Boat, Bike and Hike with the Austin Chapter of the Sierra Club

Come explore the San Juan Islands on a 4-day and 3-night cruise and bike ride August 24-27, 2010. On this trip you'll enjoy beautiful scenery and easy riding on the pastoral islands of San Juan and Lopez. Highlights include a stop at the Lime Kiln Lighthouse/Whale Watch Park and a visit to the Lopez Island Vineyards. You'll also be going on some great hikes with beautiful panorama views of the San Juan and Gulf Islands. Throughout the trip David B will be your home base while you ride with all your meals and accommodations included. Please note this is a Sierra Club members only trip. Visit the the Austin Chapter of the Sierra Club website and scroll to the bottom of the page for membership information or contact the trip leader, Chuck Byrd at (512) 292-6985.

Day 1- Bellingham to Shaw Island:

Board the David B at 9:00 am in Bellingham, Washington. You will have plenty of time to stow your belongings before gathering with the crew for an orientation of the boat and safety meeting. At 10:00 am the boat will leave the harbor and cruise through Bellingham Bay to our first stop at Cypress Island or Orcas Island for a pleasant hike. Once underway again we will head for the center of the San Juan Islands and anchor for the night at Blind Bay on Shaw Island. Here you will have some free time to take the David B's kayaks for a paddle around the bay or go ashore on Shaw Island or Blind Island.

Day 2 - Blind Bay, Shaw Island to Odlin Park, Lopez Island to Friday Harbor and Roche Harbor, San Juan Island.

We will raise anchor in the morning and have breakfast underway as we head for Lopez Island where you'll be outfitted with bikes. From Odlin Park you will ride about 1 mile to the Lopez Ferry Terminal and take a Washington State Ferry to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. From Friday Harbor you'll peddle an easy 10 miles to Lime Kiln Lighthouse / Whale Watch Park on the Westside of San Juan Island. The whale watch park is a good spot to watch for our local orca whales that often feed on the summer salmon runs that come near the shore. After lunch and the park, you'll continue up the Westside of the island to Roche Harbor. At Roche Harbor you'll meet back up with the David B for the evening. We'll spend the night anchored at Roche Harbor.

Day 3 - Roche Harbor, San Juan Island to Lopez Island

In the morning you'll finish your circumnavigation of San Juan Island and peddle another easy 10 miles to Friday Harbor and the ferry terminal. Arriving again on Lopez you'll enjoy a flat easy day of bike riding on the friendliest island in the San Juans. Some of the highlights of this ride are a stop at the Lopez Island Vineyard, Lopez Village and Spencer Spit State Park. At the end of the day you'll return your bike to nice folks at Lopez Bicycle Works and meet back up with the David B at Odlin Park. We'll spend the rest of the day motoring to our last evening's anchorage on Lopez or Orcas Island.

Day 4 - Lopez or Orcas Anchorage to Bellingham

After breakfast and depending on where we have anchored, you'll had the opportunity to spend some time ashore going on a hike or spend a couple of easy hours paddling along the shore in one of the David B's kayaks. We'll raise anchor sometime around lunch and head back to Bellingham. The David B will arrive back at the dock approximately 5:00pm.

This itinerary is subject to change.