Sierra Cascades

I am heading south to Mexico following, at the moment the Sierra Cascades Route designed by Adventure cycling.  After Cheryl Strayed wrote her book “Wild”, they decided to create a bike route that would follow the Pacific Crest Trail, but on road.

My route:  Sierra Cascades | Adventure Cycling Route Network | Adventure Cycling Association

So on August 31st I headed out to visit my son Jonathan in Victoria, having left all my worldly goods in storage with a friend in Royston.  Then I took the ferry to Anacortes and up to Bellingham to get a new rain jacket (which has performed marvelously so far).  I stayed with Warmshowers hosts- Jeanie and Mike and met their friends Sue and Paul at dinner that night.

After Bellingham I camped in Sedro-Woolley at the city park – nice grass sites for $10 a night with showers.  Along came Robert, a homeless person, who asked if he could share the site and give me $5.  We had a chat.  He had been laid off his job and was just starting to collect UI.   So he was choosing to be homeless for a while like me.  He is thinking of heading up to Alaska to work and then kayaking back.  Of course being the dreamer that I am, I encouraged him to follow his dream.  That night was the first rain for the whole Summer and on green grass to boot.

From there I followed the Cascades Trail (40 km’s on a beautiful rail trail) to Rasar SP.  All the Washington State Parks have hiker/biker sites for $12 a night.  They also have a policy to never turn away a hiker or biker, unlike BC Parks.

The next 2 nights we had heavy rain resulting in splashback on my new Hilleberg Anjan tent.  So I contacted the American Alpine Institute.  They took it back and I got the Namattj 2 Hillebrand 4 season tent.  It had been recommended by different reviewers, if you could only have 1 tent to do it all this is it.  It was the tent Hillebrand recommended – lesson learned.

The next adventure with the new tent was a night of rain (nice and dry) and then a long 30 mile climb up to Washngton Pass at 1 mile high.  It was cold and took over 8 hours of riding.  Arriving in Winthrop, I stayed with Mary Ellen and Rob.  I had met her in a park earlier bike touring and she had invited me to stay with her and her husband.  Winthrop is a small town with 200 km’s of cross country ski trails.  It has produced 4 members of the US Olympic team – 2 gold medalists.  Great mountain biking in summer.

After a great visit with them I had a nice ride to Pateros and camped in City Park beside the Columbia River.  Many towns have a city park for camping at a very reasonable rate and include showers.  For the past few days the route has been following the river.  Parts are beautiful and parts are downright ugly.

I am staying 2 nights in Confluence SP and enjoying the beautiful city of Wenatchee with a 10 mile loop trail that crosses over the river twice and a beautiful market complex with coffee, restaurants and a local micro brewery.  I’ll head out tomorrow for a 2 day ride to Ellensburg and camp for the first time in a US Forestry Site.  Basic and usually free.

Not a lot of photo opportunities so far, but here are a few starters:

Flickr Link:  https://flic.kr/s/aHsmiTezdf

Spot Messenger: see where I am and have been for last 7 days:

https://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0TcAZu93bpoBqzqGb3dME3SEb39QnApMA

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