Monday, June 21, 2010 Marblemount, WA 52 miles

Rooming with Sue tonight -a delightful former air traffic controller.  She commiserated with me over the difficulty of using this new Acer.  The learning curve has been awful.  Enough about that! . . .  Today's ride began in a light mist changing later to partly cloudy. .  The route was gorgeous - thick woods, overhanging trees and always riding along the beautiful, green Skagit River.  The river is fed by glaciers and is milky green in color.  We criss-crossed it several times.  I also saw many waterfalls near the road and beautiful wildflowers - yellow buttercups, floxgloves, pinks.  The trees were pine, aspen, fir, cedar.  I noticed a lot of evidence of the pine bark beetle destruction and am told we'll see a lot more as we go along. 

We're staying tonight at Clark's Skagit River Cabins,  otherwise known as the "bunny" cabins because of the large population of semi-tamed bunnies all over the place.  The owners have placed huge containers of food all around.   They encourage feeding but not touching.  Mrs. Clark (Tootsie) is 91 and the 5th generation owner of this large piece of property along the river.   People come here to fish for steelhead, trout and salmon, also to raft.  . . . On the way into town (before getting to Clark's), I stopped at one of the Express coffee kiosks that seem ubiquitous in WA.  Had a great cup of coffee to enjoy with my pb&j that I had not yet eaten.  . . . Rode thru the town of Concrete today and also thru Sauk National Park and thru the Sauk (sock)-Suiattle Indian Reservation.  Before dinner Sue and I walked across the road and down the path to the river.  There's a convenient log bench and a swing.  Several others showed up so it was a good time to visit and get acquainted.  At the start of the path, we visited a quaint, very small little chapel - Wildwood Chapel.  Inside there are 6 very short pews.  It was moved in 1975 from another location.  . . .  Today's ride was mostly flat with a few good hills to prepare us for tomorrow and Washington Pass.  Nancy and I are in Cabin 5 where a family could easily stay for a week or more.  I cleaned my bike good today and removed all the road grit from the rain.  BikesPlus did a great job of overhauling it, and I want to keep it in good condition.