Day 1

Day one is in the books! I got to the ferry terminal about 30 minutes early and chatted with few folks on bikes who were also waiting for the ferry. Joseph and Oscar (six years old and on a trail-a-bike) were planning to visit a children’s museum in Bremerton. Sherry was a long-time Naval Shipyard employee who commuted on her bike every day for 20 YEARS from the east side of Lake Washington. With three longer bike trips under her belt, she had all sorts of advice about eating and staying warm in addition to how much fun she had. Later on the ferry, Joseph approached me and asked if we were on the ferry to Bremerton or to Bainbridge. He was in the process of walking back the children’s museum plan with Oscar, but wanted to double-check to be sure. I told Joseph it’s a mistake that happens to everyone at least once and that the Mulketeo and Edmonds ferries are easy to mix up as well. You only make those mistakes once. 

Trying to escape from Bremerton took some time. They have those “bike lanes” that actually empty onto a freeway, so it took awhile to fact check my bike map apps with reality. Another detour was in order when I realized there was no way I could scale a hill I was supposed to summit according to my route finder. I’ve never seen a hill that steep in Seattle. Once I cleared Bremerton, the ride to Belfair on SR 300, was like a gentle county road. The Western Red Cedars were warming up with the sun, releasing that unique cedar fragrance. The traffic was very light and the songs of white-crowned sparrows and ruby-crowned kinglets were easy to pick out of woods. Just past Belfair on SR 106 and along Hood Canal, I stopped at Sunrise Beach Market and Deli for some veggie Yakisoba. A few miles later, I turned off the highway and headed up along a ridge that led to my final destination, Shelton, and the Patch of Heaven Air BnB. 

The county road route from Belfair to Shelton passed through land that has quite a history. I’ll follow up with that tomorrow.