VICTORIA TO LONG BEACH WASHINGTON LOG

DAY 8 VICTORIA to PORT ANGELES 32:31K MAY 7/01 MONDAY

Up early to pack. Had a great phone visit with sister Jessie on the deck with the hummingbirds attacking my red jacket! Mom is still here and it is hard to leave as we will not see her for 3 months.

Did some bike adjustments prior leaving. Lorna came up with a idea to elevate the rear red light to be visible when loaded. A 4” piece of broom stick attached to the rear rack straight up so the light can be attached behind and above items on the rack. Works great Lorna. Had comments on it already from other tourers.

Biked with Sandy (8) Jesse (11) to school. These are my touring partners in the near future as they can climb pretty steep hills already. They will be doing their first van assisted tour in June. Good luck guys!!

We headed off to Victoria via the Galloping Goose Trail. The sun is shining, but not too warm. The trail was having maintenance done, so we detoured. Glad we had a map. Met up with Tyson at Market Square where he works. What a neat area. We will definitely come back to Victoria in the fall and see the tourist sites. We saw lots of bikers and tourists already.

The Port Angeles ferry terminal is right downtown by the Empress Hotel. We had no trouble finding it, but Ken got his first flat tire. We left it hoping that the special tubes he got (self sealing) would do their job. Not so! The ferry ride was smooth sailing, but the wind was chilly. Several other tourers on board. A couple from Sequim were on a Cannondale tandem bike which they had toured all over the USA for 1 year. (previous trip) They really like riding tandem and said the only downfall is they pull a trailer to be able to carry enough gear. Other travelers were on shorter trips, but all seemed to be having a great time. All were concerned with how we would navigate around Lake Crescent?

We departed the ferry and found a camp spot in Peabody Creek RV park ($12) close to groceries (it was well after supper) and Ken changed tires. So far the expensive tubes are not worth it as the valve tried to seal itself and finally would not hold the air in the tube. Oh well he has a spare and we will have to go to get a replacement tomorrow. Rain is threatening. Hope it happens overnite and we wake to sunny skies. The mosquitos have found me!

Short day in KM 2hr11min ride time M37.4 A13.4 TD 563.61 KM
Gramma and Boys
Nephews
Mom
Empress Hotel
View of Port Angeles from Ferry

DAY 9 PORT ANGELES to BEAR CREEK CAMPGROUND 72.19KM MAY 8/01 TUESDAY

Ken was up early to change his tube once more as the self sealing one was not holding air. The valve had sealed itself so difficult to remove and change. Not worth buying for sure.

Left Port Angeles at 0915 via 101. Somewhat up hill, but not to strenuous. No rain , high clouds. Shoulder around Crescent Lake is 3 feet wide on a very windy 2 lane road with numerous pull over spots. There was no problem with traffic, but it was light. I’m not sure how one would like this in high summer traffic. There were logging trucks, thank goodness, going north loaded! The forest floor is carpeted with blue “forget-me-nots”. The trees are just leafing out. +10C with cool breeze. Stopped for coffee/hot chocolate at Shadow Mtn General Store. No problem with food so far. Lots of restaurants and small stores. Food prices are about the same as at home, but we have the $ exchange!

We intended to camp at SolDuc Hot Springs, but they would have been closed by our arrival time so continued on to Bear Creek Natural Resource Campground (State of Washington) by 1645. Surprise, surprise there still is some free camping in the world. Rustic with nice tables and huge trees. Tons of song birds. Very large sites and only 3 occupied. Dinner was great of stuffing and taco chips. Opps no protein.

M 43.5 A 14.3 PT 5hr TD 635.80 KM
Tire Change
Lake Crescent
Lake Crescent Road
Forget-me-nots

DAY 10 BEAR CREEK CAMPGROUND to KALALOCH CPGD 83.35K MAY 9/01 Wednesday

Woke up to +5C in the rain forest but no rain. One of us is having pine tree allergies since they are in bloom. We are in the heart of logging country with new growth forest. We were in Forkes by noon did are shopping and some e-mailing from the public library. Got talking to an oldtimer who told us they get 12 feet of rain a year, but none so far for us.

The timber museum was closed but we had a nice picnic. (even had protein-cheese) The road to Kalaloch we an easy 50K thru the HoH rain forest ending at the Pacific Ocean. We got our first glimpse of the waves at Ruby Beach. Had time for a walk on beach before supper.

It has been too cool for Sue to x-stitch but did she get a chance to read her book.
We have been receiving many nice e-mail, here is a quote from one:
"You can't turn back the clock but you can wind it up again."

M 42.2 A 16.8 PT 4:56hr TD 719.15 Km
Bear Creek Rain Forest
Logging Country
Tree House
Rain Forest Flowers
Destruction Island
Kalaloch - Racoon

DAY 11 KALALOCH CPGD to JULY CREEK CAMPGROUND 53:78 K (easy)MAY 10/01 Thursday

Once again up to a +5C morning, but feels much warmer in the sun. Ocean view from our site is fabulous. Sunlight on the rolling breakers. Headed out a little later by 0930 on very easy rolling terrain with shoulders part of the time and not others. Traffic was light so not too upsetting. Annoying aggregate type surface to road makes travel rough and bothers the but! Debris on the road due to logger. Lots of loggers going north mostly. They need a recycle program for cans as the ditches are littered with them. Miles of clearcut done at various stages of replanting. Temp up to +20C by noon. Finally into my shorts and sleevless top. IT"S WARM!! Lunch at 40K Crane Creek Scaling station. My allergies are a bit of a discomfort. More DRUGS!! Fruit cake was one of my best ideas. Very filling. Should have mailed some to Duncans house.

