Rides!!!!
We’ve got great rides on San Juan Island, Orcas and Slopez.
There’s plenty that we don’t cover, though, so remember you can just go for an aimless ride. Even if you get lost, it’s pretty easy to get found on small islands.
Our rides below feature imbedded maps from RideWithGPS. You can even download a turn-by-turn cue sheet!
San Juan Island
We like to spend our first full riding day on San Juan Island because there’s a lot to see -In fact, there’s easily enough riding on San Juan Island for 3 or 4 days! Also, unless I specifically say otherwise, none of these rides requires a motor. You’re on a trike. If you’re averaging just 5 miles an hour, you can easily do 25 miles and still have gas in the tank for the following day’s ride! We have maps of our rides.
Friday Harbor to Roche Harbor
Ride from Friday Harbor to Roche Harbor. This is a 25 mile roundtrip with about 1400 feet of total vertical. This ride is quite doable with or without a motor kit. The route out-and-back features stunning views and wide shoulders for safe riding. Our recommended stops include Roche Harbor Resort -which has a couple nice restaurants. If you want to get off the trike for a spell, you can schedule a 3 hour Sea Kayak Tour.
Also, while at Roche, we recommend a stop at the McMillin Memorial Mausoleum -yes, I said mausoleum. It’s a beautiful, slightly weird century old family crypt built by the quarry owner.
Now, the big deal on San Juan Island: If you are an oyster lover, there is likely NO better place on the planet for lunch than our second stop: Westcott Bay Shellfish! You will eat oysters plucked -literally- from the surrounding water. It may ruin you forever for eating oysters anywhere else! I cannot say enough about how amazing this place is.
After lunch, we detour to the English Camp -to learn the fascinating story of how poorly-drawn map and a skirmish over a wayward pig won the United States possession of all the San Juans from Britain. You can then retrace the same road back to Friday Harbor or follow the route we provide on our map.
Friday Harbor to Cattle Point Lighthouse
Ride from Friday Harbor to Cattle Point Light House. If you’re riding a 2nd day on San Juan, we offer a couple routes. The shorter is less than 20 miles with about 900 feet of total vertical. The narrow strip of land leading to the light house provides stunning water views on both sides -Haro Strait to the west and San Juan Channel to the East. Both going and coming, you’ll pass the American Camp. We definitely recommend the visitors center. On our return ride, we generally detour to Pelindaba Lavender Farm because a) it smells wonderful and b) they have Lavender Ice Cream Sandwiches
Conveniently, Bakery San Juan is on the route both directions. It’s a great choice for breakfast (way out) and lunch (way back). Also, we’d absolutely suggest advance-ordering a picnic lunch to enjoy at the Cattle Point Lighthouse! Otherwise, there really aren’t any food choices on the route.
We also suggest a longer version of this ride -which you could also do as its own single day ride- looping in Lime Kiln State Park and adding about 15 miles and another 1000 foot vertical to the day! Lime Kiln is PRIME whale watching territory. While the park’s got a little food kiosk with hotdogs and burgers, we always bring in a nice picnic and find a table by the lighthouse -the ocean view is fantastic.
Orcas Island
I’ll preface this by saying -while the Orcas ride is the highlight of our trip- we BARELY scratch the surface of this island. You could easily spend 3 days riding here.
Orcas Ferry to Mt. Constitution Observatory
So, on this day, we ride from Orcas Ferry to the Mount Constitution Observation Tower. The total roundtrip is about 38 miles with 4500 total vertical feet -so…. hilly! When we’ve traveled with friends, we’re divided between those with and without motors. Either way, this can be a long day of riding. BUT, we’ve got some shortcuts to get you through!
If you’ve got a motor, get your coffee and hop on the 8:30am ferry from Friday Harbor to Orcas (remember we said inter-island bike and pedestrian ferries are free? Well….YEHAW!). If you don’t motor, you can still make the entire route, but you should consider the -ughhh- 6:00am ferry to give you an extra couple hours.
By the way -in our experience- you’ll need two batteries to make the entire route with motor assist -we’ve got more about that below. Also, this is where “shortcuts” become important: You don’t have to complete the whole route. You can pre-arrange with Eric at Orcas Taxi (360 375 8294) to get a pickup anywhere along the route for a ride back to the Ferry Terminal.
