Beach #2, Olympic National Park, to Hoquiam, Washington Sept 24

67.13 in 5:55.......September 24......After rain all night, and more rain until about eleven AM, we left Forks, and Pam delivered me to beach #2, where we dipped my bike tire two days ago. The rain started to fall again, right on queue. It was about 53 degrees, already cold enough for me without the damn rain, but I put the plastic bags over my feet, and the poncho under my jacket to break any wind and keep the rain out. I don't wear long pants when it's wet because wet, cold, pants freeze leg muscles, so regular biking pants it was. The rain lasted just long enough to get me wet, then believe it or not, with the skies colored 50 shades of gray, I managed to stay dry for the next 3and a half hours. I never rode on dry roads, and most of the time they were really wet. Rain was all around me, and the clouds enveloped the mountains to my left. Every once in a while, the sun would lighten a section of clouds, but it wouldn't break through. Unlike Mike, I drove in rain, sometimes driving rain, from the time I dropped him off until about 10 miles from the campground!  Not a fun day! This is the dreariest, drabbest, place on earth right now. I rode about 27 miles to a little town called Amanda Park, where I stopped at a mom and pop store for a snack. A customer told me of a torrential downpour that somehow missed me, and the lady working the store was typically 'unfriendly.' From there, the Quinault Lake and River, I had a little climb, and the rain began again. It rained for about an hour, the temperature dropped to 47 degrees in the wetness. None of this was helped by the drab scenery, which was logged out forests in various states of regrowth. There were sections of rain forest type areas, because I was close to the two other rain forests that Pam and I didn't see, and there was a small section of Olympic National Forest, which wasn't logged, but basically ugly skies, ugly ground, ugly weather, great adventure. I went through a small logging town called Humptulip, which made me smile inside, just saying that crazy name over and over as I rode in the rain. The road, US 101 was in great shape, with occasional logging trucks spraying me as they flew by. Traffic was pretty calm, however, and the shoulder was safe, except for about ten miles along the border of the Quinault Indian tribe. I have heard of at least a dozen Indian Reservations in this Seattle/Tacoma area of different tribes that I have never heard of and can barely pronounce. I just never knew. I rolled into Hoquiam just before dark, cold, wet, but not defeated. The weather may break as far as rain tomorrow, but highs are only about 60-65 for the next week. Boo.

Good shot of a burl

Boring scenery!!

See?  I didn't make up this name!!

Moss on the trees is very heavy

A Day in the Rainforest! Sept 23

Today was a non-riding day due to the forecast of rain, and the wish to sight see in the rain forest of the great north west!  Enjoy the pictures!!

First we stopped at the Forks Timber Museum, but it was closed!  This was their outside exhibit.  This is a monument to all the loggers who lost their lives since pre-40's!  They had each decade represented.

Mike is such a cut-up!!!!

Old tree made into a shelter.

Old logging and mill equipment

At the Forks (we are staying in Forks, WA) Visitor Center, we discovered that the "Twilight" books were set in Forks, Washington.  They get 5-8,000 visitors a month in the summer to visit just because of the books!!!

Across the street from the museum is an airstrip/dragstrip!  Seriously!  I'm not making this up!  And today, there was a herd of elk grazing next to the airstrip.  Good thing a plane wasn't trying to land!!!  Small towns.... you gotta love them!

Heading down the road towards the Hoh Rain Forest in the Olympic National Park

Check out all the moss on the trees!

We stopped at the Rain Forest Cafe and Mike made a new friend!

Looking up at one of the largest cedar trees in the country

Yeah, it's that big!  They think it's 500-550 years old!

In the rain forest!

The phone booth at the Hoh Rain Forest visitors center!

Ranger humor!

Walking on a trail thru the rain forest - in the rain!

Shelf fungus on the tree

Moss draped trees

Good scenery for a vampire movie!

The lumps on the trees are called burls.

The ferns are everywhere

Looks like Halloween decorations!

There were lots of huge trees!

