If you missed Bike Tour Numero Uno, go to my photo albums page and click on Lopez Island. That tour was in February — pretty much the only spring day we’ve had until last weekend.
San Juan Island is one of the most visited island in the San Juans even though it is further out than the others. We rode our bikes from my house in Anacortes to the ferry terminal, which is three miles away. The ferry ride took a little over an hour. Some of the nicest things about being on a bicycle is that a) the tickets are very reasonably priced, b) you get on the ferry first, and c) you get off the ferry first.
The first thing we did once arriving in Friday Harbor was park the bikes and get ice cream cones. Here’s a map of the island: Map of San Juan Island
After ice cream we rode approximately 12 miles across the island to camp at San Juan County Park. Our route took us over quiet roads through pastoral territories. We arrived in camp and had a bit of an adventure with the rangers because we were supposed to stop and register before picking a site. We’re used to picking a site and then registering. We got a gentle scolding but all was well, especially when they gave us a huge load of firewood for $5 (kindling included). Here are some pictures of camp:
Day two was supposed to be the bulk of our tour. It started out okay, except I woke up with a sore throat. We had breakfast and camp packed by 9:30 a.m. On our way out I ran into a friend who had camped a couple sites away. We chatted for a little while before parting ways.
The weather was cloudy but that’s not unusual around here. Clouds don’t always mean rain but often they do. The first part of our ride was dry so we stopped at Lime Kiln State Park to walk to the lighthouse and check out the lime kiln, which was a former major industry on San Juan Island. We learned that from the interpretive signs.
After Lime Kiln Park we rode south(?) toward Cattle Point. However, due to hurried map reading we missed the turn. Shortly after that it started raining. Then raining harder. We stopped at a fire station to check the map, decided it was raining too hard to pursue Cattle Point this time. It turns out we were just outside of Friday Harbor. We probably only rode about 20 miles versus the 32 we had planned but that’s the way it goes sometimes. A few minutes later we parked next to a pub to enjoy lunch and a beer before catching the early ferry back home.
We learned a couple good things on this trip: the park ALWAYS has hiker/biker sites, even if they appear full. And, even when we got on the ferry that came from Canada, which had to go through the Customs routine back in Anacortes, the bikes and foot passengers always get off first and breeze through Customs. Finally, whales don’t make an appearance just because I wanted to see them.
