Olympic Discovery Trail: Ending the Summer on a Positive Note
Ready, Set, Bike…!
This summer did not start in the best possible way… In early July while making dinner I managed to cut myself pretty badly, cutting 70% of the way through one of the tendons in my right hand. Of course, after the initial shock of first going to the ER followed by a small procedure a couple of days later, my next question was “can I ride my bike”? The intern who did the procedure looked at me like I had just landed from the moon – “of course not”. I kept asking my physiotherapist the same question and her answer was even worse, maybe in 8-10 weeks, like mid September.
This did not fly well with me. OK, so for a couple of weeks I stayed off my bike, but it was getting old and boring pretty quickly. Then I figured that it would probably be OK to go on short bike rides on smooth roads. Like the old saying goes, you don’t know what you have till it’s gone, I kept on dreaming of a long bike trip at the end of summer.
So I started planning and researching and I came up with the idea of heading to the Olympic Discovery Trail, something that was on my radar for a while and seemed doable enough. With the rising prices of gas and rental cars this summer we started thinking if this trip would be possible without driving from home. There is something so appealing about just leaving home on your bike for a couple of weeks. So we came up with a plan that in the end worked out beautifully. We left home not too early on Sunday, following the Arbutus Greenway and the Canada Line Bridge to Bridgeport Station. From there we boarded the new bike bus easily, in fact we were the only ones on the bus.
To Victoria and Beyond
It was a sunny day (like all of the days to follow!) and the ferry over to Victoria was very scenic. The kids preferred to spend most of the time in the kids zone watching Sesame Street or something. At some point there was an announcement that orcas were sighted in the distance so we managed to drag them outside. I don’t think we really saw any orcas though…
The ride to our friends’ place is really nice along the Lochside Trail and they met us about half way and we rode together. We set up our tent in the usual spot in their yard. In fact we were there just a month before, but that time I actually caught the bus and didn’t bike because of my injury, while the rest of the family did.
After a relaxed morning we all headed together to downtown Victoria. The bike trail led us right into the center of town. There we said goodbye to our friends for a couple of weeks, got the tickets, went through immigration and soon enough were up on the deck of the ferry. There were quite a lot of cyclists on board, most of them on longer trips than ours. The ferry ride was beautiful and it was exciting to arrive to the US by boat.
Cyclists’ Paradise
In order not to bike the trail there and back we arranged a shuttle to take us almost to the (western) end of the trail, near La Push. We found very minimal information online on a place called “The Cycle Camp” – a campground intended and designed for two wheelers! The van dropped us off there and soon enough we met Bob, the owner of the place. He told us we could camp anywhere we wanted – there aren’t any dedicated camping spots. There was food we were welcome to have, there was “extra everything” if we needed, there were hot showers and clean towels, a playground for the kids, a fire pit and wood, and all “by donation”. It sounded almost too good to be true, had we arrived to a cyclists’ paradise?
The next day we biked a short distance to check out Rialto Beach. It was foggy and misty and the kids loved running along the beach. We hiked till “Hole in the Wall”, a spectacular rock formation. On the way back to the campground we stopped at the side of the road to pick some thimbleberries. This section of the trip was the most remote, with hardly any big settlements in the area and cell reception was only available here and there. It felt good being off the grid for a little while.
A Seven Year Old Drives a Speed Boat
Just before leaving the Cycle Camp, Bob’s friend Ben asked us if we were planning to pass though Beaver that day. We actually had to check on the map to make sure, and indeed it was on our route! He said we should look for him at Pleasant Lake where he’d be out with his speed boat and that he could take Neil water skiing.
That part of the “trail” was actually on the road and wasn’t the nicest part riding wise. Finally we were in Beaver, a tiny settlement with a very impressive General Store for some reason. We had an ice cream break and then headed to the lake where we found Ben and his boat. I volunteered to stay on shore with our stuff, while everyone else went on the speed boat. Neil managed a bit of water skiing but he was mostly excited that Ben let him drive the speed boat for a bit.
When it was time to carry on we discovered that we had left one of our water bottles on Ben’s boat, and Ben was already out on the water again. That was a bummer since it was one of our good water bottles… Just before our campground for that night we noticed a car on the other side of the road with a guy standing by it waving to us. It was Ben with our water bottle! He noticed we forgot it and drove the opposite way to catch up with us to bring it back to us! Good people are everywhere.
When we arrived at the recreational site it seemed that our good luck had run out though. The campground was totally full! But good people are everywhere so after I befriended an elderly couple they offered to share their site with us. It was a huge site anyway, so it didn’t really bother them and the kids got really excited that we were going to share a site with other people…
Magical Camp Spot
The next day we finally left the main road and connected to a nicer smaller road although after a while it felt a bit boring. Luckily just then we finally hit the Olympic Discovery Trail in all its glory. The trail was paved, mostly flat and completely separated from the road. The first section was mainly in the forest followed by a short section on the highway to make it to the campground by Crescent Lake, luckily all downhill.
The campground looked full at first glimpse so we headed to the beach for a swim and to try to catch the ranger. Finally it turned out that there were a few “secret” magical spots that were non-reserveable and were mostly saved for cyclists. We ended up with one of the most beautiful sites right on the shore of the lake. The site wasn’t really flat, but we found a nice sandy spot to pitch the tent. It also turned out that in Washington there wasn’t a fire ban like in BC so we had a campfire almost every evening. We had stocked up in Beaver with some marshmallows so we were set on that front.
Unfortunately what we didn’t realize before was that the store in Lake Crescent was a lot less impressive than the one in Beaver. It was mostly intended for tourists and did not really have “real” food in it. At that point the food we had started out with was almost gone, but we wanted to stay an extra night at Lake Crescent.
