Fall colors Trikke touring in Port Townsend, Washington [videos]

Port Hudson Marina (photo by Douglass Weymouth)

For the last 4 years, my wife Sally and I have taken our own fall colors tour to the Pacific Northwest. Out trip has multiple purposes, the first of which is to celebrate her Halloween birthday which we do with our close friends, Pedro and Kay Robinson. We like taking up a couple of pumpkins from our garden and having a jack-o-lantern carving fest.

Secondly, we love to carve up the area around Port Townsend on our Trikkes. This year and last, we have rented a cozy place in Point Hudson called the Pilot House, right across from the small marina and surrounded by boat and sailmakers. Many mornings we’ve heard the boat lift taking a boat out of the water to clean the hull; it makes for some nice viewing.

The street in front of the Pilot House has a nice blacktop surface that hasn’t weathered too much and is a great place to warm up before riding around Port Townsend, or just to work on techniques.

The next street up is Monroe Street, which has a hill that’s steep but not too steep as to require traversing to make it up. Last year when I first attempted it, I couldn’t get all the way up, due to a rough spot of road surface. I kept trying to get past it but couldn’t do it.

One day, there was a 20-25 knot wind blowing up Monroe Street and I decided, if I couldn’t get up the hill, I needed to re-think my climbing skills. I managed to get up the hill with the wind to my back and decided to do it again, just to make sure it wasn’t a total fluke. It was a great feeling, making it up the hill without walking. Next I proceeded to climb Washington Street and Quincy Street, just to prove to myself I could do it.

Usually we go to Fort Worden State Park to ride the Bunker Trail on our Trikke Pon-es. I love the Bunker Trail. It has a nice long downhill that allows you to feel like you’re on the Trikke Skki. Plus, there’s no cars to bother you, although you do have to be careful to avoid the walkers. The bunkers can be fun to explore on a Trikke and kind of spooky because it is dark inside. Fort Worden State Park.

Alas, it was too wet for the Bunker Trail this trip. This year was wetter than last, so we concentrated on riding along the beach area, where there’s a nice hill to climb and some moderate areas to get your carve on.

My friend, Pedro has a T8 that he rides but is always interested in riding one of my T12s.
We have lots of fun, carving it up all around the Fort, as you will see in the video. Fort Worden is a wonderful place for Trikke riders and I highly recommend it as a destination for a vacation. The trails are not super long, but there’s something for everyone to carve up. We like the fall because there aren’t a lot of crowds, but there is the increased chance of rain. However, there are plenty of coffee shops and restaurants to keep you out of the rain and lots of shops to look around in. On Halloween folks dress up and have a 4-5 block parade.

Two out of the four years we’ve visited Port Townsend, the San Francisco Giants have won the World Series whilst we were there. Thankfully we have friend that cheers on the Giants with us. I guess we’ll have to keep going to Port Townsend to do our part to help them win.

Keep on Carving!

Trikke Carving at Fort Worden State Park (YouTube link)