Bike Camping: San Juan Tour

Wayne Johnson will lead a bike camping tour through the San Juan Islands on one of the lowest traffic weeks of the year. We will carry all our own camping equipment and camp at Lopez Farm Cottages and Moran State Park on Orcas. The trip begins and ends in Anacortes.

Route details are at RideWithGPS.

Tuesday will be 31 miles of riding around Lopez Island. We will head climb up from the ferry less than three miles before we drop our camping luggage at Lopez Farm Cottages and Camping. We will spend the rest of the day riding the island unloaded before ending with dinner and getting groceries at Lopez Village.

Wednesday will be our three island day with 34 miles of riding. We catch a morning ferry to Shaw Island and take a quick 16 mile ride before catching the ferry to Orcas Island.  When we arrive on Orcas Island, our 16 route will avoid the main road into Eastsound, instead taking us over hills and through some gravel along Dolphin Bay Road. We'll get food in Eastsound before heading to Midway Campground in Moran State Park.

Thursday morning we'll climb up Mount Constitution (10 miles, 2000') before we break camp. After we pack up, we'll head to the ferry via Crow Valley and West Sound on a rolling 17 mile route.

What to bring:

• Wide tires for the gravel section on day 2. 
• Clothing for three days of riding and hanging out in camp. Clothes for rain and cold weather may be helpful.
• Spare tubes, pump, tools and other biking gear to make you self-sufficient are also necessary. 
• Tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, stove/cookware, flashlight.
• Some food for snacks and meals. There will be grocery stores available both days before we get to camp. They are marked on the maps.
• Money for ferries, camping, groceries and restaurants.
• If you haven’t done any bike camping before, good advice on bike camping can be found here.

Before the trip:

• Coordinate camping reservations with Ride Leader. 
• The Ride Leader will share an itinerary that includes the schedule for the ferries we intend to catch.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.