Since the next day was a rest day we figured we didn’t need that much food and we got some eggs, crackers and pouched tuna. The store did carry the most important item on the trip though – ice cream!
After leaving Crescent Lake we hit the most scenic section of the Olympic Discovery Trail, right alongside the lake and with the Devil’s Punchbowl as our lunch spot. The Devil’s Punchbowl was stunning with crystal turquoise water. For a split second I thought maybe we had taken a wrong turn and ended up in Thailand…
From Lake Crescent to Crescent Beach
Our next destination was Crescent Beach, a slight detour from the trail but totally worth it. We stocked up on food at the General Store in Joyce, making sure we’d have enough food till Port Angeles. At first sight the Salt Creek campground looked like a typical unfriendly RV Park. Then it turned out that there was a nice grassy area overlooking the water, only for tents, and a whole other section separated from the RVs. There was also the most incredible beach there, which during low tide was great for exploration.
Legendary Warm Showers Host
After two nights at Crescent Beach, full of tidal pool exploration and dragging lots of kelp around it was time to carry on. We had a short and not so pleasant section on the highway, with logging trucks passing us way too close for comfort. We all sighed in relief when we were back on the safe grounds of the Olympic Discovery Trail, at the Elwha Dam.
We made it to Port Angeles around lunch time. It was exactly a week after we had arrived to Port Angeles for the first time, but luckily we still had a few more days to explore the area before heading home. We had an excellent lunch at a Tex-Mex place called the Little Devil’s Lunchbox, and it was nice to eat something different than our camping food and stale tortillas. Then the kids and I parked ourselves in a bike park and playground for a couple of hours while Gili went to a supermarket to stock up on food.
Once we left Port Angeles we realized that we still had a couple of hours of riding as this part of the trail was hillier than the rest. We arrived at the first and only Warm Showers host we stayed with during this trip – Lonnie. When we read his profile we were amazed that Lonnie had hosted over 2,000 people on both Warm Showers and Couchsurfing! He’s an extremely generous and modest man, and we were very comfortable camping on his big property and playing with his friendly dogs.
To Discovery Bay
Lonnie’s place was right off the trail so in the morning we immediately connected with the Olympic Discovery Trail again. It was one of the hottest days of the trip, and the area of Sequim is known to be extremely dry too. Also Kai rode a lot on his own that day, which was great, but also makes for a slower pace of riding. We cooled off at a nice park where they had the sprinklers on so the kids enjoyed running around and getting wet.
Our campground for the next two nights was at Sequim Bay, where we found a few awesome hiker/biker sites. It was so great not to have to worry about finding a camping spot most of the trip, as many campgrounds in the area had this option. It was also time to have a shower after more than a week, despite it being a non-impressive coin operated shower.
From Sequim Bay we followed the trail till Discovery Bay. At least that was the end point for us – the trail actually continues farther to Port Townsend but we had heard that that section is mostly on an unpleasant road with no shoulders. Gili found a burger shack online that sounded legendary and so we had already promised the kids burgers and milkshakes for lunch that day. I regretted it a bit since when we arrived at the place there were Trump signs on the window which kind of threw me off. Inside the place was covered with $1 bills, very strange. The burgers and shakes were good though, and we got to meet and chat with Darius, a cyclist from Germany who stopped there as well. He’s riding to raise money and awareness for people who suffer from brain tumors, like he did when he was 15.
Back at Dungeness Spit
Before returning to Port Angeles to catch the ferry back we made another detour, this time to visit Dungeness Spit, an 8km long sand spit. We were actually at this campground twice before but hadn’t even seen the spit then… It was when Neil was three months old and in fact it was his first time sleeping in a tent. Our mission then was to do the South Coast hike, one of our first ever multi day hike with Neil.
At Dungeness Spit campground the hiker/biker sites were a bit buried in the woods unfortunately. They were so hidden that I actually managed to get lost while going to the bathroom in the evening. It was already getting dark when I tried to find my way back and everything looked so different from when we arrived. Gili and the boys started to get a bit worried and were getting ready to put out the fire and go on a rescue mission when I finally found my way back…
Visiting the spit was indeed spectacular, with the ocean on both sides and the lighthouse at the far end. We spent a few hours exploring before heading back on our bikes for one more night of camping, but this time we had a surprise for the kids!
Camping at an Alpaca Farm!
We made our way along the trail back to Port Angeles to the HipCamp place we had reserved at an alpaca farm! Just as advertised on their site, you actually get to camp right in the middle of a large field with all the alpacas and llamas. The animals were very curious about us when we just arrived but then left us on our own most of the time. It was a clear night and it suddenly got very cold. We were also not allowed to have a campfire so we went into the tent and to bed early. In the morning we did another round of feeding the animals with the apples we brought. At first they seemed to be a bit less interested because they were just fed breakfast, but eventually many of them came around, some hungrier than others, and some just curious and wanted to say hi.
Biking Home
It was then time to catch the ferry back to Victoria and soon enough we were back again in buzzing downtown Victoria. We rode back to our friends’ place for one more night of camping in their backyard. In the morning we woke up to… rain! It was the first rainy morning in a long time, but at least we were on our way home. We stopped at a nearby lake for a picnic lunch with our friends before we said goodbye again.
Kai wanted to ride some of the way so our progress was slower but then somehow we still made it in time to the ferry we hoped to catch. There was a big delay though so we ended up waiting for a while. There were definitely more people on the bike bus this time around. People were sharing stories about their bike trips and there was a nice communal feeling. We biked back home the same way and stopped for pizza at a playground in Kerrisdale. We celebrated the end of a very successful trip, full of swimming in lakes and beaches, bike riding along a beautiful trail, camp fires, ferries and even alpacas and llamas. Even though this summer didn’t start in the best possible way, it sure did end on a very positive note.
