Bicycle Ride Around Tacoma

I like bicycle riding. I feel good when I ride and my mind is a lot clearer when I ride a lot of miles a week. But for some reason, I have been in a funk and have not spent much time riding lately. Maybe it has been the inclement weather. So it was a surprise this morning that the sun was out. I started planning for a longer ride today and I wanted to go somewhere that I don't normally go. First I thought about taking the mountain bike to some of the trails systems away from home. But then I decided to pack up the road bike and head to Gig Harbor where I could hook up with the Cushman Trail, ride across the Narrows Bridge and access the Scott Pierson trail system. I had a reason for riding the Scott Pierson trail(described later).

I got to the Wollochet park and ride at Gig Harbor and on the bike by 1100. I had a pleasant ride to the Narrows Bridge, but there the wind was really blowing. Across the bridge, I crossed Bridgeport Way and started riding the Scott Pierson Trail. This trail parallels SR 16 so it is quite noisy and crosses many city streets where the only way across is to cross in a cross walk and act like a pedestrian.

At 9.7 miles from Gig Harbor, the trail ended abruptly on South 25 ST in a quiet neighborhood. The streets were wide without much traffic. So like Forrest Gump, I decided to continue riding farther and headed east. I continued downhill toward the downtown area and ended up on Pacific Ave. I portaged across the sky bridge to the Glass Museum and onto Dock Street. I rode north on Dock Street and eventually onto Ruston Way. 

Ruston Way heads north toward Pt Defiance and the last time I rode there, the street ended near the old tunnel. Now it bypasses the tunnel and continues on up the hill to Pearl Street and the entrance to Pt Defiance Park. I thought about just continuing back to the Narrows Bridge, but at the park entrance, I thought "maybe I will just ride a bit farther around the point". So I rode the "Five Mile Loop" around the park, exited at the back side and found my way back to the Narrows Bridge. Across the bridge and three more miles on the Cushman Trail and I was back to the car after 31 miles.

This was a good ride. The wind made for some tiring riding while heading into it, but the day stayed clear with no rain. I was not impressed with the Scott Pierson trail, but I was able to reconfirm some of the routes that I have done before (Ruston Way, Pt Defiance Park) and found ways to link them together. 

 The Narrows Bridges

 The pedestrian/cycling route across the bridge.

 This is the main reason for trying the Scott Pierson trail. A couple of weeks ago on another site, someone showed a picture of this tunnel, said that it was on this trail, but did not say where. Furthermore they said that most people would probably not see this. Hmmm! It was not where I thought it would be, but I found where it passed under S 19th Street near Cheney Stadium. Kind of hard to miss.

 An old Tacoma Fire Dept. fireboat along Ruston Way.

 It is only five miles around Pt Defiance.

 Looking toward the entrance of Gig Harbor.