Washington Parks
A double loop through three national parks, linking ocean views, island ferries, and central Washington's fertile orchard valley.
- Distance
- 552 miles
- Surface
- 95% paved
- 1 week–3 weeks
- Route Type
- Loop
Ride the Washington Parks
This double loop starts and ends in Sedro-Woolley, Washington, with the western loop crossing circling the Olympic Peninsula, and the eastern loop climbing into Mount Rainier and North Cascades National Parks.
What to Expect
This double loop showcases Washington’s full diversity: ferry decks and island harbors, mossy rain forest and wild Pacific beaches, glaciated volcanoes, and the sunny orchards of the central Columbia Valley. The western loop is mostly low and rolling, with hilly island roads, while the eastern loop brings serious mountain climbing. Together, they make a moderately challenging tour with plenty of services and endless options to shorten or customize it.
Ferries carry riders to the San Juan Islands — Lopez, Orcas, and San Juan — each with its own flavor and quiet, hilly roads. On the Olympic Peninsula, the Olympic Discovery Trail passes the entrance to Olympic National Park, and the wild coastline south of Forks offers dramatic ocean views and beach access. The eastern loop climbs into Mount Rainier National Park, crosses Old Blewett Pass, and continues through the glacier-carved peaks of North Cascades National Park.
The Olympic Peninsula stays low, with coastal and forest terrain and some hilly stretches on the islands. The eastern loop brings the big climbs: a steady ascent into Mount Rainier National Park, Old Blewett Pass, and the high passes through the North Cascades. The scenery shifts from saltwater and rain forest to dry, open orchard country and back to alpine peaks. The full route includes detailed riding conditions and field notes for every climb and descent.
Services are generally steady near the Puget Sound corridor and larger towns, though the coast south of Forks and parts of the Cascade foothills and North Cascades grow quieter. Bike shops are concentrated around Puget Sound and the larger towns, so carry spare tubes and basic tools. Cell coverage drops out on parts of the Olympic coast and in the North Cascades, so download your Ride with GPS route for offline use.
Ride this route roughly late spring through early fall, when mountain passes are clear of snow. SR 20 through the North Cascades closes in winter and typically reopens in spring, so check its status before setting your dates. The Olympic Peninsula stays wetter and cooler year-round, while central Washington’s Columbia Valley runs noticeably drier and hotter in summer.
Route Sections
Sedro-Woolley, WA to Elma, WA, 313.9 miles
Heading counterclockwise out of Sedro-Woolley, the route reaches Anacortes, with frequent ferry service to the San Juan Islands for riders who want a side trip. It then crosses Puget Sound to the Olympic Peninsula and follows the Olympic Discovery Trail from Sequim to Port Angeles, passing the entrance to Olympic National Park, before heading west to Forks, where the coastline south of town offers incredible ocean views and beach access. The section finishes in Elma, where riders choose to continue on Section 2 or take the Sound Alternate.
Alternates:
- Sound Alternate, about 111 miles. A mostly rural connection from Elma back to Port Townsend, with a spur to the Bremerton ferry and an option to continue into downtown Seattle. It passes near the naval base at Silverdale and the town of Poulsbo, known for its Norwegian heritage.
Elma, WA to Sedro-Woolley, WA, 552.5 miles
Heading counterclockwise from Elma into the Cascade foothills, the route passes former logging communities like Eatonville before climbing into Mount Rainier National Park and descending to the Yakima River. Ellensburg makes a good stop to resupply before the climb over Old Blewett Pass, and the route continues through North Cascades National Park before roughly following the Skagit River back to Sedro-Woolley.
Washington Parks Photos
Plan Your Ride
This flexible double loop can be ridden as one section, both, or shortened with the Sound Alternate, thanks to the region’s abundant ferry network.
Trip Planning & Logistics
Sedro-Woolley and Elma both sit within reach of the Seattle area’s airports, and Amtrak serves nearby Mount Vernon. The abundance of ferries around Puget Sound gives real flexibility in how to piece the trip together. The route shares roads with the Northern Tier and the Sierra Cascades for riders looking to extend their trip. Most riders plan one to two weeks, depending on how much of the route they cover. This route is available in paper and digital formats through Adventure Cycling’s shop and includes routing, detailed service information, riding conditions, and field notes for trip planning.
