Fits and Starts

Another title for today's post could be along the lines of "Lucky, or unlucky?".

After yesterday's long 63 miles, we had just over half that distance for today. We slept in--well, until 7:00 or so, and were not in any great hurry. That was a good thing because as we were leaving the campsite, Christian discovered he had a flat rear tire. He got it changed pretty quickly (considering he had to take everything off the bike). He pumped it up as best he could, but it still needed more air. Luckily, there was a gas station with air just down the road at Kalaloch Lodge. After a couple of attempts, he was able to bring the tire up to sufficient pressure. Once again, we took off down the road.

We rode about 5 more miles to Queets. To back up a bit...we have not camped where there are showers (other than rain) since Port Angeles. And we won't have showers until Twin Harbors which is two days away (because we are staying at Lake Quinault for two nights). As we rode up to the turnoff to Queets, there was a gas station/store with...SHOWERS!!! They also had laundry facilities, but we are okay with that (really putting the wool clothing to the test). I inquired inside as to the cost and hotness of these showers. They were $4 for 15 minutes of a nice hot shower. And, there were two of them! Christian declined a shower, but Carol and I jumped at the chance to be clean. It's not like we were really dirty or even sweaty since the weather hasn't been warm, but still, a shower is nice. Even though I haven't washed my hair since Sequim, I didn't wash it today as it would have never dried (yeah, it's raining again). Although Christian didn't shower, he did attempt to dry his shorts with the air from the fan thing outside of the showers (see photo below).

Once we were all spiffed up, we got back on the road. We got maybe two or three miles down the road when it started to rain more heavily. Once again we stopped, this time to put rain jackets on. Then, off we went again.

This time we made it about 5 miles before we stopped to wait for Carol to catch up. Once she did, she decided it was lunch time. Actually, by then it was almost 1:00 so we pulled out food. The rain had lessened some.

Back on the road again, we rode several miles on chip seal. Fortunately, the road was pretty straight, so I was able to ride out in the travelled area of the lane on the smoother surface. I could spot a car in my rear view mirror from pretty far away with plenty of time to move to the shoulder.

We took a couple more rest breaks. There really wasn't any scenery except trees and the occasional clear-cut. Our destination was July Creek Campground on the north shore of Lake Quinault. As we turned upnorth Shore Rd. we saw a sign warning bicyclists that July Creek was closed to camping. I thought that was mighty nice of them to let us know before we got all the way there!

We continued to the South Shore Rd. with our new destination of Willaby Campground on the other side of Lake Quinault. It was only a couple of miles off 101.

It had pretty much stopped raining, but then as we started to set up our tents it started again. We moved quickly (and I set mine up under the rain fly) and got everything taken care of. Then, of course, it stopped raining.

We went for a walk on a trail along the lake to the famous Quinault Lodge. It really is a nice place with a beautiful big fireplace and loads of comfy couches and chairs. As we were relaxing on one of the couches, we noticed the dining room. I said to Carol, "You know...we COULD have dinner here.". She quickly agreed as did Christian. We took a gander at the menu and decided it suited us just fine! We were shown to our table and proceeded to have a lovely meal (I wore my nicest black wool shirt). I had clam chowder and crab dip with toasted ciabatta. Carol had crab cakes and Christian had Penne with chicken. I had a deep dish marionberry cobbler for dessert and Christian had Banana Slug ice cream (strangely, it didn't taste at all like banana slugs--but, then again, who knows what banana slugs taste like???).

Speaking of slugs, we saw a info sign on the trail that talked about the various slugs here. Two that caught my attention were the Warty Jumping Slug and the Yellow Bordered Tail Dropping Slug. I've included a photo below with the info. I can see a whole animated show featuring Warty the Jumping Slug and his tail-dropping sidekick!

Anyway, during dinner the rain really decided to come down. We felt so smart sitting in the restaurant eating dinner while it was pouring outside. That is, until it was still raining when we had to walk back to our campsite (1 mile). Carol was dressed in her rain pants and rain jacket. Christian had his rain jacket on and I had my new trail jacket (water resistant). Christian and I rain all the way back to our campsite (okay, we took breaks in the dry spots under the trees--we're bicycle tourists, not runners!). Still, we were fairly wet. I managed to get into my tent and get my pants off without getting my sleeping bag wet! Both my tent vestibules are full of my stuff. At least nothing (except poor Betsy) is getting any wetter! My blue tarp is being used as a door mat for the "back porch" of my tent.

We are hoping it clears up tomorrow so we can circumnavigate the lake on our bikes. However, this is the RAIN forest...

Beach Time!

After leaving The vampire mania of Forks, we continued working our way to the Coast. Along the way we stopped to pick some berries. While we were waiting for Carol to catch up, Christian laid down for a little nap (he didn't really go to sleep) along the side of the road.

We popped out to the Coast at Ruby Beach. Then, down the road was the Big Cedar. It was only .3 miles in so we took a look. It was quite interesting. It's really a nurse log.

