Cape Disappointment does not disappoint

During the week of July 4th, we took our bikes with us on a camping trip to Cape Disappointment State Park, which is located near Long Beach, WA.  We were camping with family friends, who were very impressed by our new bikes and had brought their own, so we all went out for a ride around the park along its long 20 mph roads through the trees and out to the the end of the road by the jetty - from which you can see one of the two lighthouses at the park.

We had noticed a paved path when we entered the campground, learned from a Ranger that it was part of the Coastal Trail, which is a six mile paved path that goes from the park through the city of Long Beach, and that most of it follows the coastline.  Skipping the super steep part that was in the park, we started where the path heads to the coast.  First went through some rock formations, then cut through the beach grass for a few miles before we reached town.

In town, we locked up all of our bikes together - a feat in itself because we had three adult bikes, a teen's bike, and a kid's bike, but only one cable lock.  With some ingenuity, we were able to accomplish the task, and the bikes looked awesome all tangled up together.

On our way back to the park, we took our time to explore a bit so we could look for a beach access road that would allow a car to drive onto the beach in the area we were riding along.  We found what we were looking for.

As we waited for our ride to pick us up with our bikes, we explored some of the other trails, which started with a pretty bridge, then quickly headed up a steep path that probably only an experienced mountain biker could get up (although I got further up it than either of the other guys who tried!).

We later returned by car to fly kites at the beach we'd found access to during our bike ride.

We may not have ridden the longest of rides while on this camping trip, but we loved the freedom that having our bikes with us afforded us.