{"id":14732,"date":"2015-12-05T07:29:33","date_gmt":"2015-12-05T15:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wabikes.org\/?p=14732"},"modified":"2015-12-04T19:10:26","modified_gmt":"2015-12-05T03:10:26","slug":"vashon-maury-island-bike-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/index.php\/2015\/12\/05\/vashon-maury-island-bike-ride\/","title":{"rendered":"Vashon-Maury Island Bike Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"point-robinson-lighthouse-4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For a great bike getaway, head\u00a0out\u00a0to take a ferry ride from the Fauntleroy ferry terminal<\/a>\u00a0in West Seattle to Vashon-Maury Island<\/a>. Blogger Nancy Yu shared her expedition with us.<\/p>\n

Fauntleroy is located eight miles south of downtown Seattle<\/a> across the West Seattle Bridge<\/a>. The ferry dock area is surrounded\u00a0by residential neighborhoods with limited on-street parking and \u201cpermit\u00a0parking only\u201d areas. The parking lot on Fauntleroy Way, SW & SW Cloverdale Street has a 4-hour time limit. The parking lot at Lincoln Park<\/a>\u00a0has no time restrictions with open hours from 4 AM to 11:30 PM.\u00a0The lot is\u00a0located at the south end of Fauntleroy Way SW before the ferry terminal. Restrooms and water are available at the park.<\/p>\n

From Lincoln Park, it\u2019s a quick half-mile\u00a0descent to the ferry terminal. We purchase\u00a0our roundtrip tickets at the vehicle tollbooth; cyclists pay a regular passenger fare ($5.00-other discounts may apply if eligible)\u00a0plus a bicycle surcharge ($1.00)=$6.00. \u00a0Cyclists traveling with a multi-ride card\u00a0are exempt from the bicycle surcharge. Bicyclists should arrive 15-20 minutes\u00a0before the\u00a0departure time to be\u00a0loaded on the ferry prior to\u00a0the vehicle loading process.\u00a0There are no\u00a0bike racks on the ferry; they\u00a0can be hooked on or strapped to the yellow side railings of the boat.<\/p>\n

The 20-minute crossing to Vashon is a very\u00a0beautiful ride with fabulous views of Seattle, Puget Sound and the surrounding Cascade and Olympic Mountain ranges.<\/p>\n

\"09-39_bridges_vashon-island<\/a>On the ferry ride over, we got to chit chat\u00a0with Domenico DiGregorio\u00a0who\u00a0commutes\u00a0daily to Vashon from Seattle. He also dedicates his free time to run Plumbers Without Borders<\/a>, an organization that helps bring safe drinking water and sanitation to people with urgent needs.\u00a0He gives us a few recommendations for a couple of places to eat on the island and gives us an insider tip on avoiding all the traffic coming off the ferry. Instead of going left onto the Vashon\u00a0Highway like everyone else, he tells us\u00a0to go right onto\u00a0103rd Avenue SW;\u00a0it will merge onto Vashon Highway at the top of the hill.<\/p>\n

Avoiding traffic sounds good to us, so up the hill we go. We quickly found out why no one goes on 103rd Avenue SW, especially cyclists — it\u2019s 9\/10th of a mile long with very steep grades ranging from 13-20% and gaining 338 feet\u00a0of elevation. OUCH — thanks, Domenico!<\/p>\n

At the top of the hill, we continue on Vashon Highway to SW Cedarhurst\u00a0Road; this quiet back road winds through the thick forest along the NW edge of the island with sneak peeks of Fern Cove. Next up, Westside Highway SW; the rolling climbs on this road cuts through the many small residential acreages scattered within the woods. On Wax Orchard Road, there are\u00a0plenty of open meadows, pastoral homes and a few horse ranches and stables.<\/p>\n

We ride pass Wax Orchards Airport on Wax Orchards Road and turn onto SW Reddings\u00a0Beach Road for a short loop out and\u00a0around to SW 240th Street. This is where we see a man from a distance pushing a car slightly uphill with some difficulty. We parked our bikes\u00a0off to the side and offered our help. His driveway was about a quarter mile up the road so here we are pushing his car while he\u2019s steering it and the first thought that comes into mind is \u201cno one\u2019s watching the bikes\u201d (California paranoia where theft is inevitable) and lo and behold an older\u00a0man riding a bike comes out from another driveway and offers to stay with the bikes until we come back! A good deed done is another good deed received in return.<\/p>\n

\"farm-stand-4\"<\/a>We head east along two-lane Vashon Highway, which is lined\u00a0with red-barked madrona\u00a0trees, to the small\u00a0village\u00a0of Burton for a loop around Burton Acres Park with\u00a0fantastic views of Quartermaster Harbor<\/a>. Burton\u00a0offers the basic needs of a small town: a post office, a general store, a garage, a gallery and art store.\u00a0 It is also home to the Burton Coffee Stand;\u00a0great coffee and homemade pastries!\u00a0At Camp Burton, dozens of kids on bikes are being chaperoned\u00a0and encouraged by the adult camp counselors as they pedal their way up the gentle rolling hills. One counselor yells out to the kids, \u201cThose are real cyclists,\u201d and I ring my bell and wave\u00a0as Michael responds, \u201cWe\u2019re all just out here turning the pedals — great job!\u201d<\/p>\n

