A Non-Definitive Guide to Bike Overnighters within an Hour-ish of Seattle

A year ago today, I’d never gone bike camping. My first bike overnighter was in May 2015, but since then, I’ve more than made up for lost time, with over 20 trips under my belt. Most of these trips have been S24O outings, a fancy way of saying a trip that takes less than 24 hours. This post is a round-up of my favorite local spots all within an hour-ish bike ride of Seattle.

S24Os are perfect- you get to sleep outside, ride your bike, and still be back for weekend fun (or responsibilities.) My personal preference is to pack up Thursday night and ride my loaded bike into work on Friday morning.

I’ll then ride directly to the ferry after work, saving valuable time and daylight! Bonus to being on a bike is you never have to wait in line, so even on the busiest days of the year, you get onboard!  Bikes are the best!

Living in Seattle I am incredibly lucky, as the Washington State ferry system that leaves out downtown opens up a world of camping to people on bikes. Within an hour (or two)bike ride, there are at least 5 campgrounds. Expand your riding to 2.5 hours, and you’ve got at least 4 more campgrounds. I’ve been to all of these except one (I’m leading a trip there in June), and here’s my personal experience, recommendations, and tips for each.

As the title mentions, this is totally unofficial and non-definitive, so it’s a good idea to do some of your own research in advance. RidewithGPS, Google Maps (bike layer), and the Washington State Gazateer are all super handy when planning. In all honesty though, none of these campsites are very far off the beaten path, so you can just plug it into your phone and go.

And now, tips, tricks, and recommendations for each:

Illahee State Park: The ultimate in urban pleasure spots. This hidden gem is only 3.8 miles from the Bremerton Ferry Terminal, albeit mainly uphill. However, with an elevation gain of only 358 ft, it’s basically like climbing Capitol Hill, just on a more rural road. The ride to this park takes you past a few bakeries, one grocery store, a sports bar, and a brewery, so if you’re feeling adventurous, you could leave your stove and food at home and just eat the local food.

Pro-tip for this park: The hiker-biker sites are a little sparse, without even a picnic table or fire ring. From May 15-September, I’d recommend reserving a site if you know you’re coming here. The rest of the year, you can’t make reservations, but it’s not too busy. Once you set up camp and unload your bicycle, make your way down the big hill to the beach. Take a beer and snacks, as there’s a long pier with picnic tables that has a perfect view of Mount Rainier to watch the sunset from.

Manchester State Park: This park is also super close to Seattle, as the crow flies and is especially convenient if you live in West Seattle. To get here, take the Fauntleroy to Southworth ferry. My favorite way to get here is to pedal out from downtown around Alki, all the way around through Lincoln Park. It adds a few miles on instead of going across West Seattle, but it’s flat, low traffic, and beautiful.

Once you make it to Southworth, the only place to stock up on beer and snacks is a little convenience store on your right as you get off the ferry. The ride from the ferry to Manchester is a relatively flat, low traffic 8 miles. Be sure to stay to the right every chance you get, especially on Yukon Harbor Drive and Colchester, otherwise you’ll be climbing an unnecessary hill. Here’s my RidewithGPS route with a fun little shortcut along the water: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/12618646

The hiker biker sites at Manchester are pretty sweet, but no fire rings. During the off season, you’ll have no problem getting a regular site, but during peak season, if you want to have a fire, be sure to make a reservation.

After you unload your stuff and set up camp, take your bike down to the beach, as there’s some fun single track riding and/or hiking and cool exploration of old historic sites. Definitely a great park with beautiful views.

There’s also a great little pub in Manchester that serves stellar pizza and if memory serves, has $4 beer/shot combination. Not a bad detour on your way into the park.

Kitsap Memorial State Park:  This park is a little bit further out there at 18 miles from the Bainbridge Ferry Terminal, but still totally do-able for a quick overnighter. The ride isn’t my favorite for most of it, as you’ll be on the shoulder of busy roads until Big Valley Road. In my experience, cars tend to pass with care, but perhaps not the best for a novice.  Big Valley Road is MAGICAL and makes the whole ride worth it.

This is another ride where you don’t really need to pack food if you don’t want to, as there’s the greatest grocery store in the world on the way. Central Market in Paulsbo is directly on the route and holy cow- you can get anything there! Seriously, anything. There’s also a rad little local bar just outside the park that has great oysters and they’re really welcoming of bike tourists.

Hiker biker sites here are wonderful- totally separated from the rest of the campers, have tables and fire rings.

When you go, pack your dinner supplies and walk past the play structure, down the path to the beach. The view is unbeatable. Don’t take my word for it though- go see it yourself. And seriously, take Big Valley Road. #roadslikethese was made for that road.

Green Mountain Horse Camp: Shared recreational area with horse campers, this is probably the most difficult ride that I’ve listed. Bring a bike that can handle a gravel climb. And get ready to climb. The ride is basically flat until you get to the mountain, and then you go up. And up. And up. Technically it’s only 12.7 miles and 1500 feet of climbing, but it took me 3ish hours. (I’m kind of slow though, and I got a bit lost.)

Water is not potable, so bring a filter.  The view from the top is stellar and it’s the 2nd highest peak on the Kitsap Peninsula at 1,639 feet. Worth the extra effort to get to the top once you unload camp supplies.

Note: this is a shared camp with horse campers, so be respectful of them.

There’s a grocery store along the way, as well as a few convenience store, and a great swimming hole at Wildcat Lake, so bring your swimmies!