We arrived at Kalaloch Campground after almost 10 hours on the road (only about 6 were riding hours--we don't know where the other 4 hours went--at least it didn't seem like we had spent that much time taking breaks--but, probably we did). I wanted a campsite on the ocean side, but there weren't any available and they didn't seem big enough anyway. We got a nice spot with room for our three tents.

Tonight we had Mexican food for dinner. Carol had brought some taco seasoning mix, and we bought some beans, rice, and tortillas. We also had cheese and sour cream (an advantage of the weather not being so hot). I cut up a tomato and an avocado and we added that to the mix. Carol added a bit too much of the seasoning for my taste. I think I could have lit a campfire with my lips! But, then again, I'm not such a spicy foods person so it probably wasn't that hot.

After dinner we went for a walk on the beach. I had hoped for a good sunset, but there were too many clouds off the horizon.

Christian and I played cards and I showed him my card tricks. We don't have as many miles tomorrow (only about 35), so we'll be sleeping in.

We're hoping this non-raining weather pattern continues...

The Ambulance Guy Says...

"She's coming! She's just a little bit behind!"

Ha! I bet you thought something different based on the title of this post!

As we left Fairholm this morning, we immediately had a 1 1/2 mile climb. I was glad because it was cold. It was better than going downhill first. Just after Christian and I reached the top, an ambulance went by. The driver came over the speaker and said, "She's coming! She's just a little bit behind!". It took me a moment to process what he said. Sure enough, Carol made it just a short time later. It was nice to have someone reporting on her progress!

We have made it to Forks and Twilight Mania. Actually, it seems to have toned down some (however, they say they are averaging 80,000 visitors a year because of Twilight). The main attractions are at the Chamber of Commerce (where we are now using the free wifi).

We found a Subway for lunch and restocked groceries at Thriftway. Tonight it's Mexican for dinner!

We are a little over 1/2 way for today as we are headed for Kalaloch. It hasn't rained today, but remains cloudy.

From Luxury to...

...Not Quite so Luxurious.

From two nights in the backyard campground of Casey and Brigid's to Fairholm Campground in the rain. to be fair (no pun intended), we are in the rain forest. One should expect there to be rain.

We left Casey and Brigid's at 9:15 this morning. At first it was just foggy as we finished riding along the Olympic Discovery Trail through Port Angeles. The trail ended near the ferry dock of the ferry to Victoria.

From there we headed to Hwy 101. As we were climbing out of Port Angeles, we stopped to take off our rain jackets because we were just too hot. Of course, shortly thereafter it started misting more heavily. Finally, we stopped and put on full raingear. We were at a roadside jerky stand (similar to a roadside fruit stand only this guy was selling a variety of jerky--the teriyaki was pretty good so I bought some).

As we reached the beginning of Lake Crescent, we saw a sign telling bicyclists to "Read Notice". Kind of strange, but we did as we were told. Below is a photo of the sign. Basically, it warned us of the death defying act we were about to partake of by riding Hwy 101 along Lake Crescent. First of all, there wasn't really that much traffic. Secondly, the traffic that did pass us was very courteous. In addition, there were pull outs about every quarter mile or less. Really, it was not bad at all. There were far more winding and narrow roads in New Zealand with much higher speed limits.

We stopped about 1/2 way along the lake at Storm King Ranger Station for a bit of lunch (in the rain, but under the trees). We thought we would have a look at Marymere Falls, but it was an 1 1/2 roundtrip hike. Had it not been raining, I may have considered it. Then we thought we would check out Nature Bridge. We thought it was an actual bridge but, no. It is a science camp of sorts. A neat looking place, actually. But, not a bridge.

We continued on for the last five miles or so of the dreaded 101 along Lake Crescent. As we approached the Fairholm Grocery store I saw a cyclist sitting outside the store. We stopped to talk to her. Sadly, she had broken a spoke on this, the first day of her trip down the Coast to San Diego. She was waiting for the bus to take her back to Port Angeles so she could get a new wheel (this same spoke had broken before). We wished her luck and headed the 1/4 mile to Fairholm Campground.

We chose a nice walk-in site overlooking the lake. I got to set up my under the rainfly like I had learned to do while in NZ. I also put up the small blue tarp I brought for just such rainy occasions. Betsy is parked under it (even though it has stopped raining).

We cooked a dinner of lemon garlic orzo with sautéed zucchini and tomato in lemon olive oil. We threw in the ever-present can of chicken and an avocado. It was quite good.

After dinner we went for a stroll. As we came around "A" loop, I saw another cyclist. I went to talk to her and lo and behold it was the same girl from the store! She had caught the bus to PA, got a new wheel at the bike shop, and caught the bus back! She thought she was going to be at least a day behind! We chatted for awhile. Her name is Megan and I suspect we will see her again.

Here are some photos from this rainy day.

