Originally I had planned to start heading south through Port
Townsend and on to do a bit of camping.
But unfortunately with the holiday weekend and no preplanning of places
to stay, I would’ve had nowhere to stay.
(That is the problem with living a sit-of-your-pants lifestyle.) So I ended up extending my stay at my
friend’s place on Whigby Island. Walt,
Jean’s husband, had made the offer to take me on a motorcycle ride up to Diablo
Lake. Jean has been recovering from knee surgery and has been unable to be on
the bike. She encouraged us to go
because she knows how Walt loves to be out on his motorcycle. I said yes, of course.
Just prior to the motorcycle ride we took a quick trip to
the Naval Commissary at the Whigby Island Base; a first for me. This trip all seems to be about firsts for
me. I had always thought that these
Commissaries would be similar to shopping at a Sam’s Club warehouse store but
it was very much like a regular grocery store with brand names and lower
prices. I went in as Walt’s guest while
he did the shopping for a BBQ he was planning on doing when we got back later
that night.
At about noon, we left out on Walt’s black cherry Red Wing
motorcycle. I was a bit nervous because it had been almost 10 years since I’ve
been a passenger on a motorcycle but Walt quickly put me at ease when he
explained that he has been driving motorcycles since he was 14years old. So being a bit more relaxed off we went north
off of Whigby Island. He showed me a
local’s back way through part of the Island to miss a great deal of the holiday
traffic.
After we got off the Island, we made a quick pit stop to top
off the Red Wing’s gas tank at the Swinomish Reservation for gas where gas
prices were about 20 cents cheaper than the surrounding area. There were some lines but there were enough pumps
that it was a short wait. Then off we
went east on WA-20 for a bit then we took some back road two lane highways
through the Skagit Valley Farm area.
There were signs along the road for places where you could pick your own
blueberries and raspberries. There was
tall corn with tassels and plenty of signs that hay was for sale. There were cows and horses in fields. It was a scenic flat land and then we started
to climb into a canyon area.
Shortly, afterwards we went through a town called Concrete. It
was the place where the film, A Boy’s Life, was filmed which starred Robert De Niro
and Leonardo DiCaprio. I just thought
that the name was interesting; Concrete.
A name like that for a small town out near the North Cascades National
Park nested in a forested area.
We continued to climb and were heading in a northeastern
direction. Shortly after another small town
called Rockport, we started to see a river that ran along the highway. What amazed me was the blue-green color of
the river. The color was amazing. Then we continued along the road which wands
through forested land. It made for a
wonderful ride on a motorcycle. Here and
there we would pass bicyclists riding along on the side of the road.
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| Photos- The Good Food Stop at Mablemount. |
Soon we came to Marblemount which is the last fuel stop
before a 72 mile stretched to Winthrop.
We had traveled a little over 60 miles and I was ready for a butt
break. There was still about 25 miles to
Diablo Lake. We grabbed a quick lunch at
the Good Food place in Marblemount; sitting at a picnic table outside just off
of a wooded area. We could see and hear
quite a few other motorcycles riding by.
It seemed to be a popular route.
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| Photo- The overlook of Diablo Lake. Amazing! |
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| Photo- Walt and myself at the Lake Diablo overlook. |
We climbed the last 20 miles, with some amazing views at
dams and the unique blue-green colored water.
We turned off to an overlook area and WOW! We could see the whole Lake Diablo. It was an amazing view. We spent some time at the overlook taking
pictures and reading the informational signs.
I guess that the unique color comes from rock dust that is created by the
above glaciers on the mountains crushing rocks.
But soon it was time to head back.
It was a wonderful day on the motorcycle.
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| Photo: Mount Baker from the overlook area. |
Stunning!!
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