Riding around Seattle has been getting old hat, so I've been exploring a little more lately. On Saturday, I took my bike to Monroe, then rode it to Sultan and back, avoiding route 2 almost the whole way. It was a very nice ride: scenic, mostly quiet, and easy, but with a few good hills. Half the ride had nice views of the mountains, and the other half showed farm land, with a few river views as a bonus. There's no real shoulder a lot of the way, but there isn't much traffic, either. Out of the last few places I've brought the bike, this has been the best.
Here are the directions I jotted down for the ride.
Car- I-5 north to 522 east, aka Lake City Way, follow to Monroe
- W Main Street exit
- Follow "City Center" through the roundabout
- Right onto Lewis Street after about 1.5 mi
- Park at Lewis Street Park, on the left, about 2 mi from "downtown."
Bike- 0 - R out of the parking lot
- .5 - R onto Main St
- .9 - Cross US 2 at the light, to Old Owen Rd
- 1.1 - Bear L at the Y, staying on Old Owen
- 6.6 - L onto Woods Lake Rd
- 9.3 - R on Old Pipeline
- 9.7 - R on Reiner Rd at Y
- 13.1 - L on Old Owen Rd at the stop sign
- 13.7 - L on US 2 at the light
- 13.8 - Welcome to Sultan!
- 14.5 - R on Mann Rd out of town
- 15.4 - R on Ben Howard Rd
- 24.2 - R on SR 203 into Monroe
- 24.7 - Back to Lewis Street Park
Mile point on the left, but these are approximate. Also, my Garmin showed each of these coming a little earlier than listed here. It was a cumulative thing, so the first turn was a fraction of a mile off, but it was about a mile at Sultan.
I did a 30+ mile loop, and deviated a bit from this. I explored Sultan a bit, followed some dead end road on the way back, and then checked out a few of the farm roads before heading to the car. There are a lot of ways to extend the ride, and plenty of loops you can add. On the other hand, if you're pressed for time from the outset, you can skip Woods, Old Pipeline, and Reiner at the beginning of the ride, and just stay on Old Owen Road, which might shave about five miles from the trip. But it's a nice diversion.
This is the point where you all get to laugh at me, but hat tip to
Biking Puget Sound, by The Mountaineers Books.