Biking the Green River Trail

Hi Blog!

We crossed the border on Thursday, October 3, 2019 at Aldergrove, BC. We couldn't believe it. There was no line! We pulled right up to the window, handed over the passports, answered a couple questions and were sent on our way. Quickest border crossing ever!

Friday was spent restocking the fridge and running errands. On Saturday, we visited Dave's cousin, John Olsen and his wife, Kathy, and their kids. They own a small boutique winery, Alia Wines, in Snohomish, Washington. They treated us to a great lunch, while we sampled their wines. Needless to say, our wine cellar has been completely restocked after the border crossing. We realized once we got back to camp that we forget to take photos. Oh well. There is always next time.

Today, Sunday, October 6, 2019 was our last full day in Kent, Washington. We originally picked this campground to allow us to restock the fridge and visit with family. Turns out, our campground is right next to the Green River Trail System. The Green River Trail is one of the longest contiguous regional trails in the Puget Sound Region with 19 paved miles from the south edge of Seattle to the City of Kent. Here we are ready to ride.

Just a couple miles from our campground is the Three Friends Fishing Hole Park.

The trail winds its way down the Green River through an industrial park. The large warehouse buildings that back up to the trail have decorated retaining walls and stairs that allow their employees to access the trail.

Much of the trail is tree-lined. However, we did pass a few open areas. Just across the river, an old landfill has been reclaimed, and we wonder what it will be repurposed for.

Crunch, crunch, crunch...the sound of our bike tires going through a pile of leaves. No denying it's fall.

Imagine our surprise when we noticed a teepee by the side of the trail. We stopped to investigate, but the fence kept us from getting a closer look. It appeared to be a small private camping area with a teepee and two yurts.

The Green River is a 65-mile long river, arising on the western slopes of the Cascade Range south of Interstate 90. It meanders its way through the Kent Valley towards Seattle and empties into Puget Sound.

The trail switches back and forth between the western side of the river and the eastern side, via bridges that are each unique and interesting in their own right.

Crossing the bridge affords us an opportunity to look up and down the river. We noticed a couple of fisherman floating with the current.

We checked a couple of local fishing websites. The Green River is known for steelhead trout, which are ocean-going trout that return to spawn upriver. There are also several runs of salmon. Coho or silver salmon are currently running, but we did not see any. We did notice one pink salmon that looked like he was done spawning.  He was lazily swimming down the river with the current, and we imagined that he would soon expire and float to one bank or the other, to become food for scavengers or to fertilize the ground.

We continued our journey across this really cool wooden bridge.

We couldn't have asked for better weather. The fall color is really starting to pop.

There are a number of pedestrian bridges across the river. Each one is unique.

For the most part, the banks of the Green River are very steep. It makes fishing from the bank difficult, which could explain why this one sandy stretch was lined with fishermen.

After about an hour of exploring, we stopped for lunch at a local sports complex. We watched a couple of youth soccer teams battle it out. In the far field, groups of kids were learning the finer points of lacrosse.

After lunch, we decided to mosey back to camp. Several times on our return ride, we were treated to views of Mount Rainer.

Tomorrow, we head over to the coast. Looking forward to some beach-combing.