Bike Trip I

Tacoma to Lake Chelan by bicycle in three days: A fantastic voyage!

All loaded up, this bike weighs just about 50 pounds. Not to shabby, since it was going to take me to Lake Chelan. We began our adventure fairly early in the morning...

And soon we were biking through Auburn. Eventually we wound our way to North Bend--Here's a biking tip: DON'T EVER EVER ride a bike on Highway 18. We are still having nightmares--and had a lovely lunch. Then we continued on, stopping at Denny Creek campground for the night.

The Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie wilderness at its finest.

Denny Creek was perfect--it was exactly on our route, it was a quiet, pleasant campground, and we were able to get a good night's rest. Not bad after 70 miles of biking!
The next morning we reached the summit of Snoqualmie pass, and began the long ride down. Snoqualmie Pass was not nearly as bad as you would think. We were lucky to be on the road quite early in the morning.

The destination for Day 2 was a campground near Leavenworth. We weren't sure how far we'd make it, so we didn't make reservations. Which turned out to be OK, but not the best. Let me explain...

First, K nearly lost her shirt---literally! While near the bottom of Blewett Pass she decided to work on her tan and ride in her sports bra. However, she didn't securely attach her jersey to her back, and it fell off and was lying by the side of the road. We didn't notice until nearly two hours later, when K went to put her jersey on and couldn't find it. We pulled off the road to discuss our options. Going back would be nearly impossible, because it would add hours onto our longest day of the trip. Yet it was such a nice jersey. In what could have been the darkest moment of our bike journey, a stranger came riding up the hill, just as we returned to the road. I waved to a fellow cyclist and was surprised when he stopped, and asked: Did you lose a jersey?

The reunion:

We summited the pass in the late afternoon, and coasted downhill for about 20 miles toward Leavenworth.

After 85 miles of riding, fatigue was setting in--significant fatigue, I should say. We asked a nice woman about camping, and she sold us on the Leavenworth KOA because of its swimming pool. However, when we arrived there, after almost 91 miles of riding, it was not a plunge into the pool that K took, but instead a plunge to the ground as a small girl cut her off while riding through the park. We ordered pizza, and a nice Ukrainian man told me that pizza was not traditional camping food. I guess we aren't traditional campers. The girl who cut off K returned to apologize, and saw that we didn't have a car. "Do you even have a house?" she asked. Apparently, if you bike camp, you're probably homeless. Day 3 began wonderfully. The roads to Chelan were very quiet, and knowing we only had about 60 miles go cover gave us extra energy. There was something draining our energy, though, and that was the heat. The temperature started to rise as the sun came up, and soon we were out of our long sleeves and sweating quite nicely.

We stopped at the Entiat Cafe for what turned out to be an amazing meal. The sandwiches were unbelievable, and the salads were exquisite.The worst stretch of riding came on a very beautiful road. The heat made the cutoff road to Lake Chelan a most dreadful experience. There was absolutely no wind, and the heat was so dry and dehydrating that we could hardly talk or pedal more than 10 miles per hour.

Finally, we saw the lake! A few more miles and we had arrived at 25 Mile Creek campground. We stayed there and because we only rode 65 miles, we had the time and energy to enjoy our campsite. Although it was the 4th of July, we didn't stay awake for the fireworks. Something about biking for hours in the heat and sun makes it hard to stay awake once the sun sets...

Relaxing at 25 Mile Creek! Of course, getting there was only half the adventure, and we had a wonderful weekend at Holden. But this is enough for one entry. Besides, we're about a month behind...