August 3, 2019
Sequim
Miss Mona’s room comes with southern exposure, and I am awakened early by the morning light streaming in the window at about five. It makes for a short night - late into the night last night I was kept awake by a blues group outside somewhere. Feeling a bit groggy, I roll over away from the window and try to get back to sleep, without success. The coffee shop I plan to take breakfast at doesn’t open until six, but as long as I’m awake I decide to walk down to the waterfront to see what there is to see.
As always of course, there are gulls. And the first morning ferry run pulling away from the pier. And there’s something splashing away out in the bay, over near the adjacent pier. Hoping it’s another bird than I’ve seen lately, I walk over to the other pier, close enough to see that they’re a pod of otters, five or six of them, fishing. Too far out to get a decent photo, but with the zoom I can see them suddenly dive under, re-emerge, and with their noses pointed skyward bolt down a fish large enough that I can see it glisten.
And, they’re swimming away from me, apparently following the fish, and moving back toward the rocks where I was just sitting. So I go back too, and when I arrive one of them peeks up from between the rocks, checks me out carefully, and then slinks into the water. I think this must be the closest I’ve ever been to an otter in the wild. Worth the lost sleep, definitely.
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It’s still not six, so I sit down at a table by the door of the coffee shop with another guy already there, and wait ten minutes. It’s a good thing I’m early, because by the time six rolls around another fifteen folks have queued up behind us. I order my coffee and a blueberry scone and sit down at a window seat, thinking I might get a slice of quiche or a refill later; but in the ninety minutes I’m there the line never abates at the counter so I don’t bother.
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I’m back at the room by 8:30, as promised, and we pack up to go. We’ve targeted 9 for our departure, because I’m thinking to stop at the Broken Spoke to get a replacement for my rear tire - the one I flattened four days back, and is showing its age. At the last minute though I change my mind and we decide to just ride. A few blocks later we’re on the Olympic Discovery Trail, Sequim-bound.
And an aside, for those that might care but don’t know already - our destination today is pronounced Skwim.
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The Olympic Discovery Trail describes itself as Washington’s premier destination for non-motorized touring. On paper at least, it runs all the way across the top of the Olympic Peninsula, from Port Townsend to La Push on the Pacific Ocean. We’ll be following it for much of the next few days as we work our way west.
That’s on paper. In real life, it’s a work in progress, with some gaps yet to be filled in. Today’s ride begins with a fine seven mile dirt trail that reminds us of biking the Galloping Goose west from Victoria. After that though the trail ends at Highway 20 and doesn’t resume again until just past Discovery Bay. In between are seven miles of two lane highway with moderate traffic and a shoulder that varies from a comfortable three feet to a bit less comfortable six inches. The worst (which isn’t really that bad, but just so you know what to expect) is the last two miles, with its moderate climb over the ridge rimming the south shore of Discovery Bay. We’re both pretty happy to see the end of it and arrive at very busy Highway 101 - noisy, but with an abundant shoulder.
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At Discovery Bay, we take our lives in our hands and cross Highway 101 to get to the store on the other side, thinking (correctly) that this will be our last commercial option before reaching Sequim. I sit outside watching the bikes while Rachael grazes inside, and am soon joined by Rad, a cyclist who pulls up. He appeals to me to guard his ride too while he’s inside, and soon returns with an ice cream bar and proceeds to tell us (Rachael has returned by now also) his life story - an interesting one, that I won’t go into here. He’s just gotten off the bus and is on his way to Sequim also. The real goal is tomorrow though, when he plans to join the cycling masses for the annual climb up Hurricane Ridge. One day a year the road is closed to motor vehicles for this event. We’d heard about this event from Dave Mathers back in Victoria, and we tossed around whether to ride it together until concluding that we couldn’t adjust our itinerary enough to get here in time. Maybe some year though.
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5 years ago
Just past the Discovery Bay Store the trail resumes again and gives us a beautiful ride all the way to the outskirts of Sequim. It’s paved the whole way, and is a mix of separate non-motorized trail segments and short stints on small, empty side roads. It’s very nice, and sees a lot of bike touring traffic. We probably pass a dozen or more tourists going the other direction, and one (plus Rad, back at the store) going our way: Ben, from Seattle. He’s going our way, circling the Olympic Peninsula counterclockwise and following very the same itinerary we are as far as Lake Quinault.
We bike together for a ways, chatting as we ride, and then stop for photos at the scenic south end of Sequim Bay. He’s staying in Sequim tonight also, so we exchange emails and make a plan to meet up tonight for dinner. We eventually lose him when we stop for more photos, but catch up again just as we enter Sequim - he arrived first but stopped off at the visitor center and coincidentally resurfaced just in time to meet us. We bike through town together, each on our way to our own motel - only to discover with surprise that we’ve booked in the same place. We each check in, and are further surprised to find that we have adjacent rooms - we’re neighbors!
Later, over dinner, we continue our conversation and get to know him better. Like ourselves, he loves cycle touring and has done so for many years, including in Western Europe. So there’s plenty to talk about. He’s traveling solo today, but his wife is also a biker (and he tells us one of the most romantic stories we’ve heard of how they met). He’s nearly my age, will retire next year, and has the goal of moving to France for a year and cycling there through all seasons.
One thing about biking over here rather than Europe for a change - it certainly is a more social experience!
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Video sound track: The Gypsy, by Urban Knights
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Ride stats today: 36 miles, 1,800’; for the tour: 680 miles, 31,400’
Today's ride: 36 miles (58 km)
Total: 678 miles (1,091 km)
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| Comment on this entry | Comment | 3 |
5 years ago