Update: 2021-May — As of January 2021, this road is temporarily closed at Mile post 13 due to the shoulder of the road collapsing and carrying away part of a lane.
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South Skagit Highway and Concrete-Sauk Valley Road provide a very scenic back way from Sedro Wooley to the Mountain Loop Highway and south to Darrington. On the cool September that marked the day ride portion of ‘Pass the Oyster’ 2004, the road was dry and nearly deserted. The auturn leaves lined the trees and the sides of the road, but had been cleared from most of the corners by other traffic. A few corners had lines of gravel outside of the cager wheel lines, but the even these were a mere handful on this recently chip-sealed road as it skirts the Cultus Mountains and Rinker Ridge along the Skagit River.
Old Pastureland along South Skagit Highway
For most of its length, the S. Skagit and Concrete-Sauk Valley Roads follow the Sauk and Skagit Rivers. The rivers provide a very nice scenic backdrop for this spectacular road with its consistent chain of sweepers and sharp corners. Keep an eye out for pedestrains during good fishing weather, and keep an eye out for errant domestic animals tortting along the road. I almost hit a hunting dog of some sort that darted from the side of the road directly at the front wheel of the bike.
View of the Concrete-Sauk Valley Road section from up along Finney Creek Road.
Full services are available each end of the road way. Sedro Wooley is just a mile or so away across the Skagit from the north end. Darrington is about 5 miles from the south end and has a very good gas station, although the air compressor was broken at the Shell when we were there. When we stopped in Darrington, there was a Goldwing group riding through that was duplicating our loop but in the opposite direction: North on 530 to Concrete-Sauk Valley Road and on into Sedro Wooley on S. Skagit Highway. I’m sure it was a much slower pace than we were able to maintain through the nearly-deserted and unpatrolled curves.
- Towns: Clear Lake, Concrete (across river bridge)
- Length: 46
- County: Skagit
Google Map: