stringbreaker

finally we can get away for a couple of days in August to ride from the Kingston ferry terminal to Poulsbo and ride around there and on the way back stop at Chief Sealths grave. Is there anything we should be sure to put on our list to see besides that for sure. We only have from Sunday to Tuesday so its gonna be tight but I think we can cover quite a bit of road in that time.

smcnees

That's right in my neighborhood. Here's a few of my favorite routes:

Ride straight off the ferry and turn right at Albertson's
Turn Left at 288th unless you want to do an out and back to Hansville which has great views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca but is a pretty good climb back out of there. If you do this, turn right on 288th
Turn right on Port Gamble Road. Follow this through Port Gamble and past the turn for the Hood Canal Bridge
Turn Left on Big Valley road. Kitsap State Park will be on your right
At the end of Big Valley, turn left on Bond road
Turn right on Gunderson
Turn right on Port Gamble road. This road turns into Columbia road
Columbia dead ends at Squamish Way

To head back to the Kingston Ferry, turn left. Squamish Way become Miller Bay road
Turn right on West Kingston road and follow it to the ferry

To go to Poulsbo, turn right. Squamish Way dead ends at Hwy 305.
At 305, turn left to cross the Agate Pass bridge and ride Bainbridge Island
At 305, turn right heading towards Poulsbo
Turn left on Lemolo Drive. Totten road will be on your right
Follow Lemolo into downtown Poulsbo

To get back to the Kingston Ferry, ride back to 305, turn right on Bond road and follow it to the Kingston Ferry Terminal

Other side trips could be to cross the Hood Canal Bridge and go to Port Townsend, or continue South from Poulsbo and ride out to Seabeck.

Plenty of possibilities.......

stringbreaker

Gonna ride straight to Poulsbo then ride out from there for a couple of days then do the ride to Chief Sealths grave on the way back to the ferry. Whats the best way straight to Poulsbo from the ferry?

smcnees

From Poulsbo, the most direct route is to head towards Bainbridge Island on Hwy 305. Turn left at the Clearwater Casino on to Squamish Way. At the Shell gas station, go left on Division. This will take you to the grave. To get back to the (Kingston I presume) ferry, ride back to Squamish Way and take a left. Follow this to West Kingston Road. Go right on West Kingston Road and follow that to the ferry.

stringbreaker

What kind of terrain and traffic issues can we expect in this area?

Bekologist

Hi, the nicest way back to Bainbridge island ferry terminal from poulsbo is to ride out of town on lemolo shores as suggested above. you climb a bit to get back to the 305 and ride about a mile to the Agate Pass Bridge.

once across Agate Pass (most cyclists ride cautiously on the wide enough sidewalk, but some will take the lane, but its busy bridge) the nicest way is to take a right at the memorial park about a mile past the agate pass bridge, ride down to Manzanita, and take a left onto Manzanita. MUCH MUCH more pleasant than the 305.

Ride Manzanita until it turns into Bergman and climbs to Miller. Take a right on Miller. Turns into Fletcher , and you can either take a left of High School Road (three hills) to put you at the top of the community of Bainbridge and a nice downhill into town center on Madison,

OR ride the signed bike route from Fletcher, turn right on Blakely and back to town center.

Lemolo shores to 305,
cross agate pass bridge,
right on Port Madison rd(?) at ballfield,
left on Manzanita,
manzanita turns into Bergman,
right on Miller
miller turns into Fletcher
left on high school road
right on madison
left on winslow way
to ferry terminal (obvious)

OR

Fletcher
left on blakely
right on madison
left on winslow
to bainbridge ferry terminal.

this is a much more enjoyable route to the ferry from poulsbo.

things to do:

downtown poulsbo

ride to kitsap memorial state park and historic port gamble



north out of town, ride out of town on front street, cross the 305 now on bond road for a short bit and then take a left on big valley.

big valley to kitsap memorial state park. it even has camping, but a good place to stop on the kitsap. view of hood canal bridge i seem to remember..
then ride the 3 to port gamble. wide shoulder, very comfortable.

dinker around port gamble, return.

east side from poulsbo and in combination with the chief sealth ride you can either ride to the kingston ferry terminal and lunch there along

miller/indianola/south kingston road and return on the west kingston/miller/squamish,

or find your way N from chief Sealths grave to where you connect with port gamble road NE, and up to Bond road and left to return to poulsbo.

a good map will make it clear, these are the good routes to take out thataways.

big Valley/ lemolo shores for poulsbo routing,
manzanita/miller/highscool road from agate pass to bainbridge.

Bekologist

oh, if you were looking to get to poulsbo, take a left into town on winslow way, right on madison to top of hill, left on high school road, right on fletcher, lazy left onto peterson hill road, turn left onto miller, changes into manzanita, right uphill at end of manzanita to ballfield and the 305 shortly before agate pass bridge.

about a mile or so past agate pass, turn left onto lemolo. follow to poulsbo.


both beautiful legs of the trip and vastly more enjoyable than the 305.

stringbreaker

Starting at Kingston not Winslow.

Bekologist

I'd take a left off the boat and head down west kingston road, then a left on Miller, turns into squamish way, over totten, and back to lemolo shores road. puts you one block from Chief Sealths grave on the way.

the 104 & Bond Road (307)is busy. the shoulder is wide but it is just kind of tedious, you know what I mean from traffic?



try the ride out to port gamble on a sidetrip via big valley, or the manzanita route for a side trip to winslow.

stringbreaker

We ended up taking the truck and parking it at the motel on Sunday. did the walk around Poulsbo and since it was damp and crummy decided to do a ride on Monday. We did Chief Sealths grave and rode back and hit Lemolo shore road. Thats a nice little ride. Did a ride up and down the neighborhoods on the way back to 305. Its a good thing the shoulders are wide. I could not believe how much traffic there was, almost like riding the freeway. Wife is not very comfortable in traffic but she sucked it up and did pretty well. I found out I'm in much better shape than I thought I was. A few of those hills are long and steep in parts but I had no trouble. The Windsor gears down well and I didn't huff and puff like I thought I might since my commute is flat I don't do a lot of hill riding so I guess this means I need to do some hill training and get in even better condition. I'm down 15 lbs this summer just from riding more and eating less. All in all a nice trip except for the weather being so dismal but the cool conditions make for nice riding. Chief Sealths grave isn't as grand as I thought it would be but the whole cemetary there is a bit run down and I was surprised at how emotional I got looking at some of those headstones. Port Gamble was really cool and the grounds well kept and I told my wife if you just stand still and look out over whats left of the Pope and Talbot mill you can hear all the mill sounds if you concentrate. I swear I could imagine the log trucks going up and down the streets and down the road to the mill. Pretty weird I know but thats how my mind works. Oh yeah and on the ferry back to Edmonds on Tuesday the sun came out. DUH just our luck.

grandpatom

I'm glad you took the trip. It is a beautiful country.

stringbreaker

Its is very beautiful. Oh yeah and we had dinner at the casino buffet, YUM. I gotta give the Suguamish (sp) folks kudos they do a nice job with their assets and everyone we came in contact there treated us nicer and more welcoming that most of the so called residents over there. We seemed to run into some attitude. I guess maybe it was the bicycle clothing. Sure would be a nice area to retire to someday