Bike camping on Lopez Island was amazing yet again + WA should fund a direct bus to Anacortes Ferry Terminal
Our family went bike camping on Lopez Island Sunday to Wednesday, and it was amazing as always.
Word definitely seems to have gotten out, and even on a Sunday the number of people biking off the ferry was amazing. A teen was going on a bike camping trip with friends to celebrate his 18th birthday, and we ran into several other families bike camping together during our stay.
We camped at Spencer Spit State Park because it might be my favorite place on this planet. There's a wetland bird sanctuary, great camping sites (including a good number of hiker/biker spots), fun and safe places for kids to run around and explore, kayaks for rent on the beach, an amazing farm stand nearby to grab something fresh for camp meals. It's a dream.
The island is also a great place to let kids practice biking on roadways. Nearly every person driving on the island is polite and in no big hurry. It's a place that has generally embraced a relaxed pace to life. There are hills, but they are gradual enough that most kids who can ride a bike will be able to bike to town for lunch and maybe ice cream before biking back to camp. It's just the right amount of challenge that they will be so proud of themselves when they are back at camp.
Bike camping on Lopez makes more sense now than ever because the ongoing Washington State Ferry vessel shortage makes getting a car to the island even more of a hassle. However, I miss the Victoria Clipper ferry from downtown Seattle to Friday Harbor so much. Taking a bike on the clipper, getting lunch in Friday Harbor, then catching the inter-island ferry to Lopez was the best. Getting to Anacortes without a car can be very difficult, especially if you have a kid. If you are able, I highly recommend taking the train to either Mount Vernon or Fairhaven (Bellingham) then biking to Anacortes from there. But both those routes are a bit too much for our kid still.
We documented our bike-train-bus-bus-bus-bus-ferry-bike trip to Lopez last year, and though we had fun I also hoped the story would highlight how ridiculously complicated it is to get from the state's largest city to one of its most important ferry terminals without a car. It took us nearly four hours to get from our house to Anacortes Ferry Terminal, which is several times longer than the hour and a half or so is takes by car. We also got lucky that there were always bike spots available on the buses when we needed them, which is not guaranteed.
Unfortunately, were traveling to Lopez Island on a Sunday for our most recent trip, and several of the bus connections we used last year do not run at all on Sundays. So we had no other choice than to borrow a friend's car and drive with our bikes and then park the car for multiple days in a ferry parking lot. How can there be no car-free options to get to the ferry on a Sunday? We are just out having fun and going on a bike trip, but there are lots of people who are not able to drive who still need to do things on Sundays. It's unacceptable.
Everyday, direct transit service from Mount Vernon Station (Skagit Station) to Anacortes Ferry Terminal is an obvious and glaring gap in the state's transportation network. It makes no sense that the state would run these two very significant transportation systems (rail and ferry) and then fail to do the easy part by running a bus that connects them. I loved our experience on Skagit Transit last year, but they are understandably focused on local service for its community rather than ferry-to-train express service for folks passing through. They're doing a lot with clearly limited funding, like so many other smaller transit agencies across the state. Maybe the state can fund a contract with Skagit Transit to operate a more direct service option that runs every day? Perhaps something with luggage and bike space for travelers?
I am a big fan of the mosquito fleet" idea floating around the state legislature. State funding for more walk/bike ferries would go a long way in making connections for folks in ways that the car ferry system will never be able to accomplish even when the fleet is complete again. But there's also a lot the state can do to make on-the-ground connections to their existing transportation system. It is so expensive to operate a ferry system that it simply makes no sense to punt on running a bus to get people there. I haven't run the numbers or anything, but with bus fares plus additional ferry fares from people who wouldn't be riding if not for the bus, it might even get a lot of the way to funding itself.