Road Routes

Lake Samish Loop

February 23, 2019 /
  • 20-ish miles
  • Rolling hills with some short climbs.

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This is such a great ride; nice rolling hills, a flat lakefront loop, a good climb and mostly downhill all the way back to town. All that in around an hour. What’s not to like.

Basically, the ride is South on Old Samish, around the lake and back up. There are plenty of variations. Go straight up the hill at the firehouse to add another big climb. Go straight at Nulle instead of turning right and you go down to Alger, a right on Old Highway 99 brings you back to the lake and you’ve added 5 miles to the loop. It’s also a good jumping off point for heading down to Skagit or out to Lake Whatcom.

The shoulder sucks, but traffic is more or less non-existent. The only time you’ll get more than a few cars is during commute hours; it’s not uncommon to see less than a handfull of cars on the whole ride. Be aware, Old Samish is almost always five degrees colder than anywhere else in this part of the county and it’s in the shade all winter, so frost can last forever down there.