rbtbrutherford 

New-ish to the area and bike camping. Looking to plan a couple of one or two-night trips in early fall and want to get as far from Seattle as I reasonably can. Trick is, I don't have a car, so I'm hoping that any of you with good resources for combining bus or ferry trips to get closer to good bike camping routes/spots will help a fella out with tips and/or tricks.

spinnaker

It might help if you mentioned the direction you are heading.

Consider warmshowers. Seattle and that corridor is ENORMOUS. Not sure how how far you would need to travel . The San Juan's might be the closest option.

rbtbrutherford 

@spinnaker - direction is negotiable. The San Juans are definitely on my list. I believe there's likely good stuff not too far east of here, up Stevens Pass or further?

Aubergine 

rbtbrutherford 

Thanks @Aubergine I'll check out those options.

indyfabz

Check out Adventure Cycling Association's Pacific Coast route. I started two long tours from Seattle back in the day. Took one of the ferries to one of the islands and spent the first night at Kitsap State Park, eventually heading north to the Deception Pass area before heading east. Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend is really nice. I remember there being hiker/biker sites.

andrewclaus

When I lived there in the 80s, I cycled the San Juans as often as I could. It's probably more crowded now. There's also nice cycling on the Olympic Peninsula, with loops to be made with ferries. Mt Vernon and the Skagit Valley are nice, too, So's the Green River valley and Kent. And fall can be a nice time of year.

rbtbrutherford 

Fantastic. ACA is clearly a great resource, hadn't been to that site yet. One trip that's taking shape now is taking a bus from Seattle up to Mt. Vernon, riding over to Anacortes, and heading to the islands via ferry from there. Seems like a good three-day, two night trip. Thanks for the hip tips.

antmaster5000

I do a lot of touring around Seattle. If you want to go East of Seattle, there is plenty of spots to camp (unofficial but totally fine imo) along the John Wayne trail. Also tons of potential camping on San Juans (particularly Lopez Island) and the Olympics as others have mentioned. I love the 60ish mile ride to Port Townsend and camping at Fort Worden.

mev

In addition to the bus, I'd suggest checking out the Amtrak Cascades line. I've gotten off at Tukwilla in the past, so suspect it isn't only big stations.

I lived in Portland ~3 years and during that time each year I cycled at least Vancouver to Eugene, but in segments. E.g. one weekend riding Vancouver to Seattle, another riding Seattle to Portland and a third Portland to Eugene. I rode a lot of smaller segments too - particularly Portland/Salem/Eugene since it was convenient...

I did some longer one-way segments like Portland/Tri-Cities. In those cases I rented a car on the return, but Amtrak Seattle to Spokane should also work as part of a tour.

DeepSpace

There are many trips to be done on Olympic Peninsula. Just get the bus schedule for Clallam Transit. Bus #14 will get you safely around lake Crescent. I rode the lake for years but don't anymore. Traffic is un real. I go out there every weekend. Miles to ride on Forest Service roads.

rbtbrutherford 

Yeah, that's a great tip!. I'm planning on using the Amtrak Cascades to get up to Mt. Vernon, ride over to Anacortes to take the ferry to the San Juans in October.

chrisx

It does yes,
https://www.wta.org/news/signpost/tr...unced-for-2018
It also stops very near the,
gigantic bicycle festival,
https://www.giganticbicyclefestival.org/

I like the bus to Marblemount, easy transfer from Sedro Wolley, where I get a hiking permit at the ranger station.

Clallam transits 123 straight shot https://www.clallamtransit.com/Portal...t_20180128.pdf
will get you to Port Angeles
Have you seen the Olympic Discovery trail yet?
https://olympicdiscoverytrail.org/

Go to the central library, on the 5th floor they have county bike maps, not just King county, or the DMV at city hall. Lots of long distance bike trails.

Have you pedaled around lake Quinalt? Jefferson transit will get you there from Forks.

Victoria and Vancouver have trails.

Dude, get a mt bike.

staehpj1

I don't have a huge amount of experience with the Seattle area, but did fly in to there for one tour. I used the Bremmerton Ferry to get out of Seattle. It seemed like a nice enough option for my trip down the Pacific coast. I don't recall details, but I think there were lots of regional buses and Amtrak service in the general region when I was looking into it. Pick where you want to tour and I bet you can find a bus or train.

Also I have had good luck getting a rental car when other transportation was tough to find. For one way rentals I have found the trick is to book online. Also it sometimes helps to go airport to airport. Contacting or walking up to rental desks has almost always resulted in refusals or large one way fees, while booking online has always been easy and painless.

indiana_jane

A couple of summers ago, I took two days to bike from Olympia, WA (Evergreen State campus, to be precise), through Tacoma, over Vashon Island and then took the ferry to West Seattle. It was a lovely trip -- though coming in via South Tacoma was a little dicey in places and I could have routed that better. Best part was coming over Vashon Island, which has manageable hills and a single, easily rideable road going North/South, with a little town to stop in for lunch.