{"id":8254,"date":"2014-06-17T08:31:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-17T15:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wabikes.org\/?p=8254"},"modified":"2015-01-04T21:17:04","modified_gmt":"2015-01-05T05:17:04","slug":"seattle-to-edmonds-day-trip-to-salish-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/index.php\/2014\/06\/17\/seattle-to-edmonds-day-trip-to-salish-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Snohomish County Bikes: Seattle to Edmonds — Day Trip to the Salish Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"

Snohomish County Bikes<\/a>: an ongoing series highlighting great bike rides across Snohomish County.<\/h3>\n

The smell of salt water, a place to sit outside and look out at the horizon, a pleasant little downtown to wander around: We headed to Edmonds for all this and a cup of coffee and enjoyed a great day trip from Seattle into Snohomish County. (Learn more about the Salish Sea<\/a> thanks to Stefan Freelan of Western Washington University.)<\/p>\n

How Long Is a Day Trip?<\/h3>\n

The length of the ideal day trip by bike varies depending on who you ask and how much you ride. If you bike regularly for short errands and outings of 2-3 miles, a 10-mile trip isn’t that big a leap. Going for a 40-mile day, however, you’re going to feel it. For a daily commuter doing more like 10-15 miles a day 40 will be less of a jump.<\/p>\n

The key to the comfortable day trip lies not just in the length, but in how you break it up. Find some pleasant destinations the right distance apart and you’ll be able to ride more than you thought you could.<\/p>\n

For this destination, you can opt for more direct routes or ones with longer mileage, and you can use transit to cut the mileage down.\u00a0The point i<\/strong>s to enjoy the ride —\u00a0<\/strong>not to do so much mileage you end up exhausted and unhappy.<\/p>\n

For you high-mileage types who will find this trip “too short,” you may just find (as my training\/racing husband did) that a sunny Sunday at a much different average speed makes a nice change of pace on a recovery day.<\/p>\n

Designing the Route<\/h3>\n

All maps start from the Washington Bikes store<\/a>\/office in Pioneer Square.\u00a0Click on “More Options” in each map to open it in a separate window and adjust for your starting point and other preferences.<\/p>\n

WA Bikes sits close to transit connections, including Amtrak coming into King Street Station, light rail from the airport, and the ferry terminal, so we make a great first stop for bike travelers to pick up bike maps (and a copy of our bike tour book<\/a> makes a good companion, too!). If you need a tune-up,\u00a0Back Alley Bike Repair<\/a>\u00a0in Nord Alley right behind our office will set you up.<\/p>\n

You’ll make the trip longer by using the Burke-Gilman Trail, which you could do coming or going. Here’s the funny thing about the BGT: Once you’re on it, you’re separated from a lot of good food, coffee, breweries…. So choose your route based on when you think you’ll need those fueling stops.<\/p>\n

Look at the terrain profile before deciding. While you won’t ride anywhere in this region without some climbing you can choose a route that gives you quite a few downhills in one direction, so of course it would have you climbing endlessly going the other direction, possibly without the shoulder space you need.<\/p>\n

Another option not addressed here: Use the Sounder commuter train<\/a>\u00a0to get either to or from Edmonds, depending on how you choose to organize the trip. It only runs on weekdays at times serving peak commuter traffic so you’ll need to plan carefully to work it in.<\/p>\n

Option 1: Bike to Edmonds from downtown Seattle, ~18 miles<\/h3>\n

This first map routes you through neighborhoods with possible refreshment stops and makes use of trails and bike lanes wherever possible.<\/p>\n

Total pedal time:<\/strong> Roughly 2 hours to Edmonds, not counting coffee stops.<\/p>\n

Food in Fremont:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n