Monday, January 23, 2017

Port Angeles (2017-01-14,15)

A two-day ride in the dead of Winter. While it wasn't exactly my best idea, it panned out well enough.

Ivory Pass Entering Port Angeles
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Related albums:

To Victoria (Album)

More after the break…

Day 1

Part 1: To Ferry
Day 1, Part 1: To Ferry

I started at about 05:00 like usual, then headed out to the ferry terminal to Bainbridge Island.

Part 2: To Port Angeles
Day 1, Part 2: To Port Angeles

It was very cold on the other side of Puget Sound. I had to eat indoors in order to not get chilled, even with the hill climbs between Winslow and Poulsbo.

I left Poulsbo via Big Valley, SR-3, and SR-104 to SR-19, then headed north on the latter. I stopped at the general store in Beaver Valley in hopes to use the porta-potty, but the shop looked like it had shut down. I then headed along Larson Lake Road.

Larson Lake Road
Larson Lake Road
Center Road

And then along Eaglemount Road.

Eaglemount Road
Eaglemount
Eaglemount Road
Eaglemount Cliffs

After the descent on SR-20 to Discovery Bay, I stopped at Fat Smitty's for some food and hot coffee. After seeing the condition of my water bottles, the son of the owners was kind enough to wash them. Such kindness definitely gets me coming back to a place time and time again.

Fat Smitty's: I stopped here when going both to and from Port Angeles.

I left Discovery Bay along the Olympic Discovery Trail route, which I took all the way to just before Sequim Bay State Park.

Old Gardiner Road Bridge: The bridge is new, but the road is "Old Gardiner Road."
Olympic Discovery Trail Entrance
Olympic Discovery Trail Entrance
Mountains Over Blyn
Sequim Bay
Mossy Olympic Discovery Trail: It's actually the old highway.
Mossy Olympic Discovery Trail: It's actually the old highway.

I got onto the highway at Sequim Bay State Park due to the poor design of the trail there. Apparently, they were working on fixing the trail there, and the trail was detoured along a route beside a highway, which I ignored as I was already on the highway. I then passed through Sequim, where the pond in Carrie Blake Park was completely frozen over. I've never seen such a thing in person before!

Ivory Pass at Carrie Blake Park
Carrie Blake Park
Carrie Blake Park

Next, I continued heading east along the Olympic Discovery Trail, crossing over the Dungeness River and through Carlsborg.

Olympic Discovery Trail: Dungeness River Bridge
Olympic Discovery Trail: Dungeness River Bridge
Dungeness River
Olympic Mountains

I saw a few older folks cycling along the trail, which passes by a retirement home. There was a also a detour where some sewer work was being done.

Olympic Discovery Trail Work: A bit of gravel because of sewer work nearby.
Olympic Discovery Trail Work: A bit of gravel because of sewer work nearby.

Remembering the bad route from last time, I got onto the old highway a bit after Carlsborg. When I saw the trail along the bad route and its covering of snow, I knew I'd made the right decision.

Olympic Discovery Trail: Snow: It gets worse further away from the highway.
Olympic Discovery Trail: Snow: It gets worse further away from the highway.

From there, I took the old highway to US 101, which I then took all the way to Port Angeles.

Ivory Pass Entering Port Angeles

There weren't any good places to eat at near the motel at which I was staying, so I had to go down into town for food.

While the food was good, I had trouble digesting it since I'd beaten my system down pretty hard over the day. Thankfully, I slept well enough.

Day 2

Part 1: Return via Kingston
Day 2, Part 1: Return via Kingston

The next morning, I waited until 07:00 or so for light in the sky. I was mainly worried about being able to see icy patches on the road, as my dynamo lighting takes care of general visibility to drivers. Since the trail was covered in snow, I had to take the hard, repeated climbs out of town, with snow flanking the highway.

More Winter
US 101
US 101

By the time I'd gotten to Carlsborg, I was craving a hearty breakfast with pancakes, and there was thankfully a good diner nearby.

Then, I continued along US 101, which went from a four-lane divided highway, to a super-two, to a regular two-lane highway when I got to the familiar section east of Sequim. From there to Discovery Bay, it was all familiar stuff.

Discovery Bay (Town)
Discovery Bay (Town)

I stopped at Fat Smitty's again, this time for a milkshake and some coffee.

And then I headed up SR-104's multi-mile continuous climb, which wasn't so terrible.

SR-104 Climb: I always dread the climb, but it's really a case of picking an easy gear to spin up it.

Even though my legs couldn't push so hard, I had a pretty easy time as long as I spun in a low gear up all the long hills. This eventually got me to Port Gamble.

From there, it was pretty easy to Kingston. I ended up taking the Barber Cutoff rather than the last big hill to the ferry terminal.

Barber Cutoff Road
Barber Cutoff Road
Kingston Ferry Terminal: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Part 2: Return Home
Day 2, Part 2: Return Home

I made sure that the climb out of Edmonds wouldn't be too difficult by winching my way slowly up the long, gradual grade.

I did end up missing my turn and was forced along a fairly hilly route all the way to Mountlake Terrace, where I got onto the Interurban Trail. It was a pretty easy ride home from there.

I got home at about 19:00.

I learned that my bike's middle and big rings (36 and 48) were a bit tall for the large wheel diameter (714mm), so I put in an order for 34- and 46-tooth rings at my local shop. Should provide more sensible gearing.

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