Tour de Forts
I drove to Edmonds to catch the ferry to Kingston then drive to Port Townsend where I planned to spend the night. When I got to Edmonds, the sign said there was over a three hour wait. While I sat there, I looked up what could be causing the delay. I found that all the WA state ferry routes were being reduced by half due to crew shortages.
Rather than wait, I decided to drive the whole way around the sound since it be about the same amount of time. It ended up taking me over 4.5 hours, though, due to heavy traffic.
Our area can’t have just one traffic nightmare, they have to have multiple ones at the same time to really drive us crazy! Besides the reduced ferries, the Hwy 99 tunnel was going to be closed for 24 hours. The Montlake bridge was also going to be closed to traffic over the weekend. Add in some sports events, and you have one big cluster-fuck of a transportation nightmare!
It was dark by the time I got to Port Townsend and checked into my motel. After playing a few video games and watching a recorded TV show on my phone, I turned in for the night.
Getting up at 7 am, I got dressed, loaded up my car and checked out of the hotel. It only took a few minutes to drive to the Discovery Bay Brewery where the bike event was starting. Sitting in my car, I ate a banana and drank half my coffee before unloading my bike and donning my gear.
It was about another 30 minutes before my bike buddy, Shawna, arrived, changed clothes and unloaded her own bike, but then we were off to ride the metric century of the Tour de Forts.
The Tour de Forts route would take us to Fort Worden, Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island, and Fort Townsend. The first stop was Fort Worden. I had ridden here before, but I never explored the trails that ran by the naval batteries. Before getting the batteries, though, we stopped for a quick photo at the Port Wilson Lighthouse.
The trail to the batteries was covered with pine needles with big conifers along it. It was really gorgeous! There was some elevation gain and decent, but nothing too significant. I should have stopped to take some photos, but I was having trouble keeping up with Shawna (she rides very fast).
After leaving Fort Worden, we got on the Larry Scott Trail to Four Corners. We crossed the highway and then got on the Olympic Discovery Trail (ODT). I had not yet ridden this section of the ODT and I really loved it! It was packed dirt instead of being paved and was narrow in places, but riding through the tall pines was thrilling. Plus, we saw so many deer since the start of the ride. Before getting far on the ODT, however, I lost sight of Shawna (she later said she just needed some alone time).
It was a long ride to Fort Flagler. I had ridden from Mystery Bay to the fort once before, but that was only around seven miles round trip. By the time I got to the fort this time, I was over halfway into my ride for the day (around 35 miles at that point).
As I was approaching Fort Flagler, I saw Shawna heading out from it and we waved hello to each other. I saw deer at the fort and stopped to take a photo this time.
From Fort Flagler, it was all road riding as I headed to Fort Townsend. There wasn’t much to see at Fort Townsend, so I didn’t linger and pressed on for the final 8 miles of the ride.
Near the ending point, RideWithGPS tried to have me start the ride all over again. I got a bit lost finding the brewery, but finally made it.
Once I was packed up, I checked the ferry situation and decided to drive around the Sound again. This time, though, it only took 2.5 hours. Once home and unloaded, I had a nice soak in some bath salts. My leg muscles thanked me!
