PORT ANGELES & OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK

DAY 77

SUNDAY 19 JUNE 2016

PORT TOWNSEND (FORT WORDEN STATE PARK) - PORT ANGELES

1100 - 1730

85.38 km (53.05 miles)
Av. Speed: 16.8 km/h (10.4 mph)
Max. Speed: 59.9 km/h (37.2 mph)
Time On Bike: 5h 03m 25s

The good night's sleep which had followed up a 6-mile return hike into town for a "midnight snack" (a.k.a dinner) had the effect of freshening me up for Sunday's run into Port Angeles.

NOW HERE'S A STAT..... 

Since leaving Los Angeles 11 weeks ago, I had not yet ridden on a Sunday, so this was a first!

This is not something I planned, it's just the way it has happened.

Any residual weather from the previous day had also dissipated overnight and I started pedaling under 100% clear and calm skies.

Fort Worden is one of three separate fortifications that were built over a century ago for the defense of Puget Sound.

The roles of these strategic areas have changed dramatically over time and nowadays, Fort Worden functions both as a State Park and is continually being redeveloped towards operating as a year-round tourist facility.

It was good to take a little time to look around before hitting the road this morning.

POINT WILSON LIGHTHOUSE, FORT WORDEN SP

POINT WILSON, FORT WORDEN SP

After riding through rain for about 2½ hours yesterday, the weather could not have been any better for the ride today.

When conditions are this good, it kind of inspires you to capitalise on them.

In spite of a late-ish start, I had reached the 20/101 junction by 1.50 pm so with a good run, I could calculate that it wasn't going to be a late one into Port Angeles.

I'd given my PA host an E.T.A of somewhere between 4 and 6 pm and whilst 4 was ambitious, I was pretty confident of making 6.

With 14 miles left on the clock, I swung in for some re-hydration at a roadhouse just west of Sequim and was back in the traffic at 4.20 sharp.

So as I pulled up on my host's doorstep at 5.28 pm, I knew that gassing the final 14 miles/22.5 km in 1 hour 8 minutes had more than qualified as "a good run".

PORT ANGELES

Port Angeles was to be my final stop in the U.S.A.

It was also the stop I planned to both visit Olympic National Park and cross into Canada by boat.

Within 10 minutes of arrival, I was changed and off to a downtown diner with my new Warmshowers host Celeste and her family.

Fiesta Jalisco was as good a Mexican feed as I've had along the way so far - and I've had a few.

Especially coming straight off a 50-mile ride, I could have eaten two of them and washing it all down with a fine Margarita was also pretty ideal.

In the midst of the feast, we were joined by Celeste's partner Bob and the three of us then headed up into the National Park to have a look around.

Hurricane Ridge was pretty much the first place I'd planned to visit anyhow but to be able to get a free ride up there within 2 hours of arrival in Port Angeles was something I was not expecting at all.

An 18-mile drive up the mountain got us to the main lookout and I could immediately see what all the fuss was about.

Clear skies combined with late afternoon light are often the photographer's wet dream and with the stunning backdrop of the snow-covered Olympics, it couldn't have got any better.

As late in the day as possible, we took the Hurricane Hill trail to the top for sunset which was an all time highlight for this trip with a full moon rising to the east. 

DAY 78 

MONDAY 20 JUNE 2016

Monday and Tuesday were the days I set aside to explore Olympic National Park.

Olympic is the second World Heritage National Park I have visited on this trip (Yosemite is the other...)

Things were off to a good start having already been up to have a good look at Hurricane Ridge and there was some chance that I would make second trip, if time allowed.

With 2 full days available, I set out in the Kia Soul to see what I could get through.

THE KIA SOUL

Driving west out of Port Angeles on Monday morning, Celeste and Bob recommended I head out towards Cape Flattery which is the most northwestern point of the contiguous United States (i.e., all the mainland states excluding Alaska and Hawai'i).

The area is one of the richest in indigenous culture in this part of the U.S and has the excellent Makah museum near the township of Neah Bay as well as being scenically beautiful with the land fronting both the Pacific on the western side and Strait Juan de Fuca on the northern side.

Just under 2 hours on the road got me to Neah Bay and I spent around an hour in the museum learning all about the nearby Ozette village, which had been buried repeatedly by mudslides in the past 500 years, only to have a mass of well-preserved remains disturbed by huge tides in the 1970's.

