Day 5: Hamilton to Colonial Creek Campground (North Cascades NP)

May 23, 2024

An old ferry displayed at a city park in Rockport - people used to get across the river on this before the bridge was built

Some of the moss-covered trees next to the road along the route

Gorge Lake - the lowest reservoir from the series of Skagit River dams in the park

I biked over 50 miles today for the first time on this trip - woo hoo!

Before leaving the park this morning, I decided to go check out the day use area. I didn’t see any quick hikes or easily accessible scenic overlook like I was hoping for, but I did come across a woodpecker. I noticed it when there was this loud, mechanical sound coming from somewhere nearby. It sounded like some large device was ratcheting or drilling something. I noticed the woodpecker on a post pecking at a metal box. I thought they were allowed when they were pecking into live wood, but this was something else!

I started the day following the Casacde Trail rather than the ACA route. The last section to concrete was scenic and had a good tread for biking but then I needed to return to the road when it ended. The section between concrete and Rockport follows Washington 20 and wasn’t terrible but wasn’t great either - pretty heavy traffic. Then the ACA route departs from Washington 20 between Rockport and Marblemount. Here it follows the lightly trafficked Rockport Cascade Road. This was one of my favorite stretches of road so far with great scenery - long views and moss-covered trees - as well as the aforementioned light traffic.

Rest of the ride was fairly straightforward with decent shoulders on the side of Washington 20. It did become a parent after Newhalem that the road was starting to rise significantly. I was glad when I arrived at the campground and had a bit of a downhill to get into my site.

After I started to set up my site, a woman approached me and said she had seen me bike by when I came into the campground. She was curious where I was going and I shared that I was planning on doing the northern tier route across the US. She wanted to share that she and her husband had completed a similar route back in 1992, but from east to west. When I finished setting up my camp I went to find them in the campground. They gave me food and drink and stories of their tour in the 90s. It made me really excited for what I was going to experience since they had such fond memories of their trip, they were now retracing the steps over 30 years later, this time in a camper van. I appreciate all of the tips provided and hope to have as positive an experience as they had! Thanks for sharing your stories, knowledge, and enthusiasm, Celine and Dave!

Today's ride: 54 miles (87 km)
Total: 208 miles (335 km)

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