Olympic Peninsula Days 2 and 3

Day 2’s ride is from Pt. Townsend to Pt. Angeles. Are all towns here called Port something or other?  Today’s route sheet looks complicated; there are 50 turns.  But this is primarily because the “official” route is on the Olympic Discover Trail, a planned 120 mile non-motorized, multi-use trail.  About 40 miles are complete as of 2011.  If, on the other hand, you take the highway, there are only a few turns.  But the highway is the busy Highway 101.  My instruction to the riders is to not worry about the route, “Just be sure the water is on your tight and keep pedaling”.

Bodies of water surrounding the Olympic Peninsula include the Hood Canal, Puget Sound, Strait of Juan Fuca and the Pacific Ocean.

One of our riders researches the area he is going to explore by bicycle and produces a document for the rest of us.  Vic’s first document on the Olympic Peninsula can be found at http://www.wetandem.com/OlyPen11/OP-Background.pdf

From Vic’s document you’ll learn that the western slopes of the Olympics rise directly out of the Pacific Ocean and are the wettest place in the 48 contiguous states.  Is it no wonder the weather forecast for tomorrow includes 65% probability of rain?

Once again we have a scenic view from our motel room.  Pt. Townsend was a tourist town; Pt. Angeles is a working fishing town.

Day 3, a “rest day” in Pt. Angeles was built-in to allow everyone to take the ferry to the lovely town on Victoria, British Columbia. For a variety of reasons, no one took this option.  So it’s a lazy day of exploring, laundry, email and reading.  And although it’s early for a rest day, maybe that’s not bad because tomorrow’s ride includes the most climbing on the trip, over 4,000 feet to Sol Duc Hot Springs in the Olympic National Forest.