Salish Sea - U.S.A. Islands 1

travelcycling

May 24

Biking in the same place all the time can get boring. Why not visit every Island with bikeable roads you can access via public means?

After a few years of only ever going to Salt Spring that’s what I decided to do!

You will need a gravel bike to do many of the Canadian ones but all the U.S. ones are nicely paved.

The loop starts by taking a ferry from Victoria down to Port Angeles, driving all around the coast up to Seattle then north across the border to Vancouver where you can take a ferry to the Sunshine Coast. You then drive west before crossing back on Vancouver Island at Powell River. Then you can drive west 3 hours to Port McNeil to access the two most remote Islands with basically nothing on them!

It was a fun trip that gave me a lot of downtime to visit museums and enjoy camping.

I broke this down into multiple parts because there’s over 50 islands and 30 museums / attractions.

Starting on the lower USA side ending in Seattle with Mercer Island.

Indian and Marrowstone Island

Bridge Access
Indian Island is used as a munition depot for the navy and as such is mostly off limits to civilians. Strava doesn’t know that of course so it will let you plot a route all around it! Hurray! It’s good to not trust Strava when going to more remote/random areas because it has no idea what is and isn’t private, dangerous, closed or a military base.

Marrowstone Island fun fact: “It was given the name "Marrow-Stone Point" in 1792 by the British explorer, George Vancouver, in describing the area's hard, clay-like soil.[3]”
I guess when you make maps of all new places you really have to sit down and spend 10 hours of your day naming every boulder, cliff, inlet and hill that you come across so you can help other people navigate. Most of the Islands on the US side were discovered ( aka patented lol ) in this 1792 expedition.

This is essentially the view from every bridge on these islands

The main attraction, at the very Northern Edge

It's an entire small colonial era town you can visit during the day with tours

You can also rent some of the barracks and spend the night!

Many WW2 guns still in place here as well

One of my favorite things on trips: People's random yard decorations

Reach + Stretch Island

Bridge Access
Nothing to see on either of these, mostly just rich people’s cottage with water access.

Literaly the entire island

Guy going very hard with the minions trend

Not much going on this sleepy little island, mostly residential with some small hobby farms.

Harstine Island

Bridge Access
Fun fact: “Before a bridge was constructed, the island was served by the Harstine Island ferry. The cost in 1962 was 50¢ (fifty cents) for car and passengers.”

Sometimes you see a random fish probably dropped by a bird.

Some fun stuff going on this private beach. This will be a theme.

Guy had a whole petting zoo going on his yard.

There are dozens of these old timey rusty tractors everywhere.

Jarrell's Cove is sort of the... point of this place.

Protip: Don't lean your bike on barnacles. They're made of diamond somehow.

This Island wins the coveted “Smallest Island of the entire Trip” grand prize with under a mile of road.
***right***: Near Shelton, some guy built a Paul Bunyon display out of one of those old Muffler Men you can find all across America.

Steamboat Island

Bridge Access
Population: 41

Downtown Shelton where I stayed for many days with a friend.

Those huge trees almost look comical given the size of the island.

***Right:*** McNeil Island off in the distance. Only way to get there is to be sent to Federal prison.

Anderson Island

Approx Loop Size: 45km Ferry Only
Fun Fact: The only General Store on the island is run by a local resident of the island.
That’s the FUNNEST fact. It seems to be a sleepy little island with all the best access points on private fenced-off land, as always.

Yeah I'd go squeeze some apples. What even is this?

View from a private beach. Don't tell them I was there shhhh

It's kind of what you do on Islands: Get a waterfront property and go boat around the other islands.

Didn't realize thousands of people have boats around here. Everyone's rich somehow.

Next year min/max strategy: Fill empty water bottles with blackberries. 500g fits in each.

Federal Prison located right across on McNeil Island.

Fox Island

Bridge access
Fun Fact: Fox Island was used in the 1850s as an internment camp for native Americans then was populated by Brits by the 1900s. Now it’s another rich people community since there’s so many waterfront properties and they built a bridge for easy access.