It thus became a site of archaeological importance and part of what was recovered over a 4-year dig in the early 70's is housed in this museum.

THE MAKAH MUSEUM, NEAH BAY

STRAIT JUAN DE FUCA (LOOKING ACROSS TO VANCOUVER ISLAND)

SEKIU VILLAGE

It would have been equally pointless to travel out in this direction without walking the Cape Flattery trail and seeing the northwestern-most point for myself.

SEA CAVES, CAPE FLATTERY

SELFIE @ THE CAPE

With the remains of the day still wide open and potentially plenty of distance to cover, I decided to head south and see where it led me.

The western sections of Olympic are in this direction with the Hoh Rainforest being accessible from 101.

At 4 pm, I estimated another couple of hours to get there, although the prospects of attempting any major hiking after 6 pm were low.

Entering the gates of Olympic in the latter stages of the day proved to be a freebie, which not only suited me but determined that it would be probably a short stay as I wasn't paying for it.

I jumped onto the Spruce Trail once at Hoh and spent half-an-hour walking through dense thickets of spruce, hemlock, Douglas Firs and big-leaf maples.

From here, there was still time remaining to head to one of the nearby beaches for sunset.

I chose Rialto, for no particular reason and have had it suggested to me since that this was a good choice.

RIALTO BEACH

DAY 79 

TUESDAY 21 JUNE 2016

Although I had clear skies and stayed dry for the entirety, there had clearly been 
some kind of downpour west of Port Angeles as I drove home on Monday evening.

When I looked out the window first thing on Tuesday morning, the Olympics had vanished.

In true Mt Rainier style, heavy grey clouds had swallowed the elevated levels of the Olympic range from the viewpoint of sea-level Port Angeles.

Given that my plans for the day involved heading straight back up to Hurricane Ridge, I was just about to go back to bed.

Thankfully though, the locals had a webcam.

To our collective astonishment, the camera was beaming back live images from the top of the mountain in crystal clear conditions.

As hard as it was to believe, we all had to agree that the camera probably wasn't lying.

I grabbed my bags and headed downtown for another fine breakfast feast at the Cornerhouse Restaurant before heading up Race Ave and towards the top of the mountain.

Remarkably, after ploughing through thick layers of low cloud for the entire distance up the mountain, it was only in the last mile that the Kia Soul poked its nose out into the bright sunlight which was exactly as the webcam had said it was 90 minutes earlier.

THE KIA SOUL ENJOYING LIFE ABOVE THE CLOUDS

I got myself ready and committed to take on the Klahane Ridge walk that would take about 3 hours+ if I was able to make it to the end and back again.

There was good counsel from the rangers that I would hit the snowpack at some point and should assess my progress from there.

Best though to take the Switchback Trail to get me up to the ridge line and take it from there.

Said Switchback Trail though was a direct 1600 ft ascent from the trailhead and I was well warned to beware of mountain goats and bears.

Arming myself with a couple of good sized gibbers, I headed upwards with the vistas improving exponentially with each 100 feet I climbed.

And yes, I did come across a family of mountain goats (no bears) and they were as tame as could be.

After a solid 90-minute climb, I found myself on the Ridge Trail proper and unfortunately, it was barely more than another half-mile along that I hit the snowpack.

The views were probably not going to get any better than from where I already was, so I took the gas.

It was a simply magnificent place to have some lunch and take it all in for a while before heading back down the same way I'd come.

Back at the car just before 3.15 meant that I'd made the return trip in 2h 45m, which left the rest of the day to make it over to the Sol Duc region of the park and indulge the hot springs on offer.

Sol Duc was a comfortable 2-hour drive from Hurricane Ridge and I pulled up at the Hot Springs resort at 4.55.

Naturally enough, I'd arrived smack-bang in the midst of the witching hour which is the daily 2-hour period where they "rest" all the hot pools for what I imagine is cleaning.

With nothing firing back up until at least 6 pm, I took the opportunity to head on down to the Sol Duc Falls, which was about 1 km to walk each way from the car park.

Ironically, the Sol Duc trail was more "rainforest" than the real rainforest I had skipped through the previous evening at Hoh.

It really was a lovely little walk and although I've seen enough waterfalls in recent days to do me for a while, it was still worthwhile.

SOL DUC TRAIL

SOL DUC FALLS

I rounded out the day with a well-earned session at the Hot Springs Resort (sorry no pics), which by staking out until after 6 pm also reduced the admission fee to only $10.