Ramble to Port Gamble

Port Gamble is a small company town on the upper fringes of the Kitsap Peninsula. It’s a national historic site and the homes, the outbuildings and the surroundings have been refurbished, painted and in all ways made more picturesque than they likely were when it was a functioning logging mill. It’s one of my favorite places to stop when taking out-of-town guests to Port Townsend and Hurricane Ridge.

To get there, you’ve got to take a ferry. Loops involving the Bainbridge/Seattle and Kingston/Edmonds ferries are classics around here. I’ve got a sweet spot for them as doing them as they were truly the first adventures I’d ever had on my bike, back before I even knew how to change a flat. Even now they still feel adventurous as I am often confused on how to navigate the sprawl between Seattle and Edmond.

For Vic’s first trip, we decided to get up early, head north to Edmonds, eat lunch in Port Gamble and then see how we felt and perhaps add some miles by skipping Bainbridge completely and heading to the ferry at Bremerton or Southworth. Except we slept in, got a slow start, and so ended up doing the most straight-forward approach to this ride, getting home a few hours before sunset on Bainbridge Ferry.

It’s been a while since I’ve been to Port Gamble, so I was disappointed that the Oyster Grilling guy wasn’t there. Though, after stopping in Kingston for a blue cheese hamburger, I was too full to eat oysters anyhow!

On this ride, I think I most enjoyed our stroll though Poulsbo. I normally think of this town as a hideous stretch of freeway, but the old town, with it’s Norwegian pride in full display, was quite charming and a place I won’t likely skip again on my bike. I can’t wait to get back to that bakery down there.