We left the Rain Forest Resort Village around 8:00am after a quick breakfast of snacks. Our original plan was to get up early, ride the one mile up to the Lake Quinault Lodge and get a breakfast of potatoes and fruit, but since we seemed to have over-packed snacks (both of us still had full snack bags), we decided both breakfast and lunch would consist of bars, gummies, and some vegan jerky. Of course, I’d rather have a nice cooked breakfast but lightening our snack bags needed to happen.
After a short climb back out to Highway 101, we headed south towards our destination of the day of Elma. Along the way we passed through the tiny town of Humptulips where we stopped for a quick break (and a canned cold brew for me) at the only store in town. The logging trucks were back out today so I was grateful we were getting off of the highway soon.
The back roads towards Elma were much more pleasant than riding on the highway. Sure, there was traffic and the occasional logging truck, but they were generally slower and moved over more regularly. Along the way, we came across a small art studio in the middle of nowhere and decided to stop in to get out of the sun for a few minutes. We talked with the woman who owned it about the property and her art and she informed us that her business does really well. Apparently, when people drive through Olympia to the Olympic National Park sites, Google routes them right past her business, and since it’s the only business along the route, people tend to stop and often buy things. It was the only business we saw for at least 20 miles (also the only bathroom) so I was happy that we stopped.
A bit further down the road we stopped again for a break and saw another bike tourist coming our way. He stopped to chat and told us about his trip. He had been riding for seven weeks, had already ridden from Vancouver B.C. down to San Diego and took the train back up to Washington to tour the peninsula. He also mentioned that he saw two women up the road who were touring and we speculated that they may have been the women we met at Kalaloch Campground. After moving on from talking with him, we caught up with one of the women and our suspicions were confirmed — it was them. It’s always fun to run into the same people while bike touring. It makes the trip feel as if we are all part of the same temporary community, sharing the same highs and lows that go with it.
After riding through the small farming towns of Montesano, Brady, and Satsop, we arrived in Elma at our hotel room at StayBeyond Inn & Suites. There is not much to Elma in the way of vegan food (I’m guessing we could have gotten some fries at The Rusty Tractor) so we decided to eat some more of our camp food and save our money for eating out tomorrow night in Bremerton. On the bright side, our hotel had vegan toiletries in the bathroom so at least there is that. So far, StayBeyond has been the nicest (and cheapest) place that we’ve stayed while on this tour and if you’re passing through Elma and need a place to stay, I would certainly recommend it. Looking forward to two days in Bremerton starting tomorrow.
Today’s Mileage = 61.1
Total Mileage = 307.17
