i'm moving to seattle in october. before i start my job, i plan on riding around the olympic peninsula, starting from the south (from the fauntelroy ferry, then down 160/16/3/101/108/8/12 then north on 101 and all the way around and back to 3. does anyone have experience with this route and an approximation of how long it might take??
thanks....

Howdy. you can be most of the way to Aberdeen by day 1, figure 2 more days up to Forks, one more or two to Port Angeles, one PA back to Seattle- IF you are in touring shape. figure on a week. Count on some rain. Rig up a planet bike superflash and slo-mo triangle, it's dark and shady on those roads in October.

There's back roads between Shelton (shelton-cloquallum road) almost all the way to Aberdeen with good stealth camping sites, also dedicated state park camping north of Satsop (schaeffer state park) for day 1. An abundance of camping options abound all the way back to Port Angeles and even to the Hood Canal Bridge, just pick a good looking logging spur road.

It's pretty quiet and not a lot of food stores between Aberdeen and Forks- have your food ready to go from Aberdeen for the next couple of days.

Fill up your water bottles at EVERY stop - there aren't many water stops to speak of- and be prepared to pump/purify your own between Aberdeen and Port Angeles.... I'd bring a gallon Dromedary bag to fill up in the afternoon so you can pick a good camping spot independant on finding a good water source.

if you feel great heading out of Forks and can't get enough of the wilderness, head north from Sappho up to the coast on 113 to Physt.

there ARE "Stores" with groceries at both Lake Quinalt and Kalahoch, but don't expect fresh produce or meat at either- they are simple stores.

good map, best one for road biking, is the olympic pinensula map available from the people at www.greatpacificmaps.com

hope this helps, PM me if you want more suggestions or advice.

Bek



Plan for about a week.
it is beautiful- and remote- out there.

Is there a reason that you are doing the ride clockwise? it is September but the good weather wind is still from the North. generally the riders doing the Pacific Coast route go north to south, so there are built in advantages. also, that puts you on the view side which means that you are not crossing traffic to get the picture or chat with other cyclists. I would like to suggest that you look at the alternative of riding to the Bainbridge Ferry (downtown Seattle, with bike lanes and/or path all of the way) then head towards the Hood Canal Bridge and a really great ride of about a week.

BTW. There are several maps that you might find useful. The Port Townsend Bicycle Association has maps on the web for personal use only at:
www.ptbikes.org/maps/
Washington DOT has a Scenic Byways map and both kitsap and King Counties have Bicycle maps. then there is the book on Bicycling the Pacific Coast printed by the Mountaineers and available in most libraries locally.

When you reach Port Angeles, if you have some spare time on your hands, you feel pretty strong, and you want to see some scenery, take the trip up to Hurricane Ridge. Might want to find a place to safely leave all your gear down near sea level, though.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/print.asp?entryID=120652

the stats are something like 5200 feet of climbing in 14 miles or so.

For an interesting read on Hurricane Ridge, check this link:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=16652&highlight=hurricane

I'm working my way up to this :D .

East Hill

okay, a few more questions... what kind of temperatures can i expect in october? what about cellphone reception? to answer bill's ?, i want to get most of the civilization out of the way early. more questions later. thanks!

Temperatures will be cooling off at night, but can be warmish during the day--not as hot as you'd be in Tampa, though. Expect rain. Expect a LOT of rain if you go near the Hoh rain forest. Don't expect much in the way of mobile phone reception, and be happy if you can get it.

East Hill

riding the olympic pinensula from the ferry terminals, you'll be geting most of the civilization out of the way quick regardless of which way you ride it!

you can ride straight off the Southworth ferry dock and hook up with the 3 with a few hills.

riding it in either direction is appropriate; there actually is very little 'view' sites on the olympic pinensula loop ride- a few miles by Kalaloch and the majority of the rest of it is in forest, no views.

for more pacific coast, ride out of Aberdeen to Moclips on the coast, then the fish hatchery road to reconnect with the 101.

riding the olympic pinensula from the ferry terminals, you'll be geting most of the civilization out of the way quick regardless of which way you ride it!

you can ride straight off the Southworth ferry dock and hook up with the 3 with a few hills.

riding it in either direction is appropriate; there actually is very little 'view' sites on the olympic pinensula loop ride- a few miles by Kalaloch and the majority of the rest of it is in forest, no views.

for more pacific coast, ride out of Aberdeen to Moclips on the coast, then the fish hatchery road to reconnect with the 101.


you must have either rode this route, have good maps, or live on the peninsula cause some of the route you described goes right by my house....by the way, there is a hostel in Elma if you are interested.