Another fabulous breakfast fueled our start in some pretty heavy rain this morning. We were both bundled up and hoping that, like yesterday, it would let up to just drizzle. The plan originally was to ride back over Beaverton Valley Road (which we had turned on to yesterday coming back from English Camp) and then take West Side Road down to Lime Kiln (Whale Watch) State Park, and then head to American Camp and Cattle Point. But the rain was coming down very steadily when we were ready to leave, so we decided to go directly to American Camp and Cattle Point and then decide later if we would go to Lime Kiln. There are no towns or stores on the route so we packed some food hoping to have a picnic somewhere (we bought a sandwich and some chocolate at King’s Market last night, and we had the half of Jeannie’s BLAT from lunch yesterday in Roche Harbor. The sandwich from Kings and the chocolate traveled well, but the BLAT was not looking like it was edible).
The rain did let up as we reached American camp but as you can see, not many people were out on such a miserable day.
We had a nice walk around the camp and then took the bike out on the trail through the camp and out to the Cattle Point lighthouse. Our luck with the weather gave out on the way to the lighthouse with cold heavy rain coming down. It was really too bad as the road took us along the coast and the scenery was just beautiful
There was a small building open when when we got to the lighthouse so we huddled in there to get out of the rain and eat a bit of a snack. They had one exhibit in this weird little outbuilding
By this time we both had soaked feet and cold hands. Every now and again the rain would let up but it would be brief and then it would start again. As recommended by the bike shop, we took False Bay Road and it was just a gorgeous ride. I would have loved to stop and take a bunch of pictures but the rain was steady and I was too cold to pry my gloves off. We did stop by one bay where there were a huge number of geese on the water. They appeared to be fishing but big groups would break off and fly across the fields as well.
Lime Kiln didn’t happen. I don’t know if Tom would have done it but I was chilled and soaked and way beyond the point where I could have done another couple of hours in the rain. Many lessons learned about gear; it was a bad rain but we could have been much better prepared and been able to see more. This is our last day on San Juan and I must say that it is wonderful riding here. Not sure how it would be in summer but the roads have been great for us with very light traffic and the scenery is just spectacular. We spent the afternoon in Friday Harbor including a stop at the Whale Museum which is definately worth a visit.
