Hillier Than Expected: The Ride to Fort Flagler

Our travel took place on the ancestral lands of the S’Klallam, Chimacum, Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla, Suquamish, Tulalip, and Duwamish peoples who have stewarded those lands since time immemorial.

In 2019 I got more confident about planning bike trips, and started planning some trips on my own. I planned out a few overnight bike trips throughout the summer. I had wanted to ride to Fort Flagler the previous summer, but had not been able to convince any of my friends to go with me. I chose a weekend at the end of June and hoped we would get good weather. I made a Facebook event and shared with a number of people, and emailed a bunch of people that I know are into cycling. We had a group of six, only one of whom I knew! I was a little nervous, but excited to meet some new bike folk.

It was raining as we were waiting for the Bainbridge ferry and I was on edge, worried that the first bike trip I planned would be ruined by the notoriously long Pacific Northwest spring. However, once we crossed Elliott Bay the rain stopped and we made it to Fay Bainbridge Park without incident. I had heard about Fay Bainbridge for years, since it is really close to Seattle. The views are spectacular, and there are three huge hiker-biker sites with grills, picnic tables, fire rings, and there is a kiosk where campers can pay for campsites and firewood with credit cards! A miracle considering most campgrounds require cash (which I never have).

Sarah, Rob, and Mike looking cute at Fay Bainbridge

Four of us camped at Fay Bainbridge on Friday night, enjoying the view and talking shit over the campfire with whiskey. Around 7am the next morning, before the overnight crew had woken up, we had two more cyclists join us! They were both on about four hours of sleep and pretty ragged, but I was impressed by the commitment. We headed out from Fay Bainbridge around 9am and made it to Port Gamble without much incident. There is a really cute restaurant and coffee bar in Port Gamble where we fueled up on caffeine and pastries. We were blissfully unaware of what was ahead of us.

Leaving Port Gamble is a fairly flat and easy ride for a few miles until right after the Port Gamble bridge, where we rode straight up a really steep hill on Paradise Bay Road. We took Paradise Bay Road and Oak Bay Road which wind for 17 miles through wooded residential areas in Port Ludlow and Mats Mats. The roads are a beautiful alternative to riding along WA-104, but have a lot of rolling hills, and cover about 2,000 feet of elevation in this one stretch.

We picked up a lot of speed on the descent into Port Hadlock, and we did not realize one of our riders got a flat tire, but nobody noticed that we had lost one of our riders until we hit the bottom of the hill. She rolled down half an hour later, and we made our way to Finn River Cidery! It was a major reward after our hours of struggle. Finn River Cidery has a bunch of different food booths including wood-fired pizza, ice cream, and of course CIDER! There is a big yard to hang out, nap in the grass, play bocce, and watch kids be weird. There were two little kids trying to throw a frisbee back and forth for a while and it was driving Sarah nuts… After another drink or two she could not bear it any more and went up to coach them (she played ultimate in college), but they got scared and ran away. I ate an entire pepperoni pizza and drank two ciders and passed out on the grass for about an hour.

The 11 miles from Chimacum to Fort Flagler was tough — we were full of cider and pizza, and had 50 miles and over 3,000 feet of elevation behind us. Everybody whined for most of the way there and more or less collapsed when we made it to the campsite. We camped on the lower part of the campground near the RVs, and had incredible views of Port Townsend, Port Townsend Bay, and the San Juan Islands.

I woke up more tired and sore than I had been in a long time, everything from my fingers to the bottoms of my feet had some kind of ache or throb. It probably did not help that we had been drinking a lot of wine, whiskey, and cider throughout the tour… We all packed up and headed out around 9:30 with a lot of dread about making it back over all the hills. We took our time and made it back to Port Gamble around lunchtime. Everyone but me ordered a fried chicken sandwich for lunch, and I was extremely skeptical that they would be able to pedal back to Seattle with bellies full of fried chicken and fries. They were annoyed I was teasing them, but they did all pass out in a field next to the restaurant for the better part of an hour before they got back on their bikes. While they were sleeping off the fried chicken sandwiches, I was chugging cold brew and literally rolling around the field.

The rest of the ride went slowly but without incident. When we rolled back into Seattle we had ridden over 110 miles, and almost 6,000 feet of elevation in two days. I highly recommend this route as an overnight trip for people who love climbing hills! Finn River Cidery also makes a great day trip from the Seattle or Edmonds, but does not have all of the scenic drama of Fort Flagler or Port Townsend.

Dummies sleeping off their fried chicken sandwiches