mikemowbz

Hi all:

I'm planning to ride back to my home in Vancouver from Bellingham, WA in the near future. Leaving either from downtown or the airport, what would be any Northwesters' preferred route to make for the border? I'd rather not do the I-5, as I don't like cars whizzing by, and have heard the shoulder going North isn't great.

I need to be able to make it comfortably to downtown Vancouver in the latter half of the day (and my form is not pretty on any significant climbs), but a nicer, somewhat less direct route is preferable to a less pleasant but quicker one.

Is this route decent? Anybody know?

https://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/bellingham-vancouver

Or any thoughts on these routes, which I found here?:

"From Bellingham, you could take route 539 straight to the Canadian border. After you cross the border, go west on North Bluff Rd. (16th Ave.) until you get to 184 Ave., then follow the directions given four paragraphs down. There's a couple of more scenic alternatives, both of which involve taking Northwest Road out of Bellingham, then West on Smith Rd. to Ferndale.

Once in Ferndale, the most direct route is Malloy Drive north to Brown Road. Take a right on Brown Road, then a left on Portal Way. Portal Way will take you into Blaine.

A more scenic route, but less direct, is to take Vista Drive out of Ferndale, then right on Bruce Road into Custer. After Custer, go north on Custer School Road, west on Haynie Road, north on Stadsvold Road, and west on Sweet Road into Blaine.

An even more scenic alternative is to take Malloy Drive out of Ferndale, left on Brown Road, right on Kickerville Road, left on Grandview Road, and follow the signs to Birch Bay State Park. After you go through the park and the town of Birch Bay, follow Birch Bay Drive, Semiahmoo Drive, and Drayton Harbor Road to Blaine Road. Go north on Blaine Road to Blaine."

I've never even been to Washington State (though I've been within a few km of the state's northern, western and extreme north-eastern maritime borders at various times), so my level of familiarity with the geography (topography) and road system is minimal.

adventurepdx

I was hoping someone from the area would reply but here goes my take:

I've ridden between Vancouver and Bellingham several times. From the Bellingham to Peace Arch (Northbound) I've left the city via Northwest Ave/Maplewood Ave/Airport Dr then the I-5 Frontage Road (Pacific Hwy) into Ferndale. Then from there Portal Way (old US 99) all the way to Blaine. While this route isn't particularly scenic, it is the most direct way, fairly flat, and most traffic is on I-5. The more scenic routes tend to be more rambly.

On the B.C. side, I haven't found a great option in all my searches. King George (99A) is the most direct but is pretty suburban and trafficked. Bike lanes for most of it, though. I took Skytrain in the rest of the way when I could pick it up.

I've followed Adventure Cycling's Pacific Coast route (Section 1) for this section once. It wasn't spectacular but it was serviceable and fairly direct. Quite a bit of traffic to deal with in sections of Delta and Surrey.

There is the RSVP route. I haven't tried it yet, but would like to at some point. Not direct, though, as it's 86 mi/140 km between Bellingham and Vancouver.
https://shop.cascade.org/sites/defaul...e-Map-2011.pdf

mikemowbz

Thanks for the response - I may well take your 'direct' route indicated first in the post. Scenic would be nice, but I'm not sure how early I'm going to get my start...the 140km route is going to have to wait for some training under the belt and a nice morning start! I will likely hop the SkyTrain for a bit from Surrey into the city proper, too.