{"id":13199,"date":"2015-06-03T09:38:24","date_gmt":"2015-06-03T16:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wabikes.org\/?p=13199"},"modified":"2015-06-04T05:09:52","modified_gmt":"2015-06-04T12:09:52","slug":"dome-seattle-tacoma-bike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/index.php\/2015\/06\/03\/dome-seattle-tacoma-bike\/","title":{"rendered":"To the Dome: Seattle to Tacoma by Bike"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest blogger David Killmon is active on Twitter as @kohidave.
\n<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Mount

Mount Rainier viewed from Tacoma. The fruits of our efforts! Photographed by Eileen.<\/p><\/div>\n

What To Do?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Friday night and the weather for the weekend looks great. My associates and I are huddled around a table at the Tippe and Drague<\/a> on Beacon Hill, wondering what to do this weekend. Obviously we wanted to ride our bikes, but where? From Seattle, there are tons of fun destinations we can hit with some decent mileage. Typically we head north to the Woodville\/Redmond area, or occasionally east towards Snoqualmie, but we rarely head south. We flirted with the idea of trotting down to Olympia, but after some more discussion, we decided to head to the original terminus to the Trans Continental and visit Tacoma. To make it a real adventure, we booked a hotel and started frantically started looking up routes.<\/p>\n

We had three options to get to Tacoma from Seattle.<\/p>\n

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  1. We could head south on the Interurban which took us a good bit of the way, but for the last 20 miles of road riding, we\u2019d have to rely on Google Maps.<\/li>\n
  2. We could take the ferry to Vashon Island, ride down the Vashon Highway, and take the ferry to Tacoma.<\/li>\n
  3. Finally, and this was an interesting one, we could take the ferry to the Kitsap peninsula, ride down the coast, and cross the Tacoma Narrows bridge into the city.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I tweeted the cool cats @WABikes and asked for their suggestions. They were super awesome and retweeted, and I got a lot of feedback. The interurban was doable, but unremarkable. Vashon was beautiful and short, but hilly. The route I was most interested in, via the Kitsap peninsula remained mysterious. @WABikes mentioned that there were some \u201csticky\u201d parts to the Kitsap route, and pointed me to\u00a0an interesting article<\/a>\u00a0explaining the missing link. I figured we could save this more adventurous route until later in the season. We decided to go via the Interurban South and return via Vashon.<\/p>\n

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    “@kohidave<\/a>: @WAbikes<\/a> any suggestions on a route from seattle to tacoma? ” Anyone want to share your favorite?<\/p>\n

    \u2014 Washington Bikes (@WAbikes) March 28, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Heading Out<\/span><\/h3>\n

    That Saturday, I woke up early and rode down to Schooner Exact Brewery<\/a>, where I\u2019d be meeting my cohort. The day was blue and windy, and I was raring to go. I pulled up the Google Maps directions to Tacoma, but had no idea what to do after we got off the Interurban. It can be pretty exciting just riding somewhere\u200a\u2014\u200ajust heading down a path and hoping you get to where you\u2019re headed. So that\u2019s what we were going to do. I met Sara and Eileen in the parking lot of Schooner Exact in SODO, where we shared a bagel and fantasized about the pizza we\u2019d probably devour that night. We grabbed our bikes, kicked the tires, and headed out on First Ave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \"SODO<\/td>\n\n

    \"David-Killmon-friends-ready-to-ride-2015\"

    Elliott Bay Trail, Eileen and Sara with a bagel.<\/p><\/div><\/td>\n

    		\"Pre-bike-ride<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    We crossed the First Avenue bridge, spanning the Duwamish River, on a separated bike and pedestrian path. We stopped to snap a few photos of the industrial backdrop that we\u2019d come to share the rest of our trip with. There\u2019s something about Seattle\u200a\u2014\u200aeven its industry is worth a photo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \"David<\/td>\n\n

    \"A

    A quick selfie, the Duwamish, and art!<\/p><\/div><\/td>\n

    		\"Art<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    To The Green River Trail<\/h3>\n

    We encountered a brand new protected bike lane after we got off the First Avenue bridge, and were delighted to find some random art at the end of it. We\u2019d end up finding tons of little gems of character on our trip. The statue in the above shot looked to be reflecting the industry surrounding it; it was cute, trust me. We rode through neighborhood streets and found ourselves in South Park. It\u2019s definitely a cool neighborhood and I wish we had time to stop. It\u2019s awesome how many neighborhoods in your own back yard you discover on a bike. From South Park we headed towards the Green River Trail, which would take us to the Interurban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \"Bicycling<\/td>\n\"Green<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
    \"Green<\/td>\n\"Stone<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    The Green River Trail follows along the — drum roll please — Green River, aka the Duwamish. It\u2019s definitely an interesting river, one that\u2019s changed shapes and character over the years.<\/p>\n

    The Green River, as we know it today, would have been better known as the White River in the 1900s. The river was the product of the historic Green River (originating in the south) and White River (near Auburn) merging. However, in 1906, a huge flood caused the White River\u2019s southern fork near Auburn to reverse direction and flow into the Puyallup, leaving behind only the Green River.<\/p>\n

    In the north, the Green (or, back then the White) River forked. The western fork was called the Duwamish River and the eastern fork was the Black River. The Black River was unceremoniously dried up with the opening of the Lake Washington Ship Canal. When the ship canal opened, it caused Lake Washington to drop nearly nine feet. The problem was, the Black River flowed out of Lake Washington, so with no more access to its water source, the Black River dried up.<\/p>\n

    Now that there\u2019s no more White River and no more Black River, the Green River and the Duwamish are the same river, hence the \u2018aka\u2019 earlier.<\/p>\n

    And you thought this was just about a bike trip!<\/p>\n

    The Interurban South<\/h3>\n

    We passed through Fort Dent and merged onto the Interurban South. The trail is startled by huge power lines for most of its duration and follows along the Union Pacific train tracks. I can definitely see how it might not be particularly appealing to some, but to someone who\u2019s kind of a big fan of trains, it was thrilling riding on a rail-to-trail next to real live, active train tracks<\/a>. The trail has several at-grade crossings with active tracks, which can make for a cool scene of a train passing a bike path.<\/p>\n

    \"UnionSome sections of the path are also shouldered by wetlands with frogs and crickets. Mixed with the empty, overgrown backs of warehouses and the quiet railroad tracks, it was a surreal scene. The Interurban South might not be the most handsome of trails, but it really gives you a sense of transition. You\u2019re leaving the city behind and you\u2019re entering a land of in-between.<\/p>\n