From Burton, we take SW Quartermaster Drive, the side road to Maury Island over to Portage. The gentle climb on Dockton\u00a0Road SW\u00a0takes us\u00a0by the Vashon\u00a0Golf and Country Club, the Dockton\u00a0Park\u00a0and into the town of Dockton. This is a gorgeous area with fabulous views of the marina, Quartermaster Harbor and of course Puget Sound! We continue on 99th Avenue SW to SW 268th Street for the out and back on Hake Rd SW. This road goes out towards the tip of Maury Island and dead ends at the beautiful residential homes along the beach.<\/p>\n

We make our way back out of Dockton and take SW Point Robinson Road heading east to Point Robinson Lighthouse.<\/a> The rolling climbs on this road are steep with 12-13% grades! The steep drop at the end of the road takes you down to Point Robinson Park and Point Robinson Lighthouse. It\u2019s a gorgeous area with a sandy beach\u00a0covered with driftwood and jaw-dropping views of the iconic Mount Rainier!<\/p>\n

We climb out of Point Robinson and\u00a0continue on\u00a0SW Luana\u00a0Beach Road; this is one beautiful stretch of road! \"vashon_roads_color\"<\/a>The first thing I noticed was the absolute lack of noise — it was Zen — fully quiet with complete stillness. I was in awe and just loving every moment of it! Michael and I usually don\u2019t talk that much while riding and this section of the route heightened\u00a0my awareness of just how wonderful it can be to stop and listen to utterly nothing — the natural state of being! Life is great!<\/p>\n

We leave Maury Island and return on Dockton Road SW\u00a0and George Edwards Road; this road goes along a scenic waterfront drive with access to Tramp Harbor Dock. The long wooden pier juts out into Puget Sound where you can watch the cormorants, fishermen and boats out on the water.<\/p>\n

\"Famous-Bike-in-Tree-Vashon-Island-WA\"The climb up SW Ellisport\u00a0Road takes us onto Vashon Highway,\u00a0the main road into the center of town. On SW 204th Street, you can take a short walk on a trail to see The Bike in the Tree, where an evergreen tree has grown around an abandoned child\u2019s bike and lifted it off the ground.<\/p>\n

On Vashon Highway, I noticed there were at least 5 different churches within 3 miles. This road runs through the center of Vashon\u00a0with many shops, galleries\u00a0and restaurants housed in historic buildings. There are plenty of food choices to choose from — everything looks great! Vashon\u00a0has no traffic lights and only one fast food restaurant, Subway. Stay on Vashon Highway\u00a0and it will lead right back to the ferry dock.<\/p>\n

Vashon\u00a0Island is\u00a0a beautiful quaint community composed of many farms, pastoral fields,\u00a0dense forests and residential homes scattered around the woods. Vashon\u00a0and the smaller\u00a0communities\u00a0within this island seemed untouched and remain\u00a0as it has been for over 100 years. Some things are better left alone! It\u2019s a quiet place with sprawling acres of woods and sweeping vistas of Puget Sound. For cyclists, it\u2019s\u00a0great if you like hills and more hills. The country roads\u00a0offer wide and comfortable shoulders with minimal to no traffic and great overall pavement conditions. Across this rural landscape, many of the farmers and locals offer self-serve farm\/flower stands on a honor\u00a0system with signs telling you\u00a0what\u2019s available. It\u2019s a great approach to being able\u00a0to provide local fresh ingredients to anyone who pays a visit to the farms!<\/p>\n

So, come on out and pay the island a visit. Vashon welcomes you — enjoy it!
\n<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\"map-vashon-Island-GB-Rider\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Guest blogger Nancy Yu writes about her bike travels at Ride Chronicles<\/a>. She says, \u201cI loved cycling around Washington. It\u2019s a beautiful state with a wonderful network of trails and bike-friendly people. I ride to explore and love sharing my findings! I hope the write-ups and pictures will inspire those who can to get out there and enjoy the natural beauty of all that is available to us.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a great bike getaway, head\u00a0out\u00a0to take a ferry ride from the Fauntleroy ferry terminal\u00a0in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[40,64,39,35],"tags":[354,349,352,357,355,356,304,353,350,351],"class_list":["post-14732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bike-adventure","category-bike-blogs","category-guest-blogger","category-travel","tag-cascade-mountains","tag-fauntleroy-ferry-terminal","tag-lincolc-park","tag-mount-rainer","tag-olympic-mountains","tag-point-robinson-lighthouse","tag-seattle-king-county-wa","tag-vashon","tag-vashon-maury-island","tag-west-seattle-bridge"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVashon-Maury Island Bike Ride - 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