Day 2: Silver Lake Campground to Rasar State Park

After a quiet night we got up 6:30ish eating our usual touring breakfast of oatmeal with something added to it (chocolate today). It was 45F or so and felt decent. After getting on the road and starting pedaling we realized the benefit of camping in the forest, the temperature outside of the trees was colder at 38F, brrrrrr. This caused us to take it slow and coast down the gentle downhills because we didn’t want any wind blowing against us more than necessary.

After an enjoyable ride down to the main thoroughfare (Route 542) we paused for a second and chatted to a gentleman from the forest service. He was a touring cyclist as well and we shared a few stories. His forest crew was headed out to do trail work, but “had to stop for some beers.” Riding on 542 was decent, mainly downhill.

At this point in the trip we had passed like 4 “one lane road ahead” signs and had not actually had the road drop to one lane. But just past Kendall we finally hit a stretch that was under construction. As usually happens we got lost in the mix of things and ended up getting caught by the pilot car bringing cars the other direction, we just pulled over and waited. We really enjoy this type of construction because it really breaks up the traffic on the road, giving us stretches of peacefulness and then groups of cars.

The shoulders on 542 left something to be desired, mainly the fact that there really isn’t more than a foot, and the logging trucks were out in full force. We try to be courteous and will pull off if it isn’t safe for everyone. Pedaling along the valley floor there were plenty of farms and trees, with another full day of sunshine. It was all good.

We joined up with Highway 9 which started with good shoulders and slowly eroded away. Just before lunch time we stopped in Acme which we heard had good ice cream. The grocery store there happily sold us a pint (couldn’t find anything smaller) and we sat in the parking lot and ate it. Acme ice cream uses no fillers and twice the cream of other brands, needless to say it was a hearty treat.

After we left Acme we were winding through tree covered roads and saw another pair of tourists in our rear mirrors. We were quite surprised as we are late in season for this route and it is a more lightly traveled ACA route than other ones. Kevin and Ellie (spelling?) started in Calgary and rode around Canada a bit, now they are headed down the Sierra Cascades. We excitedly chatted for a few minutes and then let them pedal off way faster than us (oh the joys of just starting the tour, we are slow J, ok just kidding we are always slow)

We paused for peanut butter & jelly, salami, cheese at the Samish river. Then made our way down the hill in to Sedro-Woolley. A resupply stop at Rite-Aid and then we hopped on the Cascade Recreational Trail. The trail used to be a railway and they converted it to a mainly gravel trail. It was beautiful, flat, and straight. The trail in many places is covered over by trees providing shade, welcomed since the temperature was now in the low 80’s, and crosses over many streams.

We paused for a bit at a place called Minkler Lake and saw a river otter swimming around in the lake/river. It was just such a beautiful ride and so nice to be off the road with the trucks / cars. Along the way we picked black berries and apples from the side of the trail to munch on. The trail did come to an abrupt end where maybe a bridge was washed out, but there was parallel road so no worries.

Finally we made it to Raser State Park and checked in to the hiker/biker sites (total of $12, thank you Washington) which are nestled away in the woods near the day use area. Downsides are no water spigot / showers in immediate vicinity but a short walk for the extra privacy / quiet is not a bad price to pay.

We had time to hike down to the Skagit River which reminds us of New Zealand because it is that glacial melt blue color. A bit more hiking, dinner, and then journaling made for a full day. Tomorrow we are looking at Newhalem, but we are definitely starting to feel the miles, today was a little rougher than yesterday but still a good day.

trees and sunshine, a summary of our day

seems silly to waste land growing Christmas Trees to cut them down, ship them across the county, sit in a room for a month and then throw out...

Mountains peeking over the distance

Pam zooming along at a brisk10mph on the Cascade Trail

500kv Line that runs near east of Bellingham and Sedro-Woolley

We found a river otter!

Have you read all the Washington State Park rules lately?!

Themes of the day:

Trail Riding, road side fruit, logging trucks

ACA Corrections:

Acme has grocery store / diner / post office

Rasar State park is not off-route; it is directly on route. Marker on map also seems to be in wrong spot.

Distance: 54.21

Avg: 10.5

Max: 28

Temps while riding: 38-83F

Climb: 1148ft