Ride to Swift Campout - Picnic with Zach Style!

Swift Campout Weekend is June 25-26 and Swift is hosting a camping extravaganza at Tolt-MacDonald Park. Tickets are sold out now, but for those who signed up for the "Meet-at-camp" option, I'll be leading a mostly gravel, mixed-terrain ride out to the camp linking together some of my favorite spots between Seattle and the campground.

As a feature of our ride, let's have a mid-ride picnic party 20 miles in where the PSE trail ends and the Redmond Watershed begins (see map). Bring your cornichons, charcuterie, chocolate covered strawberries, cheese plates, and beverages of choice for our mid-ride lunchtime stop before a romp through the forest and mostly downhill and flat rest of the ride to camp for party #2.

The route (see ride with gps map for exact details):

• Meet at UW on Rainier Way, North of where the Burke Gilman intersects
• Ride across 520
• Take the Cross-Kirkland Corridor (hardpack fast-riding gravel) up North for a few miles
• Descend on road for a couple miles into the valley to link up with the Sammamish River Trail in Woodinville
• Take Sammamish River Trail south a couple miles to the start of the PSE Trail
• Climb up and take the PSE Trail East to the Redmond Watershed. This is punchy with steep sections and is mostly dirt.
• After the rough climbs of the PSE Trail, we'll reach a little viewpoint right on the edge of the Redmond Watershed where we'll have our snack stop. Plan to hang out here for 30-60 minutes. This is our lunch and snacking stop.
• The most fun part of the ride is next as we ride up through the swoopy Redmond watershed and connected dirt trails to connect to the Tolt Pipeline Trail. This is dirt, but is wide-ish and easy to ride for all skill levels if you are comfortable riding on dirt/gravel.
• After the Redmond watershed, we're in the clear and the last 10 miles of the ride are smoooooth sailing. We'll descend into the valley, take some semi-busy roads for a quick couple miles then connect with the Snoqualmie Valley Trail (gravel) that leads us straight South to Tolt MacDonald.

I expect we'll probably get to our picnic spot around 12-12:30ish and get to the campground around 2:30-3ish.

Pace will be around 12-14mph on the flats and slower on the climbs. We will regroup at major turns and at the tops of intersections. We will try to stay together, but worst case we can regroup at the lunch spot. This is mostly gravel/dirt and has some steep sections. I'll be riding my cargo bike so won't be flying through the dirt sections.

If the weather turns out to be rainy, this whole plan might change significantly. RSVP here on Everyday Rides for updates.