Lopez Island

Walk-on passengers ready to disembark at Friday Harbor

For businesses and residents in Friday Harbor, life in the summer turns around ferry arrivals and departures, and schedule disruptions can cause worrying business slow-downs. Some island residents rarely leave the island, and for some people who live on smaller islands that have no ferry service, a trip to Friday Harbor by private boat is a rare trip to the big city. Round-trip fare from Anacortes for a walk-on passenger with bicycle was $17.25 during the summer tourist season. Car-fare is much higher, plus fare for each passenger. But the sweetest deal for bicyclists is that car-less passengers can travel for free between San Juan, Orcas, Shaw and Lopez Islands, meaning I could island-hop at will on my days off - as long as the ferries didn't break down. Shaw Island is very small, with few roads. Orcas Island is known as the most hilly of the islands, and the ride up Mt. Constitution is supposed to be a challenging haul. Since I never seek the kind of suffer-fests you read about in cycling magazines, I never got around to riding Orcas. But I did make two trips to Lopez Island, where the roads are much more gentle and traffic is sparse.

On my first trip I got a late start, catching the ferry about 10am, planning to return on the 3pm boat. The boat trip takes about an hour, going from Friday Harbor to Orcas, a quick hop to Shaw Island, and finally Lopez Island, the last stop before the boat heads to Anacortes or back to Friday Harbor. There are no shops near the landing at the north end of Lopez Island, and no indoor waiting room, just a few vending machines (don't trust them, or the ones on the ferry) and porta-potties, and a bicycle-staging area is provided just past the parking area at the landing for tour groups. Bikes and pedestrians are usually let off the ferry ahead of cars, but the hill climb up from the ferry landing is steep so it's not a bad idea to pull off and wait for cars to pass by. Just over the hill-climb is the turn-off to Odlin County Park, where there is a beach, play fields, camping, water and bathroom facilities, but no food or shops. The left-hand turn-off leads to a little beach community near Spencer Spit State Park. Tourist maps show Center Road as a main bike route, but there isn't much shoulder, and car traffic was fast and frequent (on island terms), and drivers were unusually un-bike-friendly. On my first, shorter trip, with only a bit more than two hours to ride, I turned right to Bay Road and rode five miles to Lopez Village, then along the edge of the bay and tide flats on Fisherman Bay Road. Lopez Village is tiny but there are some nice shops, restaurants and amenities like a museum, library, and a new University of Washington medical clinic, as well as homes, a few apartment buildings, and retirement communities. With side-trips to Odlin and Spencer Spit I rode about 22 miles.

Poor excuse for photography

That trip was in late June. Wanting to explore more of the island, I returned in July on the 8am ferry, carrying more maps so I could ramble around more confidently. This time I took the left-hand fork, riding on the east side of the island on Port Stanley Road, to Lopez Sound Road, which I thought would pass along the east side of the Lopez Hill Nature Preserve. At the intersection with School Road I found the one daunting hill-climb on the island, short but about a 45-degree slope. I stopped to make a decision, and in trying to scoot across the road while standing astride my bike, my shoe accidentally clipped in to my pedal and wouldn't come loose. I stopped, standing on one foot trying to pull my foot loose, and knocked myself over in the road. My foot popped free, but I came up with a skinned knee and a lot of scrapes. I decided to skip the hill and coast down the fork to the left, where I thought Lopez Sound Road would connect back to Mud Bay Road, by-passing the unfriendly traffic on Center Road. About a mile down the road the pavement ended and turned into a dwindling gravel roadway. My map did show a gap in the road, and I began to think maybe it didn't really connect, at least not on terrain suitable for a skinny-tire road bike. Besides, my knee was bleeding unexpectedly. I turned back to the paved roadway, and had to make the steep haul after all.

School Road connects to Center Road, which after a jog to the left becomes Mud Bay Road, and I followed this as far as the Southend General Store, a small grocery, gas station, Mexican restaurant and bar near Islandale. I cleaned up my knee a bit, then went inside. The waitresses seemed suspicious of my gritty appearance at first, but after I ordered a quesadilla and ate a big pile of chips and salsa while waiting, they realized I was just hungry, thirsty and tired.

At this point I was about half-way through the time available, so I headed back toward the ferry landing, intending to visit Shark Reef Sanctuary on the way. But I think I missed the turn-off to Shark Reef - I came to an old boat landing on a rocky point by Jones Bay, with big, rusty gasoline tanks. There was a dirt road passing by some beach houses, heading toward a rocky outcrop, but it looked like private access, not a public road, and I didn't want to trespass. I took Richardson Road back to Fisherman Bay Road, through Lopez Village again, and found a small local community co-op grocery store, where I bought some snacks and beverages, then headed back to the ferry landing.

Where I discovered that a ferry had broken down, and the next arrival was delayed to almost 6pm, leaving me with three more hours to amuse myself. I rode back to Odlin Park, but didn't want to go far because I was already getting hungry and tired again. I noticed a steep paved road that turned off from Ferry Road a little past the bicycle staging area. It was called Penny Lane, and it was blocked off by big cement barriers but was accessible on foot. I decided to explore a bit, and discovered a pretty little nature trail on top of a rocky outcrop called Upright Head. The area is only a few square acres, but there are dirt paths winding through forests of Doug firs, madrona, huckleberry and salal bushes. In a couple of spots at the bluff edge, old stone and log terraces present gorgeous views of Orcas Island with Mount Baker in the distance. At various spots along the trail there are big, white granite stones which I had assumed were glacial erratics, dumped on the hilltop by receding glaciers, but on second thought it's possible they were left by bulldozers during construction of the ferry landing and roadway.

The ferry break-down made for a long day - I didn't get back to Friday Harbor until after 7pm, and still had to ride four miles back home in addition to riding about 45 miles on Lopez Island. But I'm glad I discovered the Upright Head trails while I was waiting. It was a good lesson in making the best of adversity.

I am very sorry to say that the photos I took on this ride all disappeared when my phone self-immolated at the end of the summer. But since I didn't get to at least two spots I wanted to see, I will just have to add Lopez Island to my list of places to visit again next summer.