I headed out from Seattle to explore the Olympic Peninsula. It looks so small on the map. I drove down to Tacoma and headed west to get to the peninsula without a ferry ride and I drove and I drove. The scenery was nice so I just kicked back and enjoyed it and chatted with friends and family. Once in a while I would check the map to see how far I had gone and was always surprised to see just how far I had left to go. This is no interstate. The Olympic Peninsula is dominated in the center by the Olympic mountain range and the Olympic National Park. When the ocean breezes hit the mountains it wrings the moisture out of them and dumps 200 inches of rain a year on the west side in places like the Hoh Rainforest. On the eastern side of the mountains they get as little as 17 inches of rain a year. That difference happens in as little as 2 hours drive time.
On the north end of the peninsula is Port Angeles. across the Strait of Juan de Fuco is the San Juan islands and Friday Harbor. I just finished a book about farming and fishing in this area written by an old hippy from Friday Harbor and I wanted to travel there but alas time is short and money is dear so no extra days and ferry rides.
As I rounded the bend and headed back towards the south on the west side, I was traveling around a beautiful lake and it just kept getting purtier and purtier to this Texas boy from the dry land of west Texas.
By the time I got to my camp in the rainforest the evidence of the constant moisture was obvious. The spruce trees were huge and the ferns were thick.
I made camp and was grateful for the covered pavilion adjacent to my camp as the rain was off and on, mostly on. The next morning I headed out for a ride after the rain stopped and the radar looked promising for a few hours. My destination was the Hoh rainforest which is the only paved road of any length that ventures into the mountains or in this case the valley. This park is best explored by foot and preferably webbed feet. Bring your rain gear folks.
The spruce trees in this forest are huge and made me feel like I was back in the redwoods and the avenue of the giants. Trees twelve feet across are common.
Things just grow and grow here. The trees lean in to the space above the roads and fill the sky overhead.
With fifteen miles left in the ride, the skies opened up and the relentless rain continued for about eight hours. I had thought to stay one more day but this much rain just isn't my thing and since my rain poncho hadn't been replaced since the gear theft in Seattle I decided to head on down the coast and go see Mac in Portland. Along the way, I stopped and picked a big bag of blackberries. It was nice to be camped next to a vine and be able to just pick some for my morning breakfast without leaving camp.
I loved the bridges along the coast last summer but I missed the Astoria bridge so on this trip I made sure to take a route that would include it. They are in the midst of a 4 year renovation of the bridge which is how long it took to build it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astoria%E2%80%93Megler_Bridge
Welcome to Portland. Hey Mac!
Mac is a friend from the building science world and a long time cyclist. I've enjoyed his conversation in Boston and he is easy to spend time with. I wanted to do some riding with him and the stories of the epic rides that they do around Portland such as Ramhod and Ramrod and the Tour of Oregon make me want to return here again and again. He and his wife Randi are delightful people and I was once again remiss in failing to take a picture of this lovely lady who was so kind as to host me on a rainy night. Mac prepared a great salmon dinner and the next day we took in one of his training rides after the rains passed through and I've gotta tell ya folks. This area is gorgeous to the max. I'm liking Oregon a lot.
