Bikepacking Overnight: Cascade Locks to Vancouver Lake and Back Again

Weekend getaways can be tricky in the summer with my partner because he travels a lot for work, especially during the summer. Normally I enjoy having a few weeks to myself here and there because, while he loves bikes, he doesn't bike tour. His time away means I can immerse myself in my ever-growing list of weekend bike tours. His passion is racing his Laser sailboat, and so when he gets the rare week or two in free, he tries to balance sailing with spending time with me. We've found a pretty great balance of our two different passions... last year, we road tripped to Vancouver, Canada together and then I set off on a solo bikepacking tour of Vancouver Island while he raced his boat in a multi-day regatta.

I realized that was the best way for us to adventure together; I would find little bike tours either meeting him where his regattas take place, or doing a loop from the regatta itself. So when he had his eye on a regatta at Vancouver Lake, WA, I starting scouring routes, from the American Adventure Cycling Assocation's Lewis and Clark Trail, to various routes on Ride with GPS. Since it was a short regatta, just two days, I decided to start out at Cascade Locks and meet him at the regatta to camp out with him in Spacevan Spiff, his 1994 Toyota Previa converted into a camper van.

First things first, picked up a little snack from the native fish market in Cascade Locks... packed some smoked sockeye in my handlebar bag with some ice!

Hikers, bikers, and cars all manage to share this iconic bridge.

It was hot with a lovely headwind that made it feel not-so-hot, but which also made the flats feel like way more work than they needed to be. I was happy to refill my bottles at Beacon Rock which had a water spigot just off Highway 14. Since it was a sunny gorgeous Saturday, everyone was out, including fast sports cars that liked to whiz by me just a little too fast. At the first chance I got, I took a detour to get away from the traffic onto lovely empty roads. Honestly, Highway 14 isn't particularly travelled in comparison to other state highways, but the second you get off it, the roads are a bike tourists dream... traffic free and the few vehicles that do travel on them are going at a leisurely safe speed.

Bucolic farmland as I detoured off Washington state Highway 14 to get away from the weekend warrior traffic.

Flowers EVERYWHERE!

Thanks Google Maps, this is most definitely NOT a bike path... but it did lead to a greenway, so I'll forgive you.

I wound my way through Washougal and Camas and connected to the Evergreen Highway, a low traffic road that runs right along the Columbia River to make my way to Vancouver and up to the Vancouver Lake. While not necessarily the smoothest pavement I've ever ridden, the joy of riding without traffic made up for it. David had left the van door open with a cooler full of cold beers, which I took full advantage of.

Made it to Vancouver Lake and enjoyed the sunset.

After a pleasant evening enjoying the group dinner the Vancouver Lake Sailing Club put on and otherwise eating all the things, we curled up in the Spacevan and passed out. The next morning, we made breakfast to cooler skies and calm seas. David had explored the area a bit since he arrived a day earlier than I did, and recommended I check out the Burnt Bridge Creek Greenyway, a lovely car-free greenway that started near Vancouver Lake and cross the whole city. It was a lovely ride and then I connected back to Highway 14... with less traffic, I decided to crush it back to the car and forgo then less travelled detours. 

Found another greenway just a hop and a skip away from Vancouver Lake to head back to my car. I can't stress how important and amazing greenways are for a city. I was able to ride on this greenway for 45 minutes to cross the bulk of Vancouver... no cars, just lots of happy cyclists and pedestrians.

Sometimes staying on the more-travelled road leads to gorgeous views like the one here at Cape Horn viewpoint.

I made it back in good time, shaving an hour off my saddle time from the day before. It just goes to show that bike tours don't have to be complicated affairs. I might have otherwise just ridden up with David in the van, but why do that when I can kill two birds with one stone?

A few tips for cycle tourists:

• Cascade Locks has plenty of on-street parking on the main stretch to leave a car overnight. Some research had shown a hiker's forum that said the folks at City Hall said that cars can be parked for 48 hours and possibly more since there is no local law enforcement to ticket or tow. I chatted with a woman at the local gas station and she told me my car would be fine overnight so long as I didn't have anything in it that might attract someone to break in. 

• If I had to do this again with all the time in the world, take the detour just after Prindle into Washougal both ways, find the most direct route up to the Burnt Bridge Creek Greenway, and then coast into Vancouver Lake. 

• There are plenty of places to get water and food along the way. In the hot summer months, the 50+ miles can still require 2+ liters of water, especially with the strong winds coming off the Columbia River.