Do You Know The Way To Anacortes?
(woh—woh—woh- woh—woh-woh--woh-woh--woh)
Anacortes is a lovely town to visit, whether you’re
making you way up for a nice day in the sun, or you have a purpose to get there,
such as the Oyster Run.
Anacortes is well worth the trip getting
there: From either the north or south, the fastest
route is Interstate 5. Yak!
But that's not the fun way, now is it?
Typical protocol on the slab in past years during the Oyster
Run has been WSP
stationed all along the route plucking beanie clad bikers and serving up hefty
tickets for non-DOT helmets.
And who are all these people that run out of gas along the
way? I’ve seen them by the dozens each year. New Sportster owners unaware of the
actual range of the machine? In a lot of cases yes.
The circus of events continues.
Along the exit to Highway 20 West, which gets you
into about a thirty minute, feet down on the ground wait, Skagit Harley could
easily set up an espresso stand and push it up and down the off ramp helping
bikers get their morning latte fixes.
I've watched this circus over the years, but I've also
settled on three scenic routes that have little traffic, little interstate use
and plenty of gas stations and espresso along the way. Some of you will be
familiar with these routes; others of you may not yet have explored them. All
the routes are based on going north from Seattle, adding about 1 hour to the
regular drive time on I-5 without the Oyster Run happening. (For anyone
coming from the North, Chuckanut Drive is the preferred back way in).
Click on the map images for larger maps, but do yourself a
favor and pull out a large map of Washington to see the details more closely.
 Anacortes Back Way #1
A
simple, scenic alternative. From Lynwood head for Mukilteo (2) on SR-525. Hitch a
ride on the ferry to Clinton (3) and head north on SR-20 along the entire stretch of
Whidbey Island. I often return home this way, stopping off at the Captain
Whidbey Inn in Coupeville (4) for a waterside beverage on their lovely patio. Total
time is about 2 hours and 22 minutes from Seattle, but it varies depending on
the ferry wait.
 Anacortes Back Way #2
Once
you’ve made it to Marysville kiss I-5 goodbye and take exit 199 heading west
out to Tulalip (2). Continue up Marine View Drive winding your way along some sweet
twisties lined with lots of greenery. Imagine how nice it would be to have a
second home out here as you make your way to Stanwood (3). At Stanwood continue
north on SR-530 to Conway (4). Hey, isn’t that I-5 off in the distance? But just
before you can be sure, you’re heading west on Fir Island Road making your way
to La Conner (5) and then to Anacortes. Total time from Seattle is about 2 hours and
16 minutes.
 Anacortes Back Way #3
This
is a great route for Eastsiders. Make your way to Monroe (1). Once there take Woods
road out to Lake Roesiger (2) and head north to Granite Falls (3). Leave Granite Falls
out the back way using Jordan Road (4) heading north to Arlington (5) and we’ll save
SR-9 for later. In Arlington hop on the fun part of SR-9 riding it all the way
to Sedro Wooley (6), sucking up those twisties and watching out for that tavern
brawl on the right. At Sedro Wooley go west on SR-20 to Anacortes. If it’s
Oyster Run Sunday be sure to wave hello to all your brothers on the I-5 off ramp
who will be catching up with you in about a half hour, just as soon as they
finish those Skagit Harley Espressos. Total time from Monroe is about 2 hours
and 28 minutes.
Anacortes GPS Routes NEW!
Since we ran this story back in 2002 a lot more people are using
GPS to navigate. So we've come up with three new routes you
can download for use with a Garmin GPS. Several include a romp
up to the top of Mt Erie. Depending on which direction you
plan to use the route(s) you may need to invert the direction to
make it work for your direction of travel. The beauty of GPS is the
ability to truly get off the beaten track and explore new roads.
So we we've built plenty of that in wherever we could. Have a
great ride to and from Anacortes.
Right
click this link to download the GPS file now.
PT/Summer 02 (revised 2007)
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