Home Again

Seattle from Myrtle Edwards Park

Thanksgiving Day, almost exactly three months since I returned from my bicycle tour in Quebec, and I've fallen back in to my old routines. Not exactly, I'm making some changes.

All summer I had meant to take a trip to my home town of Issaquah, to try out some of the rail-trails and bicycle-pedestrian routes that have been developed around Lake Samammish and up in to the foothills around the towns of Fall City, Preston and Snoqualmie Falls. By the end of September the weather was turning autumnal enough that I knew I'd better fit the trip in soon, and I got a cheap fare offer on Amtrak, so I took off a few days in October.

Amtrak's carry-on bike service on this route has improved, and it was easier to book me and my bike online. The morning train from Bellingham arrives in Seattle at about eleven, just in time for lunch. After that, I loaded my bike on the front rack of a commuter bus for an express run via I-90 to Issaquah. I checked in to the Motel 6 near Lake Samammish State Park, only a few miles by bike from the Park & Ride.

Issaquah Park & Ride

When I was growing up, the green welcome sign that the school bus passed on the way in to town showed the population as 4210. The bus route ran through woods of pine, maple and alder. There were fenced pastures near town, usually just home to several horses. The dairy farms and herds of cows were already gone. Now those fields are covered by malls, office complexes and parking lots, and the human population has multiplied many times over. In the old business core there are still many landmark buildings, especially the salmon hatchery on Issaquah Creek, but I didn't find many fond memories. The old town is so engulfed by new development that it's hard for me to feel very nostalgic. Besides, I was a sulky and discontented teenager, and couldn't wait to get away when I turned eighteen. I visited the Hillside Cemetery and left flowers at my parents' grave site. It's said that funerals are for the living, and so were the flowers, I suppose, but I am grateful for the inheritance from my mother that paid for my tour this summer.

The Motel 6 is practical and cheap, and well-located for bicycle exploration. There was an IHOP next door, a Tully's coffee shop down the street, and a Taco Time within walking distance for dinner - not haute cuisine, but reasonably cheap and nutritious and hearty fuel for bike trips. There are paved bike lanes on most nearby streets and easy access to the paved trails along Lake Samammish.

The Preston-Snoqualmie Falls Trail, which I'd come to explore, starts just beneath the freeway overpass near Gilman Boulevard. It is paved for the first few miles, but turns to packed gravel most of the way, with some rocky places, mud puddles and patches of wet leaves. It's pretty much up-hill for the whole twelve miles, but at an easy rail-road grade. The scenery is pretty and woodsy, but within hearing distance of I-90 most of the way. I'd seen some descriptions of the trail that recommend riding a mountain bike, but I had no trouble on my Surly Cross-Check.

Trail crossing at Preston-Fall City Road

I think, back when I was in high school, the cross-country track team ran on undeveloped trails out this way, but I wasn't an athlete back then so the terrain was all new to me. My parents did take my sister and me out for car trips to Snoqualmie Falls when we were kids, though. It was a treat to view the falls, then stop for lunch at the Colonial Inn in Fall City. This time I took a side-trip at the road crossing, and found that the inn is now a jazz-age style road house, with pretty much the same country diner American food.

The bike trail continues past Preston-Fall City Road to a little bridge, where I remember stopping to climb on the rocks and admire the mossy trees by the Raging River. As I recall, the bridge was only local access then, but now the trail continues four or five miles farther through the woods along the old railway route. Shortly after crossing this bridge, there is a steep hill with series of switch-backs, where you have to walk your bike - or horse, as this is an equestrian trail, too.

The trail ends at a view point a few miles farther on, where the lodge, dam and power plant at Snoqualmie Falls are barely visible through the trees.

End of the trail

After finishing the group bike tour in August, I'd been thinking about buying a carbon road bike. I hadn't felt I had any trouble keeping up with the group, but some people had made some unkind remarks - such as, "So, Anna, do you know anything about drafting?" I thought, maybe if I was riding carbon like everyone else, instead of a 28lb steel frame, they would have been nicer. But after this ride, when my Surly went from Seattle city streets, to commuter bus racks, to paved bike paths, to gravel/rock/mud trails, and then back again, I'm happy with steel. I just need to find a frame that fits me better.

Since October I've only been riding about once or twice a week, 25-30 miles at a time. I've been doing more yoga, and trying out a TRX strength-training program. The plan is to do more cross-training and rehab over the winter, while I figure out what routes I'll ride next year.