So, when the ferry docks at the terminal, you’ll follow our map for the 8 mile ride to the town of East Sound where you will be ecstatic to find Brown Bear Bakery. Since there’s almost always a line out the door, you’ll need to budget half an hour. If you’re the forward-thinking type, you’ll pre-order a picnic lunch to eat at the top of Mt. Constitution.
You can also get good sandwiches, coffee, fruit and fill your water bottles at Orcas Island Market.
By the way, there is a wonderful East Sound bike shop, Wildlife Cycles, who we’ve hired for sag support when we’ve had larger groups. Dan and Vicki are positively lovely. And -BONUS- Dan works the off-season at a Catrike dealer in Arizona, so…..
Also, we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out that you can just lock up your trike and wander around East Sound for an entire day. But, since that’s NOT what you came here to do, get BACK ON YOUR TRIKE! You’ll follow our map out of town along the water and then directly to Moran State Park. Except for a couple short sections near town, the entire route has excellent shoulders.
Once inside the park, you’ll stop at Cascade Lake, marvel at its beauty, catch your breath and then continue up for the remaining 2000 feet of vertical climb to the summit. Lots of cyclists make this climb and it’s inside the park with a 15 mile-per-hour speed limit for cars, so it’s SUPER trike friendly -even if you’re crawling up the mountain with Janet and me. When you hit the summit parking lot, you’ll definitely want to save a little bit of your legs for the couple hundred yard hike to the lookout. You can even climb the Observation Tower designed by Seattle Architect Ellsworth Storey. Most importantly, you’ve earned a photo of yourself with Rosario Strait below, Samish and Bellingham Bay in the distance and -on a clear day- Rainier and Baker far off in the distance!
Since you just climbed 2500 feet -no surprise that the ride back to town is a LOT easier. For some perspective, it takes us about 3 ½ hours -without motors- to get from East Sound to the Summit. We’ve made the return trip in under an hour! Here are some of dinner places
- Inn at Ship Bay -just 3 miles from the Park’s entrance -on your return route to Eastsound- is pricey, but has excellent food and stunning views. Also, we’ve generally, but not always, gotten friendly service there
- New Leaf Café back in East Sound has excellent food. On occasion, we’ve spent a couple overnights on Orcas and the attached Outlook Inn is a truly lovely place to stay
- Boathouse CiderWorks -immediately adjacent to the ferry terminal- is a great place to rest your overworked legs and get something cool and delicious to drink. When we were there, there were some food carts around as well.
- Orcas Hotel also immediately adjacent to the ferry terminal. It’s a nice spot for a good meal and -because you can see the ferries coming in and out- it takes the stress out of missing your boat back to Friday Harbor. Also, because we’ve experienced “your ferry was cancelled due to crew shortage”, it’s nice to keep warm by the Orcas Hotel firepits and enjoy something to drink
On the subject of “last boat”. If you travel in Sept like we do, make sure you have lights for your trike. When you get back to Friday Harbor, it may be dark and you’ll want lights for the short ride back to your hotel.
As already noted, if you’re traveling with just a single battery -or no motor at all- prescheduling a lift back to the Ferry Terminal with Eric at Orcas Taxi (360 375 8294) eliminates range anxiety and takes ALL the stress out of your day. When you’re done riding -whether that’s at the base of Constitution or back in East Sound- just get a lift! Also, as we mention again later, RPDX can rent you a spare battery for most of the motor kits we’ve installed!
Lopez Island
I’ll preface this by saying -while the Orcas ride is the highlight of our trip- we BARELY scratch the surface of this island. You could easily spend 3 days riding here.
Lopez Ferry to Shark Reef
Another beautiful (FREE!) inter-island ferry trip from Friday Harbor, Lopez is far less developed than either San Juan or Orcas. It’s laidback vibe has earned it the affectionate title “Slopez” (What could be more perfect for recumbent riders! We invented the “laidback” vibe!). There are plenty of good places to eat during high season. If you’re traveling after Labor Day (like we generally do), things close, so you may want to pack a picnic.
Locals are pretty emphatic that cyclists should avoid Center Road. And that’s okay because our preferred route is a beautiful ride with great water views on the west side of the island from the Ferry to Mackaye Harbor.
If it’s open, we recommend Vita’s Wildly Delicious for lunch. And -this is important- Kenny at Village Cycles takes care of one of our Catrike customers -so it’s good to know there’s a Catrike-competent mechanic on the Island!
