Day 65 – 93: phenomenal hospitality

For two weeks we made our way around the Olympic Peninsula. Having never visited here before we were excited to explore our new surroundings. We’ve been fortunate to be hosted by several generous people along this segment of the journey. We left our bicycles with one of these marvelous hosts near Seattle and flew to North Carolina to visit family and settle Katy into her new home where she will remain for the remainder of the trip.  

July 23, 2024 – August 20, 2024

• Day 65 – Ferry Victoria, BC to Port Angeles, WA, USA – 10 miles/810’ climbing
• Day 66 – Port Angeles to Salt Creek – 26 miles/1200’
• Day 67 – Salt Creek to Klahowya – 32 miles/1800’
• Day 68 – Klahowya to Cycle Camp (La Push) – 31 miles/515’
• Day 69 – Rest/Repair Day – 22 miles for Dustin
• Day 70 – Cycle Camp to Bogachiel – 16 miles/550’
• Day 71 – Rest/rain day
• Day 72 – Bogachiel to Kalaloch – 29 miles/1200’
• Day 73 – Kalaloch to Lake Quinault – 34 miles/1300’
• Day 74 – Rest/tour day at Lake Quinault
• Day 75 – Lake Quinault to Elma – 61 miles/2200’ 
• Day 76 – Elma to Millersylvania – 36 miles/1500′
• Day 77 – Millersylvania to Tumwater – 10 miles/300′
• Day 78 – Tumwater to Puyallop – 42 miles/1500′
• Day 79 – Puyallop to Tacoma – 10 miles/630′
• Day 80 to 93 – time off the bikes with family in North Carolina

We ferried across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Victoria, British Columbia to Port Angeles, Washington. The 90-minute ferry ride was relatively uneventful and we had gorgeous weather for the crossing. 

We were happy to be back in the USA where we had cell coverage but we had to change our mindset when shopping. Based on the USD to CAD exchange rate we’d been automatically taking off 25% from the prices for over a month – now the price *was* the price. 

We rode the Olympic Discovery Trail to the home of Vee and Ross, parents of a friend, who kindly offered to host us. We shared delightful conversation about travel and our loves of maps as well as a wonderful meal together.  It was so nice to connect (and not have to cook!) – we left with our spirits buoyed and hearts full for the journey ahead. 

For our tour of the Olympic Peninsula we “deployed the parachute” so to speak and have slowed down our travel to stay in the cooler weather of this coastal region and arrive in Seattle just in time for our east coast flight. Our first campsite at Salt Creek was a mere 26 miles from Ross & Vee’s. It was quite a nice county campground that had hiker/biker sites – these are guaranteed camping if you arrive by bicycle or on foot. We had checked with Olympic National Park the previous day and their nearby campsites were 100% reserved and it didn’t appear to offer a hiker/biker option. 

Leaving Salt Creek we made our way down the Olympic Discovery Trail (ODT), a mostly bicycle friendly route, across the peninsula. For the most part the ODT was an off-road path of previous railway lines but sometimes had to be connected by roads shared with vehicles and for segments on the well-shouldered highway 101. 

We had several camping options for the night but none had guaranteed hiker/biker sites so we were delighted to arrive at the National Forest Service Klahowya Campground and found a great little site on the creek. 

On our way to the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula we encountered several construction sites with traffic signaled one lane roads. Thankfully they had made accommodations for cyclists with a special button to push to lengthen the traffic signal time.

We made our way toward the west coast of the peninsula to a special campground called Cycle Camp – this is a donation based campground started by Bob, a self-described hippie, who when cycling many years ago had run into issues finding camping. We camped with another cyclist from Holland and motorcycle gang from north of Seattle. Cycle Camp was quite the eclectic mix of campers but everyone seemed to get along. There was campground drama when one of the motorcyclists who was packing a pistol lost the firearm never to be found again – everyone combed the entire campground and never found the gun. 

Just one mile out from Cycle Camp Patricia heard Dustin say “Oh shit!” and watched in her mirror as he kept looking down toward his drive-train and making adjustments. Dustin’s “brifter” (brake/shifter) had broken internally and he was not able to shift gears on his rear cassette. 

This mechanical break down did not leave us stranded as he was still able to ride the bike and change the three large rings on the front giving him three different gears. Nonetheless it was something we’d want to get fixed as soon as we could. 

