The Unplanned: The Vashon Island Adventure

This region by Seattle, always reminds me of one of my favorite musicians, Jimi Hendrix. I sense the power of the mountains and the weather in his recordings. As a couple of songs played in my head, I looked out the window to see if the big mountain was out today. Nope, rain had moved in blocking views of the massive volcano. Well no ride by Mount Rainier today! Luckily there was a little unknown island, just a ten minute ferry ride away from Tacoma.

A rustic and historic building at Point Robinson Park.

The ferry ride to Vashon island was just part of the adventure. Luckily this island was worth exploring and definitely lots of fun. After the brief ferry ride, some moderate rollers started out for a pleasant warm up. As we rode along we were happily surprised by the quiet roads lined by forests and teeming with deer. Pretty soon we were met with peaceful views of quiet inlets along Puget Sound as we rode along the island’s coast. We stopped to take pictures at Point Robinson’s Lighthouse, which is just over 100 years old. After leaving the lighthouse, the rollers turned punchy and steep through the quiet forested roads. Don’t be deterred by these punchy rollers, they are actually a lot of fun!

One of the quiet and beautiful inlets of Vashon Island.

Rachel and I were running short on time, and had to made our way back to the ferry. Nevertheless, we were so excited to find such a fun and unexpected adventure. There are still countless opportunities to follow up on exploring the numerous roads that cross back and forth across Vashon Island. We can’t wait to go back and visit this hidden gem. By the end of the ride we had about 40 miles of riding and close to 3800 feet of climbing. Check out the Passport 2 Pain ride on the island which is 80 miles long with 10,000 feet of climbing in September!

Rachel super excited after the fun adventure on Vashon Island!

Links:

The epic Passport to Pain Ride on Vashon Island: http://www.passport2pain.org/