Looking at the Olympic Mountains

Looking out from Ruby Beach

The ocean was very rough

Beautiful!

The trees wash down from the mountains in rivers, then they lay on the beach and get wash out and in.  The bark gets stripped off and they just stay there!

The beach isn't sandy, it is covered in river rocks.

One of the mountain rivers flowing into the ocean.

Mike playing on the beach!  He thinks it's sand!  Just kidding!

Today there was a high surf advisory on the Pacific coast of the Olympic Peninsula, so we went down to the ocean to check out the 14-17 foot waves!  Only a video can give this justice.....

Forks to the Pacific Ocean (somewhere in Olympic National Park) Sept 22

35.3 miles in 3:09.......After 9,183 miles and nearly one year, I finally dipped the tire of my Specialized Tricross bike into the Pacific Ocean. The milestones have been many, and no matter what happens from this time forward, no one can take from me the satisfaction that comes with completing a once dreamlike goal. From the Atlantic, down from Rodanthe NC to Key West, across the Gulf Coast, through Texas, north through the National Park chain in Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana, to the Canadian border, then west to the Pacific Northwest, and finally to the little trail that Pam and I walked from US 101, down a steep, muddy embankment, to the sand of the Pacific Ocean shore. Not one mile of this trek would have been possible without my loving wife by my side. Hopefully she enjoyed it as much as I have.

That being said, this is not the end of this adventure, just another milestone. I will get on my bike and continue to ride every single mile, as we head south through Oregon and California, to wherever the road and our whims take us. The road goes on forever, and the party never ends.

As for today's ride, the rain fell by the bucketful over night and through noon, to about one o'clock. After taking yesterday off and watching college football all day ( it remained dry all day), I was edgy to get in a few miles, because of all the rain that is forecast over the next few days. After closely analyzing radar, I felt that I could make it to the ocean with only a few spot showers. I left in a downpour, ( being hardheaded as I am), and within ten minutes the rain stopped and the sun came out. One thing I could depend upon was that no matter how hot or cold I was, it would change in the next ten minutes. And that was the story of today' s ride. I was riding in the rain with a shadow from the shining sun, and I was heated up by the sun as rain fell all around me. It was humid, it was chilling, it was hot, it was wet, it was sometimes windy, it was ever changing to the point where I stopped trying to be comfortable, and just rode through the rain forest. The huge cedar trees, moss covered branches and guardrail, six foot tall ferns, dark, thick forests, ran right out of the Olympic Mountains and up to the cliffs of the Pacific Ocean. The streams, creeks, and rivers were running high and heavy as last nights runoff was racing towards the ocean. The road was covered in spots by leaves and branches that fell during last nights' storm. When I went around a certain bend and heard the roar off the angry Pacific, it didn't take long to start spotting the waves between the trees, but I was still about 100-200 feet above sea level. This area is nothing like I've seen on the Atlantic coast. The rugged rocks, the 'sea stacks', or tall rocks out in the surf, the huge logs that have washed out of the rain forest and onto the beaches, all make it very unique here. Hopefully, we will have some Indian Summer weather to get us through Oregon and to Yosemite before snow shuts us down and forces us along the coast for the autumn and winter, until we find that warm air again.

We are in logging country now, and this is a mulch facility

Riding up Hwy 101

The forest is very green and lush

There are signs around that say the area has been hit by a tsunami before and will be hit again in the future!

Makes you feel safe, doesn't it?!

First view of the Pacific!

The official dipping of the tire in the Pacific Ocean!  This time we didn't toast with champagne like we did at the Atlantic!

Take a good look at Mike's feet!  He had grocery bags on his feet to keep them warm and dry in the downpour!

Looking back at the beach.

The trees have these big lumps called burls.  Don't know what causes them.  

Walking back from the beach.

We took a pit stop at this giant cedar tree.

Looking up

This is reaching down as a root

Pacific Ocean view from Ruby Beach 

Walkway down to Ruby Beach