jeepseahawk

A little summary of my trip to Hurricane Ridge in Washington state, it was a bucket list climb. I first posted in the Pacific Northwest forum to get some pointers and the folks were great at that. In fact, one local who goes by forum name Lascauxcaveman even stated he would ride with me up. After talking a bit, it was learned his family had a local Hotel he ran. I was staying with my folks within 70 miles of Hurricane Ridge and figured to drive up that morning, well I got the butterflies and just went up that night figuring more sleep. The Downtown Hotel was great, very unique with that going back in time feeling but with modern updates, A+ on his hotel.
We decided to leave at 10 am, meet at the visiting center which would give a 17.5 mile climb. Could of left at the hotel to add 200 ft of climbing but I was ill prepared for this climb, not enough training with a max climb of 2900 this year. Plus I am a 230 lb clyde who is slow to begin with.

(photos are from cell phone but came out decent)

This photo is about a mile going up, just amazing views. The first 4 miles were a kicker for me, GPS showed nothing under 7% and stayed on 9% most of the of time. I was warned this was the hardest part and indeed it was.



Mile 5 at the toll booth (5 bucks and worth it) and great water from faucet, this is the last place to get water and 12 miles to top. There are many streams though, I ended up using them to pour cold water over my head. It was only 80 degrees but my body was not used to the humidity. Lascauxcaveman, my host via bikeforums generosity, taking a much needed break. Dude was a better climber but waited for me every so often. Plus he has a cool old-school bike, just a beauty, more photos of it soon.



Not exactly sure but believe this is 1/3 the way up. I stopped a lot to take photos, was a leisure pace with only goal to get to top.



The road is pretty narrow and I highly recommend lights front and rear, especially for the tunnels (3 total). The road is pretty good about warning motorists of cyclists.




The deer up here are very tame, let you get real close because of all the tourists, still advisable to stay clear of them unlike me .



Bikes posing, they were tired.



I can feel the pain about right here, think we are 2/3 the way up. Next time I will put the hours in climbing prior. Lascauxcaveman was barely breaking a sweat, a good climber.



Next photo shows the last part of climb, maybe 300 feet.




The top and I was extremely sore, Lascauxcaveman got up a little earlier. We had fish and chips at the little restaurant with my kids, they drove up. This was by far the most scenic climb to date, just beautiful. The elevation here is 5300 ft and there were big pockets of snow everywhere, in July.
Total climb was 4800 ft in 17.7 miles, round trip of 35.5. Hour lunch on top and still decent time of 5.5 hours total up and down, well for a clyde like myself.
Garmin connect link below.
https://connect.garmin.com/activity/336767057

islandseas

Sounds like you had a good ride. I'm just across the strait and see those mountains everyday. Thanks for posting your report and pics.

Karen

Ursa Minor

Great trip report - it made me wanna do the ride. And congrats on finishing the climb

Charlie

ahultin

Congrats! Nice job

Street Pedaler

I wish Louisiana would get some dang mountains. We're always the last to do anything cool. Looks like a nice ride, I'm jealous.

PhotoJoe 

Nice writeup, Jeeps. Congrats on the accomplishment. Looks like it was a beautiful ride! And nobody will even mention your delusions claiming that gorgeous Seven was tired!

Urugami

Huh? You're in NW La.. Y'all got plenty of mountains up there!
Now down here in the delta, we're FLAT and LOW... The only time my head gets above sea level is when I ride up the levee

OP, Nice write-up and great pics! Love the double-car HDR artifact in the one shot. Looks like you had fun.

bbeasley

What he said ^.

Congrats on your ride, and man that scenery!

jsigone

Nice n GREEN up there. We need more of that in our local MTS. Great write up and photos.


Question, does the road go higher to those snow caps peaks?

kingsqueak

Heh holy climb..I can't even imagine doing that right now, would be awesome. Same distance on flat ground would be a nice first step LOL.

TrojanHorse

Nice report!

Did you ride your bike all the way up to WA or did you drive it?

Mr. Beanz

Nice!

jeepseahawk

I do believe Hurricane Ridge is the highest paved road in the Olympics; I was at top and 5300 ft. The tallest mtn is 7900 and it is on right of last photo, Mt Olympus. They are not very tall but sure beautiful, snow year round and glaciers.

I grew up looking at those mtns and hardly ever went to them, some day I want to take advantage of all the hiking trails.

chefisaac

I have not forgotten about the book either. Just FYI

jeepseahawk

I must of, have no clue, forgive me if it was important.

jeepseahawk

Of course I did n't.

jeepseahawk

Yes, they are beautiful mtns. Looking over to your neck woods from Port Angeles is a tall mtn, which one is it? I may have been facing Mt Baker (WA) but it seemed I looked straight north.

islandseas

If it was snow covered it was Mt. Baker which we can see on clear days. Victoria has the Sooke Hills which would be west if viewed from Port Angeles and then Mt. Tolmie and Mt. Douglas neither of which is very tall.

Karen

volosong

Beautiful ride. That's a great acomplishment. Worth of anyone's "bucket list".

Lascauxcaveman 

Guess I may as well chime in, too, since I was the guy there with OP. He mentions my "old school" bike, but really, is 1984 "old school?" At any rate, it's a touring bike with a triple, so I think I had a gear-inches advantage when the climbing got hairy. I was definitely spin-ier when I needed it. Here's the long and relaxed 1984 Peugeot Vagabond near the top (Mmmm, all that delicious, old-school, Frenchy, Made-In-Canada goodness):


And below, my much racier, more modern (1985) Trek 600 on my first trip up there this year, early May. Gearheads will notice from the shot the secret to being happy on this climb is either a triple up front, or huge cog on back. That's a 34t MegaRange for the record, which helps a lot.

And snow, in May! Yes, we had a major snowpack this year. This is a shot of the switchbacks trailhead, a couple miles from the top. Still a substantial snowbank there at that time, even with the southern exposure:


Anyone else want moral support on this epic climb? Go ahead and PM me; I'll ride along if I can get the time off, and you're not too fast for me. And if you need a place to stay in town, check out my hotel, we're def one of the cheapest!

rdtompki

That was an epic climb! congratulations. I'm curious, was there any descent on the way up or does the 5500' equate to the difference in altitude (bottom to top)? I, for one, really detest descending during a climb: the minute of relief is followed immediately by the realization that even more climbing will ensue.

Lascauxcaveman 

According to my GPS app, from where I start (downtown, at sea level) there is 5,203 feet of climbing and a whopping 30 feet descending on the way up, so I don't think this ride will lull you into a false sense of security at any point.

Black wallnut 

Nice writeup. Think I may have to add this to my list for next summer.