**Above**: One of the thousands of huge houses/mansions you can find on Raft Island. Some people are doing pretty O.K. It’s interesting to see all the different types of houses people build for themselves on these islands. No copy/pasted rows of townhomes and McMansions.

**Left**: Election season again in the States. "Vote for my guy" signs are everywhere. Chowder must prevail.

Maybe sometimes I struggle to find interesting things to photograph

Gnarly burl on this poor tree

Fox Island with almost Sandy beaches.

View from the bridge on Fox.

Raft Island

Bridge access
Fun Fact: “In 1841 Charles Wilkes of the United States Exploring Expedition gave it the name "Allshouse Island", probably for Joseph Allshouse, a member of his crew.[2]”

Boy those were the days eh? Just take a boat ride and by the time you’re back the entire crew and their dogs have a whole map named after them.

Nearby town of Gig Harbor. Yes it DOES have a museum!

There was some kind of festival going on.

Visiting all these islands gave me an excuse to bike a lot of new roads I'd never see otherwise.

***Right:*** The downtown core of Bainbridge has this pretty cool Bavarian theme that reminded me of Leavenworth.

25 000 people live on this Island.

Bainbridge Island

Approx Loop Size: 45-70km Bridge + Ferry Access

Fun Fact: “During World War II, Japanese-American residents of Bainbridge Island were the first to be sent to internment camps”

You know you're going to have a bad day sometimes...

Harbor seals looking like aliens thanks to my camera's zoom.

I have to wonder how many beach thieves there are because every last property has a sign on it.

Typical WA state fall/spring gloomy weather.

A cool rust sculpture.

Vashon + Maury Island

ferry access

Fun fact: “Vashon Island is also known for its annual strawberry festival”

Big Islands only accessible by Ferry from Point Defiance, where you’ll find the zoo! It’s a very nice area with lots of tourists and people escaping Seattle. The Islands themselves are very punchy so prepare your legs.

View of both islands from the Point Defiance park.

Vancouver guy basically just took one boat ride and "discovered" every damn Island. Dumb. 1 trip = 1 discovery max.

Your typical west coast gravel beach.

Nice little park obelisk

GIRAFFE

This ferry that connects to Seattle on the north.

Most islands have cottages on the water and farms in the center.

These are basically like water pigeons around here. I'm sick of them.

Crested Cormorant hanging out on the ferry docks.

Cool bell on the waterfront near Point Defiance

Mercer Island

ferry access

Fun fact: “Mercer Island is one of the 100 richest ZIP codes in the US according to the IRS figures for Adjusted Gross Income.[7]”

Last on this trip. Make it a big day by also cycling around Seattle area. Mercer seems to be a very popular loop with local cyclists with the Strava segment around the Island at over 40kph.
It’s a really fun road with lots of twists and turns in a forested residential area. Watch out for deer.

Seattle itself is actually quite a great area to cycle in once you get away from the downtown core.

Entry to Chinatown. People forget the Chinese have been here for 150 years and always the target of populist BS

The city seen from the highest overpass before going onto Mercer

Passed through the University of Washington gigantic scenic campus

Seattle has one of those scooter rental systems. This is why we can't have a society people.

Viking statue at Golden Gardens Park

The harbor there had a colony of California Sea Lions

You hear them way before you see them

Loop crossing the Salmon Bay canal at the Chittenden Locks

You're supposed to walk your bike across ( hahahaha )

They have a salmon ladder with underwater viewing area where you can see the fish struggle upstream

West Point Lighthouse at Discovery Bay, almost back into the city core

Pretty quiet and beautiful just 5km away from the Space Needle!

Planned a 10km detour to visit the Petit Pierre bakery for this unique item

"Petit Supreme" ( obesity bomb) pistachio and nutella. 9/10

That’s it for part 1 of way too many parts. Hope to see you again and remember to never bike the same road twice because that’s what losers do and you aren’t a loser given you are reading this website right now.