Sun, 24 August 2003
Kicking Around Kitsap
Last year, on the Trek Tri-Island ride, I passed through the Kitsap Penninsula on our way up to Port Townsend but I never got a chance to explore the whole area. Even then, I decided this was a beautiful spot for some cycling so I vowed to return.
With that in mind, when one of my riding partners asked me to lead a ride, I decided we would spend our Sunday touring the hills and small towns of the Kitsap Penninsula. The route we took was basically a combination (or rather modification) of various ride-options found in the famous Kitsap Color Classic to form a Kingston-Hansville-Poulsbo-Suquamish-Kingston loop with a total distance of around 60 miles. Although I'll post some here a full set of pictures can be found in my photo gallery.
We started out by catching the ferry from Edmonds, WA and steamed across the sound to Kingston, WA. The crossing took 20 mins. After arriving at the Kingston ferry dock, we pedalled our way up the landing and onto Hwy 104. This is basically a two-lane highway with wide shoulders. We stayed on it for a couple of miles before turning north onto Hansville Rd.
Once on Hansville Rd., we made our way towards Point No-Point while skirting the eastern edge of the S'Klallam Indian Reservation.
Once at Point No-Point, we stopped to take in the scenery and visit the lighthouse.
Leaving Point No-Point, we continued around the top of the penninsula and headed back down the western side facing the Hood Canal on our way towards Port Gamble. It was a little hard to get a picture of the bridge but you can sort of make it out between the trees.
This side of the penninsula offered wonderfuly scenic sweeping and twisty roads, descents and of course some steep hills. After crossing back east along the south end of the reservation, we picked up Hansville Rd. again and continued for a short bit before turning down 288th. St. and enjoying an exhilarating high-speed descent towards the bottom of Gamble Bay. My computer was recording speeds in excess of 42MPH along the twisty road. We then rejoined Hwy 104 again and made our way north up the other side of the bay. After a few miles, we pulled into Port Gamble for lunch at the general store.
As we were eating lunch, two other cyclists pulled up and one of them actually recognised my bike from a ride I had been on last year. This led to a pleasant conversation about riding in the Kitsap area and of course our individual bikes.
Leaving Port Gamble, we continued on Hwy 104 for about a mile until the Hood Canal Bridge. As we were not going to cross the bridge, we joined Hwy 3 (a fairly busy road but with wide shoulders) and took it southwest for a tad. We then turned down a quieter country road... Big Valley Road that took us south through farmland.
After intersecting Bond Rd. and me almost mistakingly taking us onto Hwy 305, we entered the town of Poulsbo. Poulsbo was one of the bigger towns and had quite a bit of waterfront development.
There were quite a few cafes and restuarants so I suggested we find a coffee shop to take a break and sip down some form of espresso concoction. While circling the waterfront parking lot attempting to determine an establishment to patron, we encountered a Cascade Bike Club ride leader who asked us if we knew of a good place to grab a bite. He explained that he had been scouting out the Olympic and Kitsap Penninsula in order to plan a cyclo-camping ride for the club. We told him we were trying to locate a cafe ourselves and he asked if he could join us. Extra company is always good so we invited him along as we headed towards the Hula Cafe (yes... faux-Hawaiian).
David and I sat and sipped coffee while our new friend, Rob, related his adventures to us while eating ice cream. This was apparently his second trip to this area in as many weeks and he had been spending the last few days camping and scoping out different routes around the area. He told us he was on his way back south towards Bainbridge Island and the Winslow-Seattle ferry. We invited him to ride with us out of Poulsbo until we hit Hwy 305 where we would part ways with us heading back north and him heading south.
A couple of miles after exitting town, David realised he had left his CamelBak at the cafe and turned around to retrieve it. Rob and I stayed put and we had a long chat about life and riding in the Seattle area. After David returned, we continued on until we got to Hwy 305 and Rob bid us farewell but not before we all exchanged contact information.
I then took the lead and we headed towards Suquamish. In keeping with tradition, I got us slightly lost by missing a turnoff because I was too busy enjoying a twisty fast descent into town. Backtracking slightly, we managed to get back on the right route and things were well again.
The ride north up Port Gamble Rd. was uneventful except for of course the ups and downs of hill after hill. We decided to hop off the road and detour onto part of the Kingston-Indianola loop by taking Gunderson Rd. east until we hit Miller Bay Rd and took it north. Once we turned onto West Kingston Rd. and took it towards the ferries, we were greeted by a bike lane.
After a few more undulating hills, we finally entered Kingston and could see the harbour.
However, rather than immediately boarding the return ferry, we decided to hang out in town and find a nice pub for a few pints but not before spotting an interesting diversion.
The museum turned out to be part of a bike shop.
Unfortunately, it was closed on Sundays.
After peering through the windows for a bit, we headed for the pub for some local brew.
After spending an hour in the pub, we decided to board the ferry.
On the return crossing, I was able to get a shot that simply underscores one of the reasons why I love living in the Puget Sound area.
The riding weather was wonderful... not too hot and not too cold although it was slightly chilly for a couple of miles in the morning until we warmed up from the hills. We did encounter a slight headwind during one portion of our ride but all in all it was simply gorgeous. We could not have asked for a more perfect day.