Autumn in Western Washington - Ducati.ms

Bill_Anderson · Oct 27th, 2008, 9:49 am

Yesterday Randy the X Man restarted the PNW Roadriders' Last Sunday Breakfast of the Month ride. Several groups took different routes to get to Bob's Burgers at Sumas, a town at the end of Hwy. 9 on the Canadian border NE of Bellingham. Bob's gave us a banquet room to ourselves and the price of the breakfast buffet ($10.00) was very reasonable.

On the return lap we rode Hwy. 9, North Pass Road, South Pass Road, Silver Lake Road, Hwy. 542, and a bunch of back roads north of Sedro Woolley and west of Hwy. 9.

The autumn colors in those locations are the best I have EVER seen up here. Some of the hillsides reminded me of photos I have seen of Colorado and New England.

But don't take my word for it. Watch Randy's video taken while he was riding behind Marvelous Marv, the 70+ year old wonder in the hi viz 'Stich. I will be riding solo back up that way in an hour or so to get more photographs, which I wll post on this thread.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNMDTAFWq1s

**scott** · Oct 27th, 2008, 11:48 am

He Bill, that is some really nice stuff, I may have to talk to Randy about his music selection but his video work is nice

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Bill_Anderson · Oct 27th, 2008, 10:23 pm

Today I rerode much of the route by myself to take photos. I am too tired to do a write-up, but I will post some photos as "teasers".

94CobraR · Oct 28th, 2008, 10:09 am

Beautiful, Bill....I envy you.

Bill_Anderson · Oct 28th, 2008, 1:57 pm

The first group of photos were taken on Hwy. 9 between Arlington and Big Lake.

Bill_Anderson · Oct 28th, 2008, 2:01 pm

North of Sedro Woolley Hwy. 9 passes through the valley of the South Fork of the Noosack River. I took some side roads south of Acme to get these pictures.

Twin Sisters Mtn. in the background of photo #1. Two people stopped and asked if I needed help as I pushed my bike around to set up the shot.

The last two shots were taken in Acme. Mt. Baker is the snow capped peak in the background.

Bill_Anderson · Oct 28th, 2008, 2:05 pm

After lunch at Bob's Burgers in Sumas, I headed southeast towards Maple Falls via North Pass, South Pass, and Silver Lake Roads. This is the area where Randy the X Man took the video found in the first post of this thread.

The first three photos taken from North Pass Road outside of Sumas, the last two were taken from South Pass Road.

Bill_Anderson · Oct 28th, 2008, 2:07 pm

South Pass Road runs NE to the Canadian border (no crossing), then it turns south to join the Mt. Baker Hwy. (542) at Maple Falls.

Photo #1 was taken of Mt. Baker from Silver Lake Road. The stunning "calendar shot" I wanted was about a mile south, but there was no where to safely pull off the road.

Bill_Anderson · Oct 28th, 2008, 2:09 pm

At Maple Falls I took Hwy. 542 west to Mosquito Lake Road, which cuts over a ridge and rejoins Hwy. 9 at Acme. Here are two photos of the junction of Mosquito Lake Road and Hwy. 9.

Bill_Anderson · Oct 28th, 2008, 2:12 pm

Here is a final photo taken on Park Road west of Hwy. 9. Even though it was mostly a repeat of Sunday's ride, it was a wonderful ride none the less with some of the most beautiful autumn colors I have seen in western Washington.

We have a very short window between the coming of the autumn colors and the arrival of the winter storms in which to safely ride and take photos. It is very special to feel the falling leaves hitting your shoulder as you are riding through some coming down in front of you.

I hope you vicariously enjoyed the ride. If you have not already done so, check out Randy's video from the previous day.