Friday, April 12, 2019

Centennial Trail IV (2019-03-30)

An easy ride on a beautiful day.

Nakashima Barn
Geotagged Album

Related albums:

Granite Falls and Lake Roesiger (Album)
Snohomish and Lake Stevens (Album)
Arlington Sans SR-9 (Album)
Trolling Snohomish County (Album)
Arlington Again (Album)
Centennial Trail III (Album)
Granite Falls and Arlington II (Album)
Centennial Trail II (Album)
Highway 9 (Album)
Snohomish Bowtie (Album)
Filling in the Monroe Gap (Album)
Snohomish Loop (Album)
Granite Falls and Arlington (Album)
Centennial Trail (Album)

This was the first ride with my new René Herse crankset, with 42/26 rings and an 11-34t cassette. I definitely preferred the gear range with this setup.

More after the break…

Part 1: To Bus

Part 1: To Bus

I started at about 05:10 just like last week and headed over to the freeway station to catch the bus to Everett.

Part 2: Snohomish County

Part 2: Snohomish County

When I got to Everett Station, I didn't spend much time there because of a crazy woman shouting argumentative stuff at what I presumed to be nobody. Right before I left, a security officer went to confront her.

Just like last time, there was fog all along the Snohomish River Valley. I only got to see some mist hanging low over the prairie north of Everett, but it was still very visually appealing to me.

Dawn Mist

When I got to Marysville, I noticed a ton of roundabouts on the smaller street.

Marysville Roundabout: I saw quite a few of these that weren't there last time I was.

Some railroad tracks cross 51st Avenue NE at a very acute angle north of Marysville. I'd forgotten about that when planning this, but when I got to the general vicinity of the crossing, my memory of it was triggered and I followed the detour that I always used in the past. It was otherwise pretty uneventful until I got to Arlington.

New Apartments in Arlington
Legion Park Station

While at the park, I struck up a nice chat with a couple of locals also using the trail on the beautiful day.

Heading north on the Centennial Trail., I remembered that the Whitehorse Trail was supposed to be undergoing improvements along its entire length. I was pretty dismayed when I saw it was exactly the same as I'd remembered where it hits the Centennial Trail.

Whitehorse Trail: Still the same as it was years ago…

The northern section of the trail was pretty much exactly as I remembered it, though I forgot how far it was between the Pilchuck Creek crossing and the Nakashima Barn at the end.

Bryant General store

At the barn, I just took in how quiet and comfortable it was there.

At Nakashima Barn

Not long after heading south from the barn, there was a strong smell of cannabis, followed by a guy riding a heavily loaded bike north.

The sights along the trail were still beautiful as always.

Over Pilchuck Creek
Pilchuck Creek
Stillaguamish River Confluence
Stillaguamish River Confluence
Over Stillaguamish River Confluence
Stillaguamish River Bridge

At Legion Park, I had enough nice encounter with other trail users.

The Gayteway Business Park was still a pile of rubble all these years later, but I did see a short bit of new trail shooting off the Centennial Trail.

191st Place NE Trail: This wasn't here last time I was.

At the bottom of Culpepr Hill, I stopped to eat right above a creek, which provided some very nice ambiance.

Centennial Trail
Centennial Trail

Culpeper Hill wasn't too difficult, and once at the top I started pushing pretty hard because the tailwind got me excited.

I stopped again at Machias Station Park for another food break where I saw a cute sight.

Machias Station Park
Machias Station Park

And a guy on a recumbent trike I'd been seeing over and over again chatted with me right before I left.

Last time, I stopped by Bicycle Centres of Snohomish to see their new location, but it was before they opened for the day. This time, I got the chance to go in and chat with the staff. They said they really liked the new location, especially for the bigger space and proximity to the Centennial Trail.

While riding through Snohomish, I came across a group of tandem riders, who were apparently part of the Evergreen Tandem Club and were out for a ride towards Woodinville.

The ride back to Everett wasn't anywhere nearly as bad as last time, probably because I wasn't unintentionally starving myself, but my legs were still very tired from pushing myself along the length of the Centennial Trail. I also had to stop at Rotary Park to lube my dry chain, whose factory lube hadn't held up.

Rather than taking my classic route through Lowell, I went along the Riverfront Trail, and managed to climb over the steep bridge over the BNSF mainline unlike last time! Once at Everett Station, I packed up my stuff in preparation for the ride home.

Part 3: Return Home

Part 3: Return Home

When I got to the University District, the traffic on all major streets was gridlocked, probably due to some event. I had to ride on the sidewalk on NE 45th Street for a block before switching to minor streets to the Burke–Gilman Trail.

I stopped by FreeRange Cycles as usual before heading home.

Lil' Beaver: This little guy was rolling along when I got to lower Ballard
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