two easier days ahead of us, but the forecast looks very wet for tomorrow.  Yuck!  Guess I'll be digging out the rain gear........

Stats for the day:

165 km / 102 miles from Winthrop WA to Rockport WA

6172 feet up

7326 feet down

Weather:  spectacular.  Started out a bit chilly.  -1C and then hovered around 0C for quite a while until we got into the sun.  Warmed up nicely - into the high 20sC by mid-afternoon