Why this ride
452 km one way from Stanwood - plan on about 9 h 11 of riding. On the way it passes near Port Hadlock-Irondale, near Home and White Center. The climb of the day is near Enumclaw.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Olympic Peninsula Hood Canal · short arc
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 452 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 9 h 11
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Chinook Pass Scenic Byway
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 13 km this is Chinook Pass Scenic Byway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 13 km
- Named road
- Chinook Pass Scenic Byway
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Seattle / Pacific Northwest
Stanwood and the northern end of Camano Island lie at the edge of the Skagit Delta, where the Stillaguamish River spreads into a flat, fertile plain and meets the waters of Port Susan. The land is as flat as a table, and the horizon is filled by the Cascades to the east and the Olympics to the west. This is a landscape of dairy farms, fields of peas and potatoes, and drainage ditches, with huge skies and a strong smell of earth and sea.
Read the complete Near Stanwood, on the way back write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Seattle / Pacific Northwest is where the day begins. Next is Food stop near Port Hadlock-Irondale.
2. Food stop near Port Hadlock-Irondale
Planning note
Food stop near Port Hadlock-Irondale is where this day stops to eat. Next is Photo stop near Home.
3. Photo stop near Home
Home is a small community on the Key Peninsula, a long, wooded finger of land reaching into southern Puget Sound west of Tacoma. It has one of the stranger origin stories in the Pacific Northwest: in 1896 a handful of idealists founded an anarchist colony here on the shore of Von Geldern Cove, and for a couple of decades it attracted free thinkers, writers and the suspicious attention of the authorities. The colony faded, but the name stuck.
Read the complete Photo stop near Home write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 302 km into the recorded legs you reach Photo stop near Home. Next is Olympic Peninsula Hood Canal checkpoint 8.
4. Near White Center
Ferries are the quiet heart of this corner of Seattle. White Center, a modest, diverse neighbourhood, lies just inland, and Lincoln Park offers forest trails, beaches and views over the water.
Read the complete Near White Center write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Olympic Peninsula Hood Canal checkpoint 8 closes the day. Next is High point near Enumclaw.
5. High point near Enumclaw
Enumclaw sits on the plateau east of Seattle where the suburbs thin out into horse paddocks, hay fields and dairy farms, with Mount Rainier standing on the horizon on any clear day. The mountain, at about 4,390 metres, is an active volcano and the highest in the Cascade range, covered in more glacier ice than any other peak in the lower forty-eight states. It looks very close from here, and it is, which is a large part of why so many riders begin the day in this town.
Read the complete Enumclaw write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
High point near Enumclaw tops the climb. Next is Scenic stretch near Black Diamond.
6. Scenic stretch near Black Diamond
Planning note
The route ends here after 452 km.
Leg by leg
Food stop near Port Hadlock-Irondale to Photo stop near Home
Food stop near Port Hadlock-Irondale → Photo stop near Home is 152 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Photo stop near Home to Near White Center
Photo stop near Home → Near White Center is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near Enumclaw to Scenic stretch near Black Diamond
High point near Enumclaw → Scenic stretch near Black Diamond is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
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