Nice ride to July Creek Campground on Quinault Lake. No charge to camp in the WINTER!! All walk in sites with huge Cedar trees and rain forest vegetation. Locals are telling us how lucky we are with this good dry sunny weather. Bear proof Lunch savers the best idea yet... make of steel like the bearproof garbage cans in Banff, but made for your gear. We were not confident it would open so I had to crawl inside to test it (3'x4'x2') Could sleep in there in a down pour! Treats for supper tonight: A California Merlot opened with a swiss army knife in the red woods is as good as any French wine you will ever get!

Typing the log in the sunshine by the lake has it's ups and downs. Up side it is beautiful scenery Down side you need to know how to type as you cann't see the words on the screen! Sorry for typos!

M 45.2 A 17.4 PT 3:04hr TD 772.93 KM
Mountain view over clearcut
Logging truck
Gear container at July Cr. Campground
Quinault Lake from July Creek campsite

DAY 12 JULY CREEK CAMPGROUND TO OCEAN CITY STATE PARK 78.13 KM (easy)MAY 11/01 Friday

July Creek is a walk in site campground that the growth is amazing. Growth on top of growth. Lots of chickmunks. Only one other couple camping. Set out once more with the sun. Quinault Lake is in the Olympic National Park forest, but has cabins on it. A gentleman told us they were homestead cabins, so get to stay. The ride was easy with mostly forest views and clear cuts. Stopped at Rayonier Rec Area (closed once more) for a break. This is a logging company that has set up this nice camp spot. We are stripping down as it is +20C and the farmer tan increases. Lots of loggers once more. Had a nice lunch stop on the JW Church grounds. Arrived early to camp as couldn't go on over the ferry (weekends only) so walked on the ocean shore. It is windy and cold. Lots of people driving their cars on the beach...racing and spinning out in the waves! This is a big tourist area, but a lot of the mini golf etc is not open as yet. The state park is very large, but has "Primitive" sites for hikers/bikers away from the maddening crowd. Another great day, rather boring scenery.

M 43.1 A 17.5 PT 4:25hr TD 851.06 KM from Kelowna
Ocean State Park Site

DAY 13 OCEAN CITY STATE PARK TO SOUTH BEND 91.2 KM MAY 12/01 Saturday

This was the first warm night we have had, or maybe I'm so tired that I didn't wake up! Woke to a heavy dew, "Sasha" singing in the trees, overcast +10C. The sun was trying to come out. I have larengitis which is annoying. Spent couple of hours in the Ocean City Library updating our log as the first 2 ferries were cancelled due to the tide being out. Something that I never thought about. We were able to pick up our emails, but not able to upload our site. Maybe later today.

Well this is later. We got on the ferry at 2pm after 30K biking back and forth to library and ferry. Very small ferry, really just a big boat for foot passengers/bikes only. Took us across the bay for $4.50 each. Very reasonable. Spotted 2 harbour seals. No Whales. West Port is a tourist boardwalk for people going on day trips across the ferry. Lots of shops and eateries. Set off down the road at 1530h, flat and winding by the sea. Views nice but overcast and starting to rain. Nice bike path from Raymond to South Bend. Was getting dark so we had to use our rear lights. Mostly low clouds and mist. Having trouble finding a way to upload to the internet so decided tonite should be a motel night. We miss all of our family and friends. Emails are great! I think a lot about everyone at work with the GI outbreak. I hope things improve soon.

M 34.2 A 18.6 PT 4hr52min TD 942.26 Km from Kelowna
West Port Ferry
West Port: Ship in bay
West Port Harbour boats
Ken along the Willapa Bay road

DAY 14 SOUTH BEND H &H Motel to Fort Canby State Park 74 KM +about= 91.75KM MAY 13/01 Sunday

Well today we started off from a nice comfy bed into the fog and misty day. It never did actually rain, just like riding thru a cloud on and off all day. The first part was up and down, then mostly a flat to down hill grade, with some annoying sharp uphills just to keep us on our toes! For miles around Willapa Bay is a Wildlife refuge that is just mud flats with scrub here and there. Was set aside for this probably because there was no other use for such land. We have been most aware that all the homes are very neat thru Washington that we have seen, but none look too affluent. Some cattle ranchs today and more reforestation and clearcuts. Cranberry farms are frequent along the road. Traffic wonderfully light. Was a great Mothers Day for me. I hope all the Mother's in my life had as nice a day!

Cleared off to a sunny evening once again. We went to tour a light house (North Head Lighthouse) that is unmanned, but still very useful for ship traffic into the Columbia River port. Was built during the gold rush days so the ships going north could find their way home easier. The Lewis and Clark trail ended at Astoria just south of here. This is the trail that was used to take the gold back to Pensylvania over land. They were worried that a ship of gold might ship wreck before getting into port. The most interesting thing was the Camp Host gave the tour. He and his wife have retired (3yrs) and they live full time in an RV going from place to place being the host, therefore no camping fees. They spend summers at the sea shore and winters in Arizona. Sounds like a nice life.

I have a bronchitis type cough that is annoying, but I seem to have the energy to cycle on. I am not looking forward to the Astoria bridge tomorrow (1 mile narrow, shoulderless and difficult to ride in the wind) Oh joy of joys!!