Pacific Northwest - WA - low traffic ride (question might be 30 years late?)

I may be a few years too late with this question, but I'm wondering if there are any low traffic areas to ride in. General requirements:
1) WA state
2) 2 to 4 hour ride time
3) 20 to 60 mile ride length
4) mostly on road (paved and/or unpaved)
5) more interesting than riding the same 1 mile backroad multiple times to get the mileage
6) low traffic being maybe 1 motor vehicle every 10 minutes

Personally, I can't think of anywhere in the state with rideable roads and little to no traffic.

Thanks for riding along......

I may be a few years too late with this question, but I'm wondering if there are any low traffic areas to ride in. General requirements:
1) WA state
2) 2 to 4 hour ride time
3) 20 to 60 mile ride length
4) mostly on road (paved and/or unpaved)
5) more interesting than riding the same 1 mile backroad multiple times to get the mileage
6) low traffic being maybe 1 motor vehicle every 10 minutes

Personally, I can't think of anywhere in the state with rideable roads and little to no traffic.

Thanks for riding along......

Check out the east side of the state

/thread

there are a few roads like that around yakima

There are roads all around Cle Elum that would qualify during the week; during the weekend, not so much--there may be a couple of cars every 10 minutes.

during the daytime hours you can do Mercer Island (15 miles round) on pavement. Go clockwise and
you get shoulder for a good part of the ride as well.

Try the north cascades hwy from winthrop to washington pass.

I'm assuming you already have thought about the Burke Gilman trail? If you rode it from Ballard to Kenmore, and then took the Sammamish River portion all the way to Redmond it's a pretty long ride, and no car traffic except for intersections.

On the road:

I did this ride last year on a Saturday. Parts of it were pretty quiet; nice scenery:

http://www.seattlebiketours.org/members/maps/flaming_geyser_black_diamond.pdf

I also found the route of the Skagit Spring Classic quite enjoyable. Check out the sections of this map on the east side of I5, which is south of Lake Whatcom. Nice roads, little traffic.

http://www.skagitbicycleclub.org/pdf/62_100_map.pdf

I grew up in Whitman County (Pullman, etc) and there are a lot of roads there that would qualify. The busiest time of the year on some of them is during the wheat harvest. My dad's been riding over there for 25 yrs with little trouble - hwy 195 is the busiest road he's on but it's got a nice 6 foot shoulder.

Some of the other counties in southeast Washington would also qualify - pretty rural.

The BG trail is good, although often crowded so you'll to watch your speed.

There's also the Interurban/Green River trail. You can pick up the Interurban at its start near South Park and ride it through Tukwilla, over to the start of the GR trail at SouthCenter, and then follow that down past Auburn. A nice long ride usually without heavy congestion that passes through some very nice scenery. It's also pretty much flat.

Doing a circuit around Lake Washington is also a good distance ride, although you'll have to deal with signigicant sections where you'll share the road with cars.

Check out the Seatthe Bicycle Touring Club maps library at http://www.seattlebiketours.org/members/library.html. (http://www.seattlebiketours.org/members/library.html) Lots of good rides there.

Take Marine View drive on the weekend, from Marysville to Stanwood or you can start at Stanwood take pioneer to La Conner. Try Centennial Trail, 35 miles of paved blacktop and no traffic at all.

6) low traffic being maybe 1 motor vehicle every 10 minutes

This one's going to be tough to satisfy on any road that's likely to be an enjoyable ride anywhere in the central Puget Sound area, unless you can ride at night or early on Sunday morning. Even sticking to mostly residential streets I can't cut out enough traffic to meet this standard during the day. Lots more rides open up if you can tolerate more like 1 car every 2 to 3 minutes.

For the 10 minutes per vehicle average, I'd try going over to rural areas of eastern Washington like the posters above have suggested- or the back roads of southwestern Washington, or rural Skagit and Whatcom counties. Or try the MUPS that they've mentioned.

One road like this that I really enjoyed riding last summer was the Rock Island Grade road, which starts off SR 28 about 8 miles SE of Wenatchee. It's a great workout climb with nice views at the top, and I think I was passed by maybe a dozen cars during my whole ride of 2 hours. It's unpaved, but doable on a road bike with wide tires.

Take Marine View drive on the weekend, from Marysville to Stanwood or you can start at Stanwood take pioneer to La Conner. Try Centennial Trail, 35 miles of paved blacktop and no traffic at all.

yes, i was gonna say the same! i actually did part of that route this weekend, it's quite nice. (although having 10 signs about drunk driving in 10 miles wasn't very reassuring..)

also, isn't there a side road next to I-90 (near Vantage) that can be ridden? it always looks way empty, and i've seen a few cyclists on it.

another spot is cougar mtn - climbing it takes about 20-25 minutes (for me), and there aren't many cars there.. maybe not what you're after tho.

also, Vashon island was quite scenic and had pretty low traffic (off the major roads).

also, Vashon island was quite scenic and had pretty low traffic (off the major roads).

Good idea.

For that matter, you can ride the Chilly Hilly route (Bainbridge Island) any time of year - it's pretty nice on a Sunday morning in the summer.

also, isn't there a side road next to I-90 (near Vantage) that can be ridden? it always looks way empty, and i've seen a few cyclists on it.

Yes, that's SR10 and you can ride it all the way from Vantage to Cle Elum. I've ridden parts of it. It has very little traffic east of Ellensburg and can be a nice ride; as with all rides in the Kittitas Valley, though, it can be wickedly windy. Really pretty between E'burg and Cle Elum as it follows the Yakima River. There are some good climbs on it, especially westbound out of Vantage.

