We had a great Kidical Mass camping trip for Adventure Cycling Association’s Bike Travel Weekend!

* All the photos here: Kidical Mass Bike Overnight to Illahee State Park – June 3-4, 2017 – 201 photos
* Details on timing and routing here: Kidical Mass Bike Overnight June 3-4, 2017
* Our group numbered 35: 16 kids and 19 adults (and one dog). Four kids were on their own bikes!

Good eye if you noticed the kids’ bikes all look similar. All four are on Islabikes. They’re light, geared (for 20-inch-wheel sizes and up), and have strong brakes–all great for big hills! It helps that the US factory is close by in Portland, but they ship all over.

This was our first time bringing a group to Illahee State Park and it worked very well. All previous (six year’s worth!) Kidical Mass camping trips, like last year’s Bike Travel Weekend trip, have been to Fay Bainbridge Park.

The bike ride to camp from the ferry is shorter–3.7 miles to Fay’s 6.9 miles or 7.1 miles–but it feels hillier to me. I’m not good at comparing elevation profiles so feel free to tell me how hillier (or not) it is down in the comments.

Most of our riding was in the street, though with a blocked lane (by a parked car) for the uphill block away from the ferry, I took the wide sidewalk so my kids would follow me there. All in all, it was very calm riding. The Manette Bridge arches up over the Port Washington Narrows and has a bike lane, but I chose to have us ride over on the wide sidewalk.

Just off the Manette Bridge we ran into Patty of VisitKitsap.com, camera in hand. She snapped some pictures of us as we pedaled off the bridge and then caught up with us a block away while we rested and regrouped in the R K Mart parking lot. It was fun to happen upon a local VIP while just starting our adventure! Here’s her post to the Visit Kitsap Peninsula Facebook page:

Seattle Kids love Kitsap! A big group from Kidical Mass is on a weekend cycling adventure to Illahee State Park. We spotted them crossing the Manette Bridge and snapped a few photos. Thanks to Madi Carlson of Wallingford for arranging the party!

I reserved three sites (11, 12, and 13) ahead of time–spacious sites I chose during a test run. Upon arrival a few families added adjacent site 16 to our batch and we all fit quite well. It’s not the same as being all in the big clearing of Fay Bainbridge Park, but it was amazing being amid the trees.

Most of our campers made the trek down to the beach. It’s a great half-mile hike starting just across the street from the group picnic shelter parking lot. The trail ends with a street crossing to the beach parking lot–something to keep in mind for little hikers who run ahead.

The swings and teeter totter have been removed from the playground, but the slide is still there and the kids seemed satisfied. A new playground is coming at some point. During our stay we saw volunteers clearing the fallen tree that crushed the group picnic shelter this winter. The picnic shelter would normally have been a terrific place for charging of e-bike batteries and will be an option again next summer. As it was, e-people had to make do with the outlets in the bathrooms–there’s one at the campground and one down at the beach.

Everyone was pretty quick about packing up and heading home Sunday morning. Since my kids were on their own bikes it was pretty important we didn’t stay and play too long lest they become too tired to make it home cheerfully. The very organized campers rolled out around 9am and caught the 9:45am ferry. the rest of us set out for the 11:10am ferry. Even with a stop at Saboteur Bakery in Manette (recommended to us by Patty of Visit Kitsap) the families not stopping for lunch grabbed the 11:10am boat while 11 of us stopped just above the ferry terminal for lunch and caught the 12:20pm. A sandwich shop, European fry house, and quick Mexican food place are all in a row and have outdoor seating for keeping an eye on the bikes and are conducive to wiggly kids. A couple parents crossed the street to get good coffee.

I’m so happy with how well the brand new camp spot worked out! We’ll definitely do this again as a group.

In the meantime, if you’re a family biker and want to come camping, we’re going again soon: Swift Campout Kidical Mass June 24-25, 2017! This trip will be to Fay Bainbridge.