Text by Phil Neff
Event details and registration may be found here.
The Spring 600K offers a varied, rolling, but low-total elevation tour through the inland Puget Sound and into the foothills of the Cascades via the Middle Fork Snoqualmie. A backdoor into Bellingham provides a pleasant detour along Lake Samish, avoiding the closure of Chuckanut Drive. This route is optimized for EPP, please ensure that your ride is tracked or document your passage through controls with photos.
The route starts with mostly quiet rural roads through Snohomish and Marysville. Take care with the merge onto Highway 204 out of Everett’s Ebey Slough, followed by an immediate left turn onto Sunnyside Blvd. Climb over Lake Ki towards Camano Island, with some potentially busy sections of road through Stanwood. Wind and weather conditions will dictate your pace north along Padilla Bay into quaint Edison, where Terramar Brewstillery offers pizza and house-brewed beer and soft drinks.
The closure of Chuckanut Drive necessitates a detour up Bow Hill and along Lake Samish. Preriders found these roads to be low traffic and pleasant; despite hugging I-5, you’ll feel like you’re riding through a tunnel of rocky cliffs and trees up Lake Samish Drive (the pre-ride route profile included some phantom steep grades here that were not reflected on the road). Descend past the Galbraith MTB complex and down the Stair Step Streets (watch for cross traffic and stops) into Fairhaven and Bellingham. Preriders stocked up on snacks and sun at the Haagen grocery here before turning back south for the climb back out of Bellingham.
Rolling country roads lead south through Sedro-Wooley; the route winds through the Burlington suburbs and over the Conway hill on SR534 before briefly joining Highway 9 at Lake McMurray; from here, it’s the standard Centennial Trail, Broadway, Woodinville, Sammamish River Trail sequence back home to Redmond.
Day two starts with the punchy Union Hill climb, maxing out at 10% grade, before a descent into Carnation to the Snoqualmie Valley Trail. From here, it’s gradual railroad-grade climb on light gravel to Tokul Road, and then through the towns of Snoqualmie and North Bend. Stock up on food and water here before the approximately 25K long (one-way), 300m climb up the Middle Fork Snoqualmie trailhead. Gorgeous river and mountain views abound on this stretch.
More punchy climbs punctuate the route back via the Issaquah Highlands, followed by the busy Issaquah-Hobart Road to Cedar Grove Road and the traffic-free relief of the Cedar River Trail. Wind through Renton and follow the familiar Lake Washington route through Factoria back into Issaquah, doubling back to pass the troll on the Rainier Trail.
The route finishes with a roll up the Sammamish River Trail to the Redmond Inn. Chapeau!