Fay Bainbridge Park: Fay is probably my least favorite camping spot, but people seem to love it, as it’s easy to get to, a quick ferry ride, and you can see Seattle. At 6.9 miles, it’s an easy ride too. It’s not my favorite because I feel like I’m camping in a Walmart parking lot.

The hiker biker sites are basically just along the parking lot- they just don’t feel very special to me. But, if it’s your thing, cool. I know you can get pizza delivered here, so that’s cool?

Branching out further...

Going out a bit further, there are even more options for camping, including Scenic Beach State Park, Twanoh State Park, Tolt MacDonald, and Iron Horse Park. I love these too, and have gone to a few of them for S24O, but sometimes those are better for longer trips.

So many options, and so many great weekends coming up to take advantage of these parks. Remember as you head out to practice Leave No Trace principles and to be good stewards of our awesome resources.

Bike Nicer Seattle

Yesterday I had the opportunity to share my "big idea" for biking/transportation policy in Seattle at Cascade Bicycle Club's Connect Puget Sound Big Idea Festival.  The idea that I shared has been ruminating in my head for a while,  and the seed was actually planted three years ago when I first started riding bikes as an adult in Seattle.

To put it frankly, people just weren't very nice to each other on bicycles. The first time I got a flat tire, I struggled with it on the side of the road for nearly 20 minutes by myself to fix it. I finally gave up and walked my bike home. During those 20 minutes, at least 5 other people on bikes rode by me and none of them stopped to ask if I was alright. That isn't friendly cycling. 

My idea isn't revolutionary. It doesn't take a large budget. Or even a huge effort by any one person or group. It simply requires a bit of a mind shift by all of us.

I've linked to  my presentation below, and am more than willing to come talk to your cycling team, group,  workplace, school, whatever. But the gist of it is summarized below:

We need to bike more kindly. ALL OF US. We each bear the responsibility to create an intentional, welcoming, inclusive community to all people on two wheels, regardless of age, gender, race, type of bike, clothing style, apparent income level, biking style, or speed. 

It doesn't take much. Here are five easy ways you can do you part on your next ride:

1. Share the trails/roads in a friendly manner. Each ride isn't a race. Pass with kindness.
2. Say hi to each other. We're not isolated in metal boxes.
3. Talk to each other- warn of hazards/potholes, compliment on gear, etc.
4. Offer help to people who may need it. Wayfinding for those who look lost, people stopped with mechanical issues, etc.
5. Smile and remember why you're riding a bike. Everybody likes seeing happy people.

Here is the link to full presentation. Please be in touch if you have any questions. I'd love to talk more about this and how we can work together to change our bike culture together.

The Least I Could Do

At some point over the last few months, I've become the type of Seattlite who rides her bike to a regular yoga practice, regardless if it's pouring down rain, 30 degrees, or 9 o'clock at night. I'm solidly going on 2 months of this, so I think it's safe to say it's become a bit of a favorite after work habit. 

It's not a long ride, in fact, just a little more than half a mile and clocking in at 5 minutes each way. I've even forgotten my helmet on more than one occasion it's so short. But it's just enough of a ride to remind me every time I do it of a few things:

• I really truly love my bicycle. 
• I love riding a bike.
• I'm truly privileged to be able to ride a bike to yoga and come home a warm house, night after night.

This final point was driven home last night as I was coming down my hill into my alley. There was a man who I see often, struggling with an overloaded shopping cart full of his belongings to get up onto the curb cut. This is the same curb cut I needed to use, as the street down to my alley is a relic of old-Seattle with rutted cobblestones, not bike-friendly at all! 

Seeing that he was not going to make it up the curb cut anytime soon with his rickety shopping cart and wanting to get out of the driving rainstorm, I turned down an adjacent street to go the long way into my alley.As I pulled into my garage, shook off the rain from my raincape, and put my bike away, I couldn't get the man out of my thoughts. It was a miserable night outside. High 30s and absolutely pouring rain.

As many of you know, I'm an avid camper. I absolutely love getting out of town on my bicycle and setting up camp as often as possible. Before my biking days, I was a frequent car camper and still have lots of my old car camping equipment that goes unused.

Still shivering from my measly 5 minute ride home, I dug out my hardly-used car camping sleeping pad, a 3.5" self-inflating mat from REI. This mat is wonderful, but WAY too big to take bike camping. It's literally been sitting in my garage for 2 years. Knowing how comfortable this is (and how insulating), I went back outside and found the man inching his way down the steep incline with his cart.

I asked him "Do you need a sleeping pad?" He looked at me and said "That would be wonderful. Thank you." I wished him well. 

I have no idea where he slept last night but at least, I hope he slept a little bit better than in previous nights.

Stoked Spoke

Swift Industries hosts a three part route sharing series called Stoked Spoke, where people who have gone on rad bike camping adventures share their routes in 5 or 10 minute presentations. For their December night, I shared my solo tour around the Hood Canal. 

We ran into a number of technical difficulties throughout the night, so most of the time during my presentation, I ended up talking through my trip, without the aid of maps, photos, or visuals. Here is my presentation in full.  (PDF of the powerpoint.)

I think, with that, I'm done writing about my solo tour. Before I finish completely, I want to give some space to the lessons learned from my trip. Here are my top 7 lessons from my solo tour:

1. Don't give your map away on Day2. You might still need it.
2. Carry toilet paper & body wipes.
3. When all you have to do is ride a bike all day, you can go a lot further than you think.
4. American flag on the back on the bike. A+ would do again.
5. Eye of the Tiger is a great hill climbing song.
6. Anybody can go for a bike tour. Even if you don't know how to read a map when you start planning!
7. Camp shoes. Not just for camp. Sometimes you just don't want to be clipped in.