Pacific Coast Tour – Day 4 – 5; Fort Casey to Birch Bay

Day: 4, Whidbey Island
July 21, 2021

Distance: 43 miles (111 total)
Ft Casey (Port Townsend ish) to Bay View

Last night started off really cold with the exposed campsite and sea breeze, but then I guess the wind just died down and it was a surprisingly pleasant temperature overnight.  Just as we were packing up our campsite we started to feel a couple drips, so we high tailed it out of Fort Casey so that we could beat any rain (cutting through the ferry terminal to avoid the big hill mentioned previously). 

Our endeavors paid off, and the weather was pretty nice all day, as long as you weren’t working too hard on an uphill.

In the morning we had a lot of quiet roads. We hit up a grocery in Coupeville to replinish our coffee supply, then carried on.  There were lots of great scenic rest spots along the way. We also saw a lot of wildlife including deer, herons, and bald eagles.

The road got a lot busier once we hit SR20. Lots of cars and noise.  The large trucks threw  wooshes of wind at us adding to the anxiety caused just from them being there. Luckily the shoulders were pretty wide so we weren’t really concerned most of the time.  It was a relief to pull off SR20 and into Deception Pass State Park for a lunch break (burritos).

We were anticipating having to hop on the sidewalk for the Deception Pass bridge, but the current construction zone around the bridge forced the cars to drive a reasonable pace around us (and also closed the northbound sidewalk). The views were amazing!

The winds picked up in the afternoon, luckily mostly tailwinds which made for nice easy riding.  We did find another bike/pedestrian trail, the Padilla Bay Shore Trail, at the very end of our day that lasted just two miles which was still plenty nice, although their entrance barricades were not made with tandems, loaded bikes, or loaded tendems in mind.

Tonight we’re camping at Bay View State Park. The hiker / biker sites are nice and secluded in these little alcoves, so secluded we had to ask a park volunteer where they were! They also came equipped with plenty of blackberries ripe for eating, how thoughtful. And there’s a path down to the beach! Although it’s still very windy outside the protective trees and bushes around our site. Overall an enjoyable campground. We even ran into some Pacific Northwest Trail hikers using the campsite (usually we only see bikers at the hiker biker sites).

Day: 5
July 22, 2021

Distance: 45 miles (156 total)
Bay View to Birch Bay State Park

Last night officially marked the most consecutive nights we’ve spent camping. And tomorrow will officially make this our longest tour. Wooh! Breaking PRs left and right.

Our first 6 ish miles of riding out of the campground today were glorious. They were scenic and flat surrounded by mountains.

We rolled into Bow-Edison around 10am and decided to stop for pastries at the Farm to Market Bakery, which was an excellent choice. (Sadly the taco place recommended to us was temporarily closed….granted it was a little early for tacos).

After leaving town our route got a little more hilly and a little more shady. But the ups and downs seemed better balanced today (or maybe that just means there were more downs…. Guess we’ll find out in a few days when we come back through) the scenery was really nice, and the traffic was lite, so this was probably our best riding day so far. When we rolled into Bellingham we stopped for groceries, chatted with some locals, and breaked for some much deserved pizza, and potatoes, and salad – guess we worked up an appetite.

The afternoon was more of a put your head down and grind out miles kind of stretch. Mostly meh riding with only an occasional glimpse of scenery. And lots of sun; I think we both got a little burned.

Tonight we’re camping at Birch Bay State Park. Like yesterday, this one has beach access. This is by far our most secluded campsite. It feels like they took a random hiking trail and widened part of it to create the campsite. I’m excited to not wake up to RVers tomorrow! Although there does seem to be more brave critters about so hopefully we don’t have any issues.

And tomorrow – Canada! Well just the border, we’re not waiting around 3 weeks for it to open.

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