They say that adventures begin when things don’t go as planned, and needless to say, this is how our adventure started. Well, that saying would be much more accurate if I had a plan…
Upon arriving in Port Townsend, the question of where to park the car for two weeks suddenly became a decision that needed to be made–a decision I thoroughly avoided during the time leading up to this trip. It’s not that I didn’t want to think about it, but this critical step was something I for some reason thought would work itself out. After getting a late start driving from Portland to Port Townsend, we lost about an hour driving around asking various people where we could park for an extended period of time. We finally found a great deal at the Point of Hudson Marina and RV park and were able to secure parking for $50 for a month (we didn’t need that much time but this was cheaper than paying by the day).
With the car secured and bikes loaded, I Googled our route (which I remembered to be around 30 miles) and saw that it was actually 51 miles. Neither Lauren nor I were very happy at this additional mileage but it was doable. We started riding, hit the Olympic Discovery Trail (ODT), and were on our way with an ETA in Port Angeles around 8:30pm. Not ideal, but at least we’d be there before dark. Well, that would have been true had I done more research and stuck with a plan. In an impromptu decision at the start of the trip, unbeknownst to Lauren, I decided that we should follow the ODT all the way to Port Angeles, since after all, my skimming the ODT website read a “130 mile trail across the northern portion of the peninsula.” About 10 miles in, I decided to confirm this route with an older gentleman we came across running the trail. I asked him if the ODT continues in the direction we were heading. He said no — there is a huge gap in the trail. I didn’t believe him at first, but accepted he would know (he helped create the trail). He asked how we were getting to Discovery Bay (I didn’t even know where this was) and the reality of how unprepared I was started setting in. I was relying on a mix of Google, an Adventure Cycling map, and some information I got from a website, and none of these things were aligned. He gave us some beta about the best way to get from where we were to Discovery Bay in order to reconnect with the trail in Blyn. He also recommended a route with less traffic and wider shoulders (the way Adventure Cycling suggested), which was safer but longer than the shorter, faster, more dangerous way (the way Google suggested) that I had been semi-following. Hesitantly, I asked about how far we were from Port Angeles. He said about 55 miles. We had been riding for an hour, it was after 4:00pm and we were further away than when we started. Discouraged doesn’t even start to describe the way we were feeling. I felt like an idiot for not planning this better and luckily Lauren held it together better than I did. We pushed forward in spite of the mileage before us and somehow managed to make it to Port Angeles at 11:30pm. I tried to quit several times but Lauren’s perseverance kept me moving.
It wasn’t all bad. Along the way, we saw several animals including a coyote galloping down the path in front of us, some beautiful sunset scenery riding through Sequim, and rode car-free paths through the woods for miles and miles (this was much nicer in the daylight). Towards the end, it certainly started getting hard considering the fact that our rushed state left no time for a proper meal. During the last three miles or so, Lauren’s headlight ran out of juice and I had a bat fly into me and bounce off my helmet, but those are the only times that we got really scared.
What did I learn from this first day? Make a plan. Stick with that plan. And be grateful for the patient people in your life — Lauren and our AirBnB hosts included.
Today’s Mileage = 66
Total Mileage = 66
