Trip Details:
Well, the weatherman got it right this time. I woke up to
sunny sky's as he said I would. This wasn't the case last time. The
temperature was a balmy 48 degrees. Not bad for this time of year.
Today's ride was intended to be a short one as I have a 260+ mile
ride planned
for tomorrow. I decided to head for a small Island named
Steamboat Island located in Olympia. As usual I tried to stay away
from I-5 as much as possible. Before I go on I have to point out the
features section of this trip log. Take a look at the long list of
features. There is allot of great scenery packed into this ride.
That said, lets move on. The section of I-5 between Seattle and
Olympia is about as boring as they come. Nothing but 4 lanes of cagers. I chose to ride west on 6th avenue down to Titlow beach. I
made a short stop to take in the view and snap some photos. Great
view of the Puget Sound waters and the Narrows bridges. From there I
backtracked a block and headed south on Grandview. This road leads
into the Chambers Creek area. There are several View point parks
that seem to draw allot of folks. This is also the location of
the new Golf Course. The ride through Chambers Creek was great. Some
twisties and some really great views of the mud flats. The view is
even better when the tide is high. I passed several other riders on
this stretch of road. This road soon became the Dupont Stillacoom
Rd. This section of road continues for 6.6 miles and is open and
also lined with forest in sections. It also passes through sections
of the Fort Lewis grounds. As I road past a group of soldiers doing
some training I gave them a couple blasts on the horn and a wave to
show my appreciation for their efforts. At this point it was time to
get on I-5 for 7.7 miles to the Marvin Rd. This got me off I-5 and
on to some cool back roads in Olympia I had never ridden.
I wanted to make a stop at a Tolmie state park. I was thinking it
would have a good water front view. Wrong! It's a gravel lot with
trail
 heads
leading to some hiking trails. Unless you have the urge to hike
instead of ride, I would skip this. In this area I took 56th
(left( and it turned into 63rd. I then turned left on Johnson Pont
Rd. This road parallels Henderson Inlet. The nice thing about riding
in these roads is you get a great mix of forest, open pasture and
great views of the Puget Sound waters. Johnson Point Rd b turned
into South Bay Rd and this took me back to I-5. I could have stayed
on I-5 but instead I road some really cool back roads. After another
short ride on I-5 I turned off on to the hwy 101 exit. Once I turned
off on to 101 I was treated with several views of the Capital
building . The views were across the waterway and the Capital
building looked really cool. In this area these waterways lead out
to the Nisqually flats. There is some great crabbing out off the
flats. Once again I started missing my boat. The one thing I don't
miss is the monthly fuel bill.
Hyw 101 was a short ride as I quickly came up on my exit to
Steamboat Island Rd. I missed my turn and had to turn around only to
find that the two roads come together any way. I couldn't have got
it wrong. Making a wrong turn for me is the norm even when I'm
riding
with a GPS. I get too busy looking at the scenery that I forget to
watch for my next turn. Just shy of a mile I turned right on to
Gravely Beach Rd. I was attempting to find another little park that
would be a cool addition to the ride. Gravely Beach Rd. is a gem of
a back road with plenty of turns as it parallels Eld inlet. You get
some great views of the water way. This fun section of road is only
4.4 miles long but the speed limit is 30 mph so it doesn't fly by
too quickly. At the end of the 4.4 miles it was a right turn on to
Young Rd. NW for a short .6 miles. Here I turned on to 61st Ave
which led me right into the Frye Cove County Park. This is a
great little park with trails and paved walk ways leading down to
the water. It's also not a bad place to stop and let some blood rush
back into the back side. When leaving the park just turn right on
Young Rd NW. This road runs right into Steamboat Island Rd and takes
you down to the Island. As I crested the hill and headed down
towards the island the scenery switched from country roads to open
views of the Eld Inlet
 (right),
Totten Inlet (left), Pickering Passage and Hope Island (forward
Rigth). The view was spectacular to say the least. Steamboat Island
is very tiny. In fact I felt guilty riding through the neighborhood
as it's a narrow one way road that circle the inner middle of the
island and all residential. If your riding in a large group or have
loud pipes it may be best to stop on the other side of the bridge
and pass on riding around the residential area. They don't
want you stopping on the bridge as it's narrow but I had to any way.
There is a great view of the Inlet with MT. Rainier in the back
ground. I kept thinking to myself "what a nice area". On both
sides of the bridge were beaches. It's not really a bridge as it's a
narrow spit that joins the island to the main land. I hung around a
bit and talked with a guy who was out on his daily walk.
The trip home took me back to 101 the way I came and I turned off
on to hwy 510. Originally I was going to ride I-5 home to make the
trip back short. I couldn't bring myself to do it. it was such a
nice day and I was getting a bit hungry. I decided to ride hwy 510
to 507 and down into McKenna. There is a method to my madness. Just
across the Nisqually river in McKenna, is the Bunkhouse BBQ. If you
have visited some of my trip logs and my Best Burgers page you
should be familiar with this eatery. It's my #1 pick for Best burger
in Washington. I have tried many of there burgers and they are all
great! Last time was the Onion burger. This time I went for the Barn
Burner. 1/4 lbs. beef patty, Pepper Jack Cheese, fried
Jalapeņo Peppers, Lettuce, Tomato and Chipotle mayonnaise. It
was awesome! The rest of the trip from hear was back through Roy and
into Spanaway then onto I-5 to home. Outside of the one state park
area that didn't work out, I really enjoyed this ride. It's always
fun to ride back roads you never have ridden before.
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