Yesterday, I finally managed to torch myself. I must have sweated off all of the
sunscreen early – time to apply more *every* time I stop.
I did manage to get a call through to the Adventure Cycling
Association, and they were able to give me (over the phone) the remaining route
for the map I lost. Unfortunately,
we still don’t have campground information for anything below the Quinault
Reservation.
I also figured out that the main drain on my phone was the
display (not the GPS), and thus will be able to keep regular statistics again,
even if my on-the-road charging system has failed (which it has – I need to
poke at it again and see if I can resurrect it).
It was another slow beginning – I think that I finally got on my bike and rode away at about
2PM – this herd of turtles is slowly continuing forward. We are getting more efficient about
packing up, but it’s still taking forever to get on the road. Neither Sharon nor I are the fastest in
the morning, and we do tend to sit around bleary-eyed with a cup of coffee for
a while. Also, the dished from the
night before usually need to be done before we can eat. I did, finally, hit the road, and it
was a nice ride.
Between Beaver and Forks there is a reservation with a few
businesses including the Smokehouse restaurant and Smoked Salmon Lounge:
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| The smokehouse restaurant and smoked salmon lounge |
which makes me think of a list of many kinds of smoked
salmon and a snooty smoked salmon expert (Salmonier?) – “we have the dry smoked
with chili, the piquancy of which is unmatched…”
Coming into Forks, we begin to see signs of the coming
apocalypse:
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| A sign of the coming apocalypse |
There are way too many businesses geared towards Twilight:
There are also guided bus tours, businesses named after
Bella and the Cullens, etc. A local
shopkeeper said that the peak of the mania was 2009 and 2010, and that business
tripled or quadrupled for a while there.
This, however, seems a bit more my speed:
I’m glad to advertise it, as the area is absolutely
beautiful, and the local economy can use any help that it can get.
Of course, up here where US 101 is *the* highway, 101 is the
Blue Star Memorial highway:
That sign is just outside the USFS and NPS information
centers, which were, of course, closed.
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| Forks USFS and NPS information center |
In fact, so far, every ranger station and information center
that we’ve passed has been closed.
The only “official” presence that we’ve seen have been the camp hosts at
the locally run campgrounds (Dungeness and Salt Creek)
I believe that today (Friday) the information center is
supposed to be open, so Sharon is going back to investigate – perhaps she’ll be
able to get more maps and info about camping further south (we’ve only got
about another 100 miles before we switch routes to maps that I haven’t lost yet
– so we’re covered from Elma south, but we still have to get from Amanda Park
to Elma, and I think that’s more than a day’s ride – especially at the rate
we’re going. I’m not really
worried about the pace, however, as this is a part of the country that neither
of us has been in before, and it is absolutely gorgeous.
Sharon and I met up at Bogachiel state park, where I
mentioned to her that this was the first day that I hadn’t spent any time
stopped by the side of the road to catch my breath while going uphill. Of course, just outside the park, I hit
a notable hill, probably a mile or more long. However, I did manage to spin my way up it (at 4.4 mph)
without stopping. I am proud of
myself. I am finally learning how
to do hills on this (or any) trike.
I’ve never been much of a hill climber before, and boy has this part of
the trip been hilly.
But then, I reached the top of the hill:
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| The top of the hill after a 1-2 mile climb |
I think that it’s now mainly downhill until we reach the
ocean – about another 10 miles or so.
Just after the crest of the hill, I got to see a classic
purveyor of northwestern kitch:
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| Northwestern Kitch - pic may be squished |
Not far from there, we stopped at the Hoh Oxbow campground,
as it’s another 20 mile or so to the next campground that we know of, and at
our pace, my legs might not hold out.
Wow. Another gorgeous place
to stop. The Hoh river is very
pretty:
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| The Hoh river at Hoh Oxbow |
The aquamarine color of the quick moving water is unlike
anything that I’ve seen (OK, so I haven’t seen that much in terms of mountain
rivers).
Our campsite had a neat quarter circle fireplace which kept
us nice and toasty:
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| The fireplace at the campsite |
It was cold out – somewhere in the 40’s and damp – which is
why I am actually wearing a stocking cap:
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| Matthew and Little Bird at the Hoh Oxbow campsite |
Sharon made a pork stew and rice, which was delicious. We then sat before the fire talking for
a couple of hours, and went to bed.
It was a very nice day, even if I didn’t get many miles in.
Stats:
23.7 miles
Average speed (including stops) 6.9 mph.
Top speed: 39 mph
Total climb: more than 1000’ (lots of nice fast downhills
too)
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