Today was my first full day of riding. After breakfast at the hotel, I set off at 8am with a goal of the Colonial Creek Campground, which was about 71 miles from my starting point and right in the middle of North Cascades National Park. I also figured they'd have a good parking area where Lailla could safely pick me up.

The weather was cool and cloudy at the start of the ride and I thought I might get rained on a little. But the weather actually improved throughout my ride and I finished in full sun just before 2pm. The route generally followed Washington State Highway 20, but where there was a secondary road that parelleled the state highway, that's where I was routed. Today's ride was split about even between the state highway and secondary roads. Traffic was light to nearly non-existant on the secondary roads, but quite heavy on the state highway. And most of it was chip-sealed, which made for a bumpy day.

North Cascades NP is nice. At times, the mountains reminded me of my home mountains in Colorado. But it was clear that they get a lot more moisture here. The trees are bigger and of greater variety; the trunks and lower branches are covered with moss. The Skagit River is quite large and it looked like it was carrying a lot of glacial silt below Rockport where the Sauk River flows into it.

The Skagit River.

 

Moss-covered trees.

 

A Darwin Award opportunity awaits...because they can make unexpected releases from that dam.

 

Push the button...so the lights on the yellow sign warn drivers there's a biker in the tunnel

One other thing that's quite different than home are the blackberry brambles. Most fields and pastures have large bramble hedges along the margins. They look completely impenetrable. And they're loaded with nice, large blackberries.

One of many, many blackberry brambles.

Tomorrow I will start at the Colonial Creek Campground with the goal of riding to the town of Twisp.

Note to self: Stop more often to take more pictures.