After some investigation and calling a bike shop back in Port Angeles, we concluded that Dustin could unload his bike, remove the front rack so the bike would fit on the bus rack, ride to the county bus terminal 11 miles away in Forks, and bus to Port Angeles about 60 miles away to have his bike repaired at a shop that verified they had the necessary part. So the next day he began the almost all day journey to have his bicycle repaired. 

The Bike Garage in Port Angeles was *amazing* – they showed up early because they knew Dustin was coming, got his bike on the stand right away, and swiftly replaced the necessary part. Dustin then caught a bus back out to the west side of the peninsula and rode to meet Katy & Patricia at the campground now exhausted from his day of travel and replaced the front rack/fender while Patricia cooked dinner and he fell into bed before 8pm. 

The next day we were back on the road again and decided to make it a short day. We rode to Forks, Washington famous for (at one time) being the “timber capital of the world” and more recently as the setting of the Twilight series. 

After a little over 16 miles we arrived at our campsite for the night – Bogachiel State Park. This camp not only had hiker/biker sites but also FREE showers – way to go Washington. Rain was in the forecast (no surprise – we’re in a rainforest now) and we had a couple days to spare so when we woke up to the pitter patter of water on the tent we decided to take a rest/rain day at Bogachiel – it certainly helped to have easy access to the bathrooms and a nice pavilion to tuck under all day. We spent the day reading, catching up on the blog, and walked out to the highway for just enough cell reception to keep our Duolingo Streaks going ;).  

After the rest/rain day we thought we were in the clear but it rained the entire next day – we packed up a wet camp, cycled in the rain, and then set up in the rain. This is what one gets for cycle touring in a RAINFOREST!! We headed toward the coast and found camping at Kalaloch right on the Pacific Ocean beach. 

Lake Quinault was our next stop on the Olympic Peninsula and it was so lovely (and not raining!) we decided to stay an extra day to tour around the area. The Quinault Valley is a rainforest receiving upwards of 15 *feet* of rainfall per year allowing for massive tree growth – this region has record sized trees for several species. On our day off we took a hike in the rainforest among giant trees and intriguing fauna.

From Quinault we made our way over to Tumwater, Washington over two days, with a stop at Elma RV park, and were hosted by delightful friends who allowed us to clean some of our gear in their backyard. It was wonderful to catch up with Doug & Doris about life. Doug is an avid biker and even rode out to visit us at our previous night campsite in the state park (we were so busy talking that we didn’t take any pictures!). Thank you Doug & Doris for your generous hospitality 🙂

From Tumwater we made our way over to Puyallup, Washington to the home of Kerry & Katie, humans allowed to live in the same house as some of Katy’s Jack Russell Terrier relatives. We enjoyed a great evening of travel stories and Jack Russell antics with their JRTs, Hamish & Tilly. Katy & Tilly kept us on our toes battling out who was the alpha female!

Next we headed to Tacoma and were hosted by the Sanders who kindly allowed us to have a “gear explosion” in their house and all over their porch as we sorted what would stay and what would come with us as we took time off of the bikes to visit family and drop off Katy in North Carolina for the remainder of the trip. They also allowed us to store our bicycles & gear at their house while we were gone and gave us a ride to the airport. We are so appreciative of their hospitality and we realized we didn’t take ANY pictures!!

After sorting, ordering parts/replacements, packing and storing we flew from Seattle to North Carolina to take some time off the bikes, visit family, and settle Katy into her new surroundings for the remainder of the trip.

We spent most of our time in Western North Carolina, “the mountains”, getting Katy settled in her new home and adventuring off the bikes. We did various types of whitewater boating (raft, kayak & canoe) hiking, and “choring” on the farm.

We are extremely thankful for all of the tremendous hospitality we’ve received on this segment of the trip. In remote Alaska and Canada we were blown away by the kindness of strangers and now our souls have been renewed by reconnecting with long-time friends, meeting online friends for the first time in-real-life, and our families going out of their way to accommodate our visits.

We’ve returned to Seattle to resume the trip and are very appreciative of the Sanders family who hosted us before our flight to the east coast, stored our bicycles for two weeks, received our packages of new gear, and hosted us once again on our return to Seattle – THANK YOU!

Memories of the astounding hospitality we’ve received over the past month will carry us through the next segment of the trip. The plan is to continue to make our way down the west coast of the United States – whether we take the coastal route or stick to the Sierra-Cascades will depend mostly on the temperatures and fires. Our hope is to stick with the mountains…we shall see.

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