A long-ago ride that I’m writing up many years later, but since it was such a wonderful experience, I remember it well. It was the first camping trip on my Surly LHT, which replaced a Salsa Vaya. In retrospect, I should have kept the Salsa and went 650B for more tire clearance, but I hadn’t considered that at the time.
We camped at the private campground by Seal Beach Cottage, and the first night we learned that the name is appropriate, as seals kept us up half the night with their noisy shenanigans. The campground is lovely though, with a short hike into secluded camp sites in the trees.
We had a day to explore the island, checking out the lighthouse and generally enjoying the slow pace of the gulf islands.
We also hiked up to the high point of the island during an unexpected rainy morning. Mount Parke offers a rather stunning cliffside after a fairly technical trail ascent. The bikes did not come with.
Erin did an excellent job curating vegan camp food. I become so utilitarian when it comes to food, but appreciate better options.
We checked out the quaint museum as well as the surprisingly well-stocked bookstore.
Farmers markets are a gulf island specialty, and Mayne’s is especially good. Being from the city, leaving a bike unlocked was too foreign for me so I locked the back wheel – but most others simply leaned their bike somewhere and went in.
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