This route runs mostly on pavement, so a standard touring bike suits it well, with low climbing gears for the eastern loop’s mountain passes. Pack rain gear for the Olympic Peninsula’s wet coastal climate, sun protection for the hot, dry central Washington stretch, and lights for tunnels and dim forest roads.
Camping and lodging are available at regular intervals near the route’s towns and park entrances, and many Washington state parks set aside hiker/biker sites for cyclists. Reservations help during peak summer season, especially near Mount Rainier and North Cascades National Parks. Riders can also look into Warmshowers, a reciprocal hospitality network for bicycle travelers, for additional overnight options.
Services are generally steady near Puget Sound and the larger towns, though the stretch south of Forks and the mountain sections grow quieter, and Ellensburg makes a good resupply stop before the climb over Old Blewett Pass. Along the way, look for fresh fruit stands in central Washington’s orchard country. Check your digital route in Ride with GPS for service phone numbers, and call ahead for anything outside peak season.
Traffic increases noticeably approaching Mount Rainier National Park, especially June through August, so plan around peak visitor hours. Some roads on the Olympic Peninsula have narrow shoulders, so use the Olympic Discovery Trail where the route follows it, wear bright clothing, and watch for logging trucks. Use lights in tunnels, and store food properly in black bear country in the Olympics and Cascades.
Always check Adventure Cycling Route Updates and Corrections before you go.
Routes change. Bridges wash out, businesses close, and construction pops up overnight. We strive to keep routes updated as those things happen. When we learn about a change, we reroute around sections that have become dangerous or are temporarily closed for road work, bridge outages, or construction, and we update service information as businesses open, close, or move. Digital routes are updated as soon as we’ve reviewed a reported issue.
You’re often the first to spot these changes out on the road. Help us keep this route accurate for the next rider by reporting anything you notice with our Route Feedback Form.
This Route Is Part of Something Bigger
It’s one piece of the Adventure Cycling Route Network, began in 1976 and built on a simple mission: to empower people to travel by bike. Our team maps and maintains it; our members and donors make it possible.
-
Explore the Adventure Cycling Route Network
Our premium routes are well researched by our cartographers and well traveled by thousands of cyclists.
Adventure Cycling Route Network -
Support Route Development
Our members are the reason we can offer three route networks tailored for specific experiences and riders.
Become a Member -
Stay Connected
Find your stoke with our newsletter all about routes, gear, stories, and cycling news in your inbox twice a month.
Sign up for Bike Bits
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s our flagship, staff-built route network. The one that started it all 50 years ago with the TransAmerica Trail, the route that launched bicycle touring and bikepacking in America. Every route in it is designed and researched by our own team of cyclists and cartographers: months of research and on-the-ground testing go into each one, so what you get is more than a line on a map. Each Adventure Cycling route has detailed logistics, terrain and elevation info, points of interest, camping and lodging, safety alerts, and history, all in one place. It’s the most in-depth of our three networks, available as digital routes and most as paper maps too. It’s the route network we update most regularly as conditions change.
They’re related, but not the same thing. The Adventure Cycling Route Network is made up of routes we’ve researched, ridden, and mapped ourselves, chosen specifically for a great touring or bikepacking experience. The U.S. Bicycle Route System (USBRS) is a state-by-state national system that we serve as technical experts for, made official through each state’s department of transportation. The two overlap in a lot of places, but an ACRN route carries our own on-the-ground vetting; a USBRS route carries official state recognition.
It depends! If you want a route we’ve personally scouted end to end, with services, camping, and terrain notes built in, start with the Route Network. The ACA Route Network has routes of many different lengths and can be a much easier starting place for someone new to bicycle travel. If you’re an experienced cyclist piecing together an officially designated corridor, or riding somewhere the two systems converge, the interactive USBRS map is a good resource to use.
The Adventure Cycling Route Network is a premium network because of everything that goes into it. Unlike the U.S. Bicycle Route System (built by state DOTs) or Short Routes (submittedby cyclists in their own communities), every Adventure Cycling route is researched, ridden, and vetted end-to-end by our own team. Unlike other routes, Adventure Cycling routes come with extensive information on riding conditions, terrain notes, camping and lodging info, logistics, safety alerts, and points of interest. We also keep it current as roads and services change. The price supports that ongoing research and maintenance work, done by a nonprofit whose whole mission is making sure the route in your hands is one you can trust.