Yes, that's SR10 and you can ride it all the way from Vantage to Cle Elum. I've ridden parts of it. It has very little traffic east of Ellensburg and can be a nice ride; as with all rides in the Kittitas Valley, though, it can be wickedly windy. Really pretty between E'burg and Cle Elum as it follows the Yakima River. There are some good climbs on it, especially westbound out of Vantage.

Definitely head east - the tailwind is great in Kittitas County. Just have someone pick you up at the other end of the county. :) That bit of Hwy 10 between Cle Elum and Ellensburg is part of the course for the Manastash Metric Century in October. East of Ellensburg there's a fair amount of traffic until you get about 10 miles out.

Yes, that's SR10 and you can ride it all the way from Vantage to Cle Elum. I've ridden parts of it. It has very little traffic east of Ellensburg and can be a nice ride; as with all rides in the Kittitas Valley, though, it can be wickedly windy. Really pretty between E'burg and Cle Elum as it follows the Yakima River. There are some good climbs on it, especially westbound out of Vantage.

thx for the info!

also, this summer SIR did a ride up to Windy Ridge (as did the Cascade High Pass Challenge), and most of that was closed to autos due to roads falling apart. not sure how long it'll be like that, but we didn't see cars for hours!!

Thank you all for the input. I never would have thought of Mercer Island for low traffic riding.

Any more ideas for Eastern WA? Thanks again....

The Centennial Trail has about 35 miles in Washington of paved trail, some road sharing, and into Idaho for another 20+ miles also with some sharing.
I know you said Washington but a few miles into Idaho will get you the Trail of the Coeur d' Alenes a 72 mile paved railbed between Plummer and Mullan, with many trailheads inbetween.

Thank you all for the input. I never would have thought of Mercer Island for low traffic riding..

In the summer, the city of Seattle closes the traffic along Lake Washington Drive (from I90 down to Seward Park) on several Sundays. That means you can do the entire lap around the Southern end of Lake Washington with little to no car traffic:

- the east side of Lake Washington is mostly bike lanes
- a bit of traffic as you wind through Renton and get around the airport (though not much traffic on a Sunday morning)
- you have a bike lane along Rainier avenue at the south end of lake
- then you come up the west side of Lake Washington on a car-free Sunday, no traffic.

If you throw in a loop around Mercer Island plus a loop around Seward Park, you've got somewhere around 35 miles of light- to no-traffic riding.

Any more ideas for Eastern WA? Thanks again....

These roads are snowed in right now, but....

If your bike can handle gravel roads and you like a good climb, try the roads in the canyons on the south flank of Table Mountain out of Kittitas. The Colockum Pass road is good, but rough; I usually ride the roads up Coleman Canyon or Cooke Canyon. These do get some traffic on weekends, particularly during hunting season, but rarely more than a car every few minutes. I particularly choose these when the banshee west winds are screaming in the valley; you often then get tailwinds for these climbs, and the complex topography tends to calm them quite a bit. Another option is USFS road 35; it's paved for the first few miles and has superb views of the valley, but it's a very grueling climb and gets lots of traffic in the summer. Sometime when I'm in a masochistic mood I want to ride it up to Lion Rock; it would be something like a 4000' elevation gain.

Thank you all for the input. I never would have thought of Mercer Island for low traffic riding.

Any more ideas for Eastern WA? Thanks again....

Really there are too many rides to even describe in eastern washington. Check out our clubs website and forums for some ride maps, but these are only a small sample. What distance do you consider an ideal ride?

http://www.spokanerocketvelo.com/favoriteridemaps

Thanks everyone.

Mtn Mike - Good info on the web site there, having the road names is a big plus. Rides of 30 to 50 miles would work well. A few hours of riding time but not enough to over do it!

rnorris - Those rides sound intriguing also.

Fort Lewis has some nice roads, and little to no traffic. You can create a bunch of different routes that are in the 20-40 mile range.

You need picture ID to get through the gates.

Put some 35mm wide (70-75 psi) tires on and ride the South (side) Skagit road from Hwy 9, just south of Burlington, to Concrete (and back). Wide, soft tires recommended due to the large gravel they used for the chipseal repaving.

Rockport to Darrington, or Concrete-across Skagit river-to Darrington.

That 10-minute interval between cars is a tough one.

Up here in Whatcom county there are several rides I go on between 30-50 miles where its strange if more than one car passes me. There are a few places in Kitsap county that i can think of and as other posters have said there is a plethora in Eastern Washington.

This summer the Hood Canal bridge is going to be closed for 6 weeks and I am hoping the highway on the west side will be nice.

umm, the mountain loop highway after the gate is closed at silverton is about as desolate a road near Everett as I can think of.

and during the weekdays summer it is also pretty darn slow moving. it was even slower when the washouts closed it as a thru route to darrington.

i can also endorse rockport/darrington, that is very slow moving even during the summer.

You could ride all around the Palisades and maybe only see a car or two the entire time.

The Colockum Pass road is good, but rough

I've driven Colockum Pass and can't imagine bicycling up that road. But I don't like chip seal either. Colockum is really rough and rather steep in places. Very pretty up there, though.

I ride lots of rural Whatcom Co. roads and have never stressed about traffic. There's probably more than one car per ten minutes on most roads but I wouldn't worry about it.