The Ridge They Call Hurricane

Super Biker Woman and her trusty sidekick (Christian needs his own super hero name) conquered the ridge they call Hurricane on their trusty bicycle steeds! Carol conquered Port Angeles. SBW and her sidekick climbed over 2000 feet. Carol ate at two DIFFERENT restaurants!

Christian and I left Casey and Brigid's at 9:00am. We stopped at the Olympic National Park Headquarters first. Then, it was 5 miles to the Entrance Station where we paid $5 each to enter on our bikes. Thankfully, those first 5 miles were definitely the steepest. I was glad we stayed with Casey and Brigid because if we had stayed at Heart O' the Hills, we would have had that 5 mile climb at the END of yesterday. That would not have been good.

The park ranger at the entrance warned us to dress warmly when we came down. Apparently, hypothermia can be a problem on an 17 mile descent. We had packed appropriately for the descent.

After a photo op at the Heart o' the Hills campground sign, we started the remaining 12 miles to the top. We pulled off at most of the view points for photos and breaks. I was listening to music on my Rock It, so the climb was fairly enjoyable.

At the first view point, we walked a little trail to another look-out. In a tree near the look-out was a big raptor bird of some sort that was making a low pitched whoop whoop sound.

Just after the viewpoint, we went through 3 tunnels. Christian has a generator hub headlight so he was in front going through the tunnels. I turned my rear flasher on.

We continued to climb...and climb... and climb some more. Sometimes I was not in super granny gear, but for lengthy sections I was. But, like I said, I was listening to music, so it was all good.

Finally, the top was in view! Well, we could see it anyway. We still had a couple of miles to go. However, the views were spectacular! We stopped to to take photos, including some of a couple of bucks with velvety antlers. Finally, one turned and faced me for a decent photo.

We made it to the top after 4 1/2 hours. There is a nice Visitor's Center at the top. Christian and I had a lovely lunch at the cafe. I had an artichoke, tomato, and spinach panini sandwich. Christian had fish and chips. After lunch, we walked around and up a short paved trail. From the trail, we could see Port Angeles.

For our descent, we put on warmer clothes. I put my arm warmers back on along with a long sleeve wool shirt. Then I put my high-vis jacket on with my rain jacket over that. I pulled on my rain pants, my possum/Marino gloves with my rain gloves over the top. I topped off the whole ensemble with an extra buff around my neck that I pulled up over my nose. Needless to say, there was no chance of hypothermia for me! Actually, it was a good ensemble because I was also not too warm.

We came down the 17 miles, that had taken us 4 1/2 hours to climb, in 45 minutes. We made it back to the house at 4:15.

It was a great day and Christian agreed it was worth the ride--even with all the climbing.

Here are some photos...

Kayaking Thwarted No More!

I woke up in a nice comfy bed at the early hour of 5:00am. I had to pee. As I was going back to bed, I noticed the sun was coming up behind Mt. Baker. So, instead of going back to bed, I pulled out my camera and started taking photos (see the earlier post). I ended up not going back to sleep.

After a delicious breakfast of steel-cut oats with fruit and walnuts, we pulled out the kayaks to go out for a paddle in the Dungeness Bay. Yay! I was finally getting to go kayaking (on my Coast bike tour I tried twice to kayak without success--one day it was too windy and he other time no one showed up)!

The water was like glass. No wind and the tide gently coming in. My weather karma was in full force! I was in a single kayak (a nice red one). We paddled toward the old pier and where the Dungeness River empties into the Bay. We tried paddling up the river and we did make it far enough to see four juvenile eagles sitting on a branch. I think their names were John, Paul, George, and Ringo. We let the river push us back out to the Bay. We paddled back, stopping for various photo-ops. The mountains (both High Cascades and Olympics) were beautiful. It was a great paddle! The wind was just starting to ripple the water when we got back.

We brought the boats back to the boat house where they could be rinsed off.

We got all our bike stuff put together. Carol was letting Sue carry her stuff to Casey's in Port Angeles in her car. We had some lunch, then hit the road.

We rode back to the Olympic Discovery Trail which we took all the way to Port Angeles. It was very cool. We rode to Railroad Park. The railroad bridge over the Dungeness River was very nice.

There were some steep downhills and uphills, but we were warned ahead of time of a spot where we could get off to avoid a really steep gratuitous section. Which is not to say we didn't go up some pretty steep hills. In fact, one was so steep that both Christian and Carol had to walk. I only made it up because I refuse to walk. Of course I was wheezing like mad by the time I got to the top!

We came along the water and saw an otter come out of the water with something in its mouth. We tried to see where it went, but it disappeared.

We made it to Casey and Brigid's house where we are camped in the backyard. We've had a delicious dinner of leftover pork loin (brought to Port Angeles by Sue--along with Carol's stuff).

Brigid is playing guitar and singing. A great day! Tomorrow Christian and I are planning to ride up to Hurricane Ridge. Carol will take a rest day.

Here's some great photos. The Discovery Trail is so awesome that even the benches have squeegees to clean off any water!

Sunrise in Sequim

It's gonna be a beautiful day!