Day 91 Tumwater campground to Gold Bar

Wednesday 18th August
Daily mileage 63miles Average Speed 11mph Ride Time 5hr42min
Total Mileage 3811

Alarm set for 6am we got up at 7am. It was cooler today and we had a head wind. We packed up having survived the night with only a few unknown paw prints, any ideas who they belong too? We crossed the bridge back to the campground to use their facilities before setting off up the road. Now that we have lost the river the road got a bit steeper but we kept dropping after we had climbed so we had travelled 6 miles to Coles Corner for a coffee stop but had not really gained any elevation overall. Just as we left Kris suffered a proper nasty puncture where some staples had lodged themselves in his rear tyre. Thankfully he was on the flat when it happened so a quick change of the inner tube and we continued on the rolling road for another 14 miles.

With 1500ft still to climb in 6 miles we stopped for a refuel on the road side. Battling into a strong headwind we started the steeper climb with the thought stuck in our minds that Seattle was on the other side of the hill! The summit of Stevens Pass was only 4,061ft but we had started at 1,200ft in Leavenworth. At the top we jumped for joy and robed up to prepare ourselves for the descent. We rolled for almost the full 17 miles into Skykomish but the road was narrow with next to no hard shoulder in some sections and doubled up with the strong headwind it spoilt it a little.

We stopped for a break then set off on the final 20 miles of the day to Gold Bar. We past through a few tiny towns but were determined on our destination for the night in order to leave 45 miles in the morning into Seattle where we have to be by 1pm. It was a hard ride to finish the day and we decided to treat ourselves to a motel room as we felt pretty gross. We enjoyed the room and had a chance to catch up with ourselves before arriving in Seattle! w exciting but sad too.