Tesgin

I'm planning a bicycling vacation to Washington in September. I'm going to spend a week in the San Juan Islands, then take the Puget Sound Express from Friday Island to Port Townsend on a Monday. I'll have three days to explore the ODT, and would love some advice. I'll be on a road bike only, no vehicle. My plan is to catch the Dungeness Line in Port Angeles on Thursday to take me back to Seattle (actually, Edmonds). So, I'll have Monday mid-