922 km – about 13 hours 53 mins
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So I decided to take off on another road trip, only this time solo. I packed a small bag and my bike into the back of Jon's car and left Saturday morning around 11am and drove to the same border crossing at Abbotsford then south for about an hour where I headed East on the Northern Cascades Highway. I'd been given some advice from some of our regulars at work that this drive was pretty spectacular and there were a couple of really unique towns worth visiting along the way.
I stopped for lunch along the way at the Blue Mountain Grill (note the extremely unrealistic stock photo on their homepage) and one of the servers suggested I visit a town called Winthrop on the Cascade Hwy. So, based on the most sound, local advice I had received to date and the fact that I had no real agenda, I moved on towards Winthrop.
I got to a place called Marblemount mid afternoon, where there was a fork in the road. Seeing as it was going to cost me an arm and a leg in roaming charges to use the iPhone GPS, I had switched it off just after crossing the border. So I stopped and asked a guy by the side of the road which route to take towards Winthrop and he proceeded to give me the wrong one. Anyway I went along the WRONG road for about 1/2 an hour until it turned into gravel which made me think I may be headed the wrong way. So I back-tracked to the intersection and took the other road. As I moved on up into the mountains the scenery became more and more spectacular.
Unfortunately the light was fading fast and i was still about 70 miles (112k) from Winthrop. As it got dark it also began to snow and I began getting tired. I eventually made it into town by about 8pm. From what I could tell, this place was a full-blown saloon town, straight out of a cowboy movie set. I also noticed that there were loads of cars parked in the main street with bikes on racks or on the roof... this was promising!
I stopped in at the first hotel I saw to find a room for the night. they were booked, as were the next 3 that I tried. I eventually found one that had nobody in the reception but had a sign with 3 sets of keys by it. The sign read...
"If we are closed, don't worry, rooms are still available. Please select a key from the bench and pay in the morning. Enjoy your stay!"
So I took a key and unlocked room #8 only to scare the crap out of a couple watching TV in bed. I aplologized and went back (rather dubiously) to select another key from reception. This time though, my room was empty. Quickly threw all my gear inside and headed back out to find somewhere to eat. It was a Saturday night so I thought I wouldnt have any trouble however the first couple of bars I tried in the main street had finished serving food and barely had anyone in there even having a beer. So I tried this pizza place right near the hotel and just made it as their last customer for the night.
The next morning I got up early and headed into the town to take some pics. I spotted a guy in his car on the side of the road who had a rack full of bikes and asked him where the trails were. He was telling me how there was some big weekend of racing for all ages and skill levels but that the trails were still partially open to the public. So I packed my gear, checked out of the hotel and headed off on the 9 mile drive up Sun Mountain to the trails.
After picking up a trail map from Sun Mountain lodge, I dove down to the main car park and asked the woman at the gate which of the trails were being used for the races and she said it didn't matter and that I could go anywhere I pleases... OK sweet! So I got the bike out and took of on Black Bear Trail which had been recommended to me by the guy I got the map from. It was definitely one of the best trails I'd been on outside of the Whistler bike park (where you pay a chunk of change to get on) and before too long I'd had a big stack so decided to take a short break to recover my confidence and get some pics of the surrounding views. Oh yea, that was after I found my camera buried in dirt from when it fell out of my pocket. Just as I slowly got back on the saddle and took off again I hear this guy yelling 'coming through' so I pull off the track as he races by... literally 'races' by. He was one of several guys who would fly through who were actually in the race. It was a mixed bunch of skill levels and as I picked up the pace again I found myself overtaking a few of the slower riders. Not sure how happy they were about that. Anyway the rest of the trail was amazing. I think it was about 3-4 miles in total. At the end i stuck around for some free Gatorade and chocolate slice then got back into the car and hot the road again.
The next stop on the cascade loop was the 'alpine Bavarian village' of Leavenworth, about 3 hours from Winthrop. They were in full swing for Oktoberfest so I stopped in at on of the bust bars for a bratwurst burger and some Sunday afternoon football action.
I drove on with a few short stops at random places along the way until it started getting dark about an hour from Everett and Hwy 5 which was the end of the loop. Due to the fact that it was Sunday afternoon there were thousands of people headed the same direction after a weekend away, most of them headed back to Seattle. So after about half an hour of doing 5 miles an hour I gave up and pulled into a motel on the side of the road in a town called Gold Bar. I had a dinner at the pub next door to the hotel then crashed out around 10pm.
I set the alarm for 7.30am and hit the road again. It was a beautiful morning and the morning sun was burning off a heavy fog that lay across the road and surrounding paddocks and hills. I drove for about an hour, through Everett and down into Mukilteo where I put the car onto the ferry for the 15 minute crossing to the southern point of Whidbey Island. I drove all the way through the island to the northernmost point, stopping at a couple of paces along the way, until i reached Deception Pass where a small bridge joins the island back to the mainland. There is a Naval Air Station on the island so there are all sorts of planes flying overhead all day. I stopped for some lunch just after the pass then drove back to Hwy 5. I drove back to the outlet mall just before Everett for a cheeky look then headed back up north to Vancouver. I arrived home around 5.30pm Monday afternoon.
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