The Northern Tier: Days 1-3

A Trans America Bike Tour has always been a dream of mine. It’s only been a question of when, as a tour that can reach lengths of 4000 miles takes a while. Hearing my dad mention one of his old partners making the trip was my first inspiration. The fact that that partner accomplished the trip on a bike identical to the one hanging in front of my dad and I while he described the journey also helped. Slowly over the last few months the idea became a reality. When I recieved my nod from UW, and some encouragement from my boss I starting gearing up.

Gear: First and foremost comes the bicycle itself. I am riding a trek 720, built in 1984 expressly for bicycle touring. The bike has front and rear racks, cantilever breaks, fenders and bar end shifters. It is an ultra long distance, heavy loaded touring machine, and it is a dream to ride. This bike was generously offered for use on the tour by my dad Jeff Bondesson. Can’t thank you enough.

My bike bags are made by Ortlieb, being rolltop and waterproof, they’re perfect for all types of weather. Thanks to John Allan for the prodeal on those. What’s in those bags is fairly simple stuff. In the front two I have food, cookware, a stove, fuel, spare parts and bike tools. In the rear two I have most of my clothing, sleeping bag and pad, and tied to the rack with bungie cords is my water skin and tent. In the handle bar bag I have my electronics ie phone, camera, on the bike food (cliffbars and fruit mostly) and my map is tied on top in a ziploc. I brought four shirts, one pair of pants, one pair of shorts, two pairs of bike shorts, rain shells, 3 paits of socks and a puffy down jacket. Total weight is about 50 pounds fully loaded.

The Route: The route I’m taking spans the entire US from Anacortes, WA to Bar Harbor Maine. I’m taking a modified version of this, starting in Seattle and ending in New York city. I’m not really planning much out ahead of time, mostly looking at the map, finding a grocery store first to buy food at, then a place to camp for the night. It’s pretty awesome living day to day.

Day -1: I had a day and a half to kill in Seattle while my bicycle arrived by mail. I was staying in a hostel in Fremont, which is quit an interesting place. Quirky I guess is one way to describe it. It reminded me a lot of Berkeley in a sense, plenty of friendly weirdos, street art everywhere, lots of culture and vibrancy.

Street signs are much more interesting in Fremont

There’s a good space voyaging vibe going on in Fremont

Got a wonderful sandwich lunch with Riley Rataushk

Fremont has a bridge troll. That is a VW bug in his left hand.

The view of downtown Seattle, across Lake Union from Gasworks Park

Jam Band night at a bar down the street from the Hostel

Day 1: I picked up the bike from the Tukwila REI, just as the assembly was being completed. I had all my touring gear in a big cotton bag slung over my shoulder, and proceded to lay everything out in the store to pack my panniers. Steve, the shop tech, was super understanding and was a great conversation partner while I crammed everything onto the bike.

Soon I was on my way at the early hour of 4:00 pm with many miles to go. My plan was to go up Whidbey Island to deception pass, so I hit the road hard towards Seattle.

I made it through a hairaising downtown commute and out of the city in about an hour. There is an old railraod that used to Link Seattle and the surrounding northern town called the Interurban Trail that made up the next leg of the journey. The Trail cuts through suburbs and towns, making a more or less direct route to Everet.

Nice little info hut and hydration station on the Interurban Trail

On the Ferry to Whidbey Island. Stoked on the beef jerky

Once the ferry ride to Whidbey ended I was running out of daylight. I had hoped to cover much more ground and was determined to make it further so I set off northward. Eventually though, at about 11:00 pm the cold became bitter and the bugs flying into my eyes and mouth proved to be a bit too much so I turned down a side road and camped in someones front lawn. I rose early, got a few questioning looks from neighbors and began day 2.

Day 1 mileage: 64

Day 2: Whidbey Island was misty in the morning , but cleared around midday. I made good time to Deception Pass and it was only a few more miles to Anacortes, the true start of the Northern Tier.

Deception Pass. Apparently the woman who used to run a ferry here succeded in single handedly delaying the bridge for a decade.

I had gone about 30 miles from where I was camped on Whidbey to Anacortes, with about 7 hours of sunlight left. The rest of the day was spent rolling through farm country on the way to the foothills of the Cascades. My campsite for the night was Rasar State Park, a pristine piece of forest right by the Skagit river. I was the only camper in my campground and the forest was lush and singing with birds. It was a wonderful stay.

I can tell from the ferns and moss that it’s usually wet at Rasar State Park, but in late June it is paradise.

Day 2 Mileage: 82

Day 3: Birds make a pretty nice alarm clock. I got a late start this day, despite what was to come in mountain passes. For a while now I had been following SR 20, the state highway that meanders eastward along the northern half of Washington. Where possible the Northern Tier maps have me take side roads that run more or less parallel to the highway. On some of these roads I am the only soul, with nothing but birds in the trees, water in the rivers and the sound of my own bike a breath.

After a quick lunch break of cheese and summer sausage on bread I psyched up for the first of the mountain passes: Rainy Pass. Four and a half thousand feet of climbing awaited me and I needed every single calorie in that sandwich.

Hydro electric lakes abound on the western slopes of the Cascade mountains

Diablo Lake overlook. I am about to start a brutal ascent here. I have no idea how hard it is going to be.

I thought this was Rainy Pass. Boy was I dissapointed to realize I had about 1000 feet left.

The hydroelectric works make full use of the rainy sides of these mountains. There were dams everywhere, with huge lakes of backed up water. There was still snow on some of the mountains and the scenery was stunning. It’s very obvious that these mountains get a torrential amount of rain. Obviously with a name like Rainy Pass that’s to be expected, but more subtly, the moss hanging from every limb of every tree, the huge amounts of water everywhere… it’s wet – but in the summer it’s dry and makes for excellent cycling.

After Rainy pass there was a barely perceptible descent before Washington Pass, one of two 5000 foot behemoths in the first section of the Northern Tier. It went down, although not easily, and I was exstatic when I reached the Lone Fir Campground just on the other side.