Day 3, Wednesday, July 2.
Fort Casey, WA to Marblemount, WA
Daily Mileage: 90.04 miles
Daily Time of Bike: 5:52 hours
Average Speed: 15.3 mph
Maximum Speed: 33.6 mph
We awoke today to blue skies and sun, and amazingly, one of what turned out to be many over the next six weeks. After pressing the snooze button several times, we finally rolled out of the tent at 6:00AM. It took us an hour and a half to tear down camp, so we were on the road by 7:30AM. We took a wrong turn that brought us into the little town of Coupeville, WA for breakfast. After splitting an entire box of Grapenuts, a half gallon of milk and a bagel, we were ready to hit the road again.
The pre-lunch highlight was Deception Pass, a bridge hundreds of feet above the ocean with spectacular views (at least from what we had seen up until this point). Not long afterwards, we arrived in Anacortes, WA (the recommended starting location for the trip according to our biking maps) and made the turn onto Route 20 East. It was a foreboding sight though to look ahead at this straight road running directly into the mountains, knowing that within a day we’d be in the thick of them.
Burlington served as our lunch spot. By this time the traffic had lessened a bit and the road went from four lanes down to two. We pulled into a large fruit stand by the side of the road and ate lots of fresh fruit. Now, of course it’s not the best idea to eat a bunch of fruit on an empty stomach when you’re starving, and we paid the price for it the rest of the day.
We set out in the morning knowing that for the next couple of days the terrain was only going to get steeper and that would mean two things, great scenery and lots of biking uphill. A few miles before Marblemount we stopped at this quaint little shack surrounded by picnic tables as in a large field at the foot of the mountains. We ate some homemade raspberry ice cream and chatted up the locals for a while. One guy told us that we couldn’t miss the campground in Marblemount because of all of the rabbits, hmm.
When we arrived at the campground, we understood exactly what that man meant. There were hundreds of rabbits everywhere. We had to step around, over and sometimes part seas of them. Some were as large as dogs and were as tame as house pets. One had a stomach so big that it dragged the ground when he walked. Why did I not take a photo of all of the rabbits?! On a more logistical note, today was the first time that we showered since setting off on the trip.
(Left Photo: Look towards Canada from Deception Pass; Right Photo: Road leading into the Cascade Mountains.)
Daily Mileage: 90.04 miles
Daily Time of Bike: 5:52 hours
Average Speed: 15.3 mph
Maximum Speed: 33.6 mph
We awoke today to blue skies and sun, and amazingly, one of what turned out to be many over the next six weeks. After pressing the snooze button several times, we finally rolled out of the tent at 6:00AM. It took us an hour and a half to tear down camp, so we were on the road by 7:30AM. We took a wrong turn that brought us into the little town of Coupeville, WA for breakfast. After splitting an entire box of Grapenuts, a half gallon of milk and a bagel, we were ready to hit the road again.
The pre-lunch highlight was Deception Pass, a bridge hundreds of feet above the ocean with spectacular views (at least from what we had seen up until this point). Not long afterwards, we arrived in Anacortes, WA (the recommended starting location for the trip according to our biking maps) and made the turn onto Route 20 East. It was a foreboding sight though to look ahead at this straight road running directly into the mountains, knowing that within a day we’d be in the thick of them.
Burlington served as our lunch spot. By this time the traffic had lessened a bit and the road went from four lanes down to two. We pulled into a large fruit stand by the side of the road and ate lots of fresh fruit. Now, of course it’s not the best idea to eat a bunch of fruit on an empty stomach when you’re starving, and we paid the price for it the rest of the day.
We set out in the morning knowing that for the next couple of days the terrain was only going to get steeper and that would mean two things, great scenery and lots of biking uphill. A few miles before Marblemount we stopped at this quaint little shack surrounded by picnic tables as in a large field at the foot of the mountains. We ate some homemade raspberry ice cream and chatted up the locals for a while. One guy told us that we couldn’t miss the campground in Marblemount because of all of the rabbits, hmm.
When we arrived at the campground, we understood exactly what that man meant. There were hundreds of rabbits everywhere. We had to step around, over and sometimes part seas of them. Some were as large as dogs and were as tame as house pets. One had a stomach so big that it dragged the ground when he walked. Why did I not take a photo of all of the rabbits?! On a more logistical note, today was the first time that we showered since setting off on the trip.
(Left Photo: Look towards Canada from Deception Pass; Right Photo: Road leading into the Cascade Mountains.)
