10/16. Sedro-Woolley to Abbotsford, BC

I made it to Canada!

Crossing the border wasn’t too much trouble.  I got myself some Canadian money here.  There was quite a bit of farming in this region and it smelled like manure for most of the day.  I hate that smell.

In Abbottsford I stayed at the Atangard Community Project.  I found it through Warmshowers.  It is a hotel with about 24 rooms that was converted into a little community of people from about 20 to 35 years old.   They shared the living spaces, food, chores, etc.  It was really cool!  I would love to live in a place like that.  They made a huge dinner of chili, salad, and corn bread and I ate with maybe 20 people.

We played a board game called Bang, and played some music a bit later. I forgot to take some pictures of the place but it was clean and neat, with artwork on all of the walls.

Distance: 50ish miles

10/15. Goodell creek to Sedro-Woolley

I told a rail-to-trail for a few miles which was a nice change of pace.  The riding was a bit slower because it wasn’t paved, but it was just me and the trail which was peaceful.

Distance: 62 miles?

10/14. Lone fir to Goodell creek campground

Washington pass was very scenic.

The campground was a national parks campground, which was open and free so long as you pack everything out, and no potable water.  It was along a river though so water was no problem.  I setup my tent right next to the river. 

Distance: 44 miles

10/12. Lake Chelan to Carlton

I biked to my uncle Keith’s house and got to see him and Tina, as well as my cousins Mitchell and Molly.  They have lots of animals that roam their yard.  Chickens, turkeys, dogs, horses, and a sheep named Coco. 

Coco chased me down the driveway like a dog

They live on a nice river.  On the ride in a saw some of the damage from the forest fires that came through earlier this year.  The fires covered huge tracts of land.  Then the rains made landslides out of the now unsupported soils. The road that I was going to take was closed because of a landslide. 

10/11 Old Blewett Pass to Lake Chelan state park

Last night I just made camp off of a forest road, in a grassy little nook.  Some hunters walked by at one point so I made sure they knew where I was. 

I stayed at a state park on lake Chelan , which is a beautiful lake/reservoir.  The campground host let me camp for free.  I met some guy there that was training for an ironman.  It sounded like that was the only thing he did, at least one per year as he told me. 

My cleat was a little bit worn so i replaced it.

Ride time: 6 hours 15 mins

Distance: 76 miles

Avg: 12

10/13. Carlton to Lone fir campground

The ride was nice.  There was a dog that almost attacked me but I scared it away with my whistle that I had around my neck.  Mazama had a neat store where I stopped for lunch.  Then I started to climb Washington pass to my campground that was maybe 2/3 of the way to the top.

This was the day my bike computer died so my are estimates from here.

Distance: 46 miles

10/10 Roza campground to Forest road

The canyons are beautiful out here.  I met a guy this morning that was floating the river on a raft to fish, then he would hitchhike back to his car.  I gave him the fly fishing  gear that I found a few days back.

I went into Ellensburg to buy a tent stake that I lost and charge my batteries and use WiFi.  This is a nice little college town.  I liked it more than Yakima, which seemed like more of a ranch town.  There was a young woman that I talked to about getting into touring and if she is reading this she better be planning her next trip!

It was alright

Reflector art in Ellensburg

I took a few wrong turns today so the milage may seem high.

Ride time: 5 hours 15 mins

Distance: 50 miles

Avg: 9.6. Max: 30

Odo: 1484

10/9. Windy Point to Roza campground

There were lots of cool valleys in this area.  The picture doesn’t do justice to its beauty.

I spent sometime in Yakima to do laundry and pick up a few things.

Ride time: 4 hours 37 mins

distance: 57 miles

Avg: 12.4

10/8 Forest road 1270 to Windy Point campground

Windy point gets my award for worst water quality.

This was the first time I tried a freeze-dried meal.  It was mediocre, I mean they could have added beans to this.

Ride time: 4 hours

Distance: 40 miles

Avg: 10. Max: 35.7

10/7 Swift to Forest Road 1270

I camped just north of Packwood on forest land.  I like finding those cool spots and this was a good one.  It was a swimming hole on a little river.  I even had a rope swing and a bank to jump off.  I put my tent up ride next to the stream.  There was a nice area for camping with several stone fire rings.  This was in a grove of towering old growth trees.  Stunning.

The was a white truck parked at the end of this road so I was wondering where this person was as it got later in the evening.  There was a red canoe on the far bank of the river.   Eventually I heard voices and it was two men.  I heard them talking and they noticed me.  I said “hi” from inside my tent but they refused to respond.  They were dressed in full camo.  Whatever, I was tired and wanted to rest. 

At around 7pm I hear a very loud explosion in the distance.  This was not a gun.  It was like one of those really loud fireworks that just make a big boom.  Then a few seconds later, there was a second explosion, except closer this time.  It was those two guys on the other side of the river!  I yelled, “what the hell was that!?”. They didn’t respond.  Then I hear two planes approaching, flying very low to ground.  They were small planes both in width and in length, with large instrumentation below each wing.  They passed very low and were quite loud.

A very weird experience, but I guess it was some military exercise.  Or the Illuminati.  Definitely Illuminati.

Ride time: 6 hours 26 mins

Distance: 68.5 miles

Avg: 10.6. Max: 37.3