Turn-by-turn directions with a bike icon aren’t the same as a route built for specifically touring or bikepacking. Every mile in the Adventure Cycling Route Network has been researched and ridden by our staff and researchers, chosen to avoid dangerous traffic, and mapped with what a touring cyclist actually needs — food, water, camping, hotels, bike shops — spaced out along the way. The Adventure Cycling Route Network was built for cyclists by cyclists, is regularly updated, and comes with the resources and information needed to plan your ride.
No. The network includes routes for a wide range of experience and difficulty levels, from a first multi-day trip to a cross-country expedition. What every route has in common is that it was chosen with a touring cyclist’s needs in mind, whatever kind of trip you’re planning.
Not at all. Alongside iconic long-distance routes like the TransAmerica Trail, the network includes shorter regional routes, so it works for a weeklong vacation or a two-month journey.
For many years, we focused on paved routes, but today the network includes plenty of unpaved gravel riding for bikepacking. In fact, Adventure Cycling mapped the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route in 1998, arguably the most impactful bikepacking route in the world. The Adventure Cycling Route Network also includes the Golden Gravel Trail, Idaho Hot Springs Mountain Bike Route, Arkansas High Country Route, and more. Some routes are a 50/50 mix of pavement and gravel. Some routes follow paved and unpaved bike paths and rail trails. The Adventure Cycling Route Network has terrain for every cyclist.
We revisit our printed maps every three to five years, and push corrections to our digital route data as we learn about changes on the ground. If you have an Adventure Cycling Route in Ride with GPS that we’ve updated, you’ll get a notification when you open the route to update to the newest version of the route. Updating will ensure you have the latest data, information, and points of interest vital to being on route. For cyclists who have Adventure Cycling paper maps, we keep a list of route- and section-specific updates current on our Map Updates and Corrections page.
Change comes from two directions: our own staff research and reports from the cyclists actually out there riding them. If a bridge washes out, a shoulder disappears, a campground closes for repairs, or a town loses its only grocery store, that’s the kind of thing that triggers an update. You can help us keep our routes accurate; fill out our Route Feedback Form.
Most of our Adventure Cycling Routes come as waterproof print maps and digital Ride with GPS navigational data. Our print maps are the #1 longstanding popular resource for traveling cyclists. They are waterproof, highly detailed and always work. For long trips, many cyclists use a combination of print maps and digital routes.
If you’re already comfortable and familiar with a GPS navigational aid such as Ride with GPS or a Garmin, our digital data packages are an excellent choice. We do not recommend GPX data for beginners since there are a few extra steps to installing and troubleshooting.
Once you purchase a digital route, you’ll get an email with a link to unlock it in the free Ride with GPS app — no separate subscription required for basic navigation. From there you get turn-by-turn voice directions, curated points of interest like campgrounds and bike shops, and field notes on the history, geography, and climate along your route, all available 100% offline. If you’drather use a dedicated GPS device, you can export the route as a GPX file to load onto a Garmin, Wahoo, or similar device.
To export GPX files of your Adventure Cycling digital route, use your laptop or desktop to open the email you received after purchasing your digital route. Click on the link that allows you to access your Digital Route. Finally, click on EXPORT ALL at the bottom of the screen. This is the only way to export files that include the route line, points of interest, and services. Files will be exported as one ZIP file.
Adventure Cycling uses abbreviations across its paper and digital routes to indicate particular services, land or road types, route names, direction of travel, and route type. Please see our key to abbreviations.
If you have questions on how to purchase a digital route or about the route content, please contact Adventure Cycling: cartography@adventurecycling.org or 406-721-1776.
If you have questions on how to use your Digital Route in Ride with GPS, please check the Ride with GPS support page or email them at info@ridewithgps.com.
If you’re new to Ride with GPS, please check out the following resources:
Our print map panels aren’t always oriented northwards for space and layout reasons. Refer to the north arrows to help orient yourself if you’re not sure.
No. The Routes and Mapping Department does not do custom routes for individuals. Check out the routes we’ve already mapped, and use the interactive map to piece our route networks together, forming a route that gets you from a point A to point B of your choice.
It started with a single route. In 1976, we mapped the TransAmerica Trail, and more than 4,000 cyclists crossed the country together for Bikecentennial — the nation’s bicentennial cycling celebration our founders organized. That one route became the seed of a network we’ve spent the decades since expanding. Today it’s more than 58,000 miles of mapped routes across the U.S. and Canada, from classic epics like the TransAmerica Trail, Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, and Pacific Coast, to shorter regional routes.