Here's my route.
Some time before Snohomish, we encountered some pretty awful black ice.
We had to walk for a mile or so -- I've never seen so much road ice. Luckily the conditions improved before we were able to bomb down Springhetti Hill into Snohomish in time for a much needed bakery stop.
We were so cold that we ended up buying hand warmers from a hardware store for our hands and feet. I wrapped newspaper over my socks and stuffed a heat pad into my shoe.
After a long, hard slog we finally crossed the South fork of Skagit River and the sun broke out. Fir Island is a great place to ride, although I was a bit disappointed that we saw no snow geese.
We met my sister Margaret, her boyfriend Andrew, and Daniel's friend Tyson in Edison, just South of Chuckanut Drive. It was great to have a good group of folks to ride this hills of Chuckanut.
This was supposedly my 23rd time doing this ride, but honestly I've lost track. The great part about doing a stretch over and over again is that you become familiar with the area in a way not possible by any other mode of travel (except for maybe walking, which I'm way too lazy to do). I highly recommend this ride to anybody looking for a fun 100-miler: it's mostly flat, has plenty of stops to eat yummy food, and is 80% trails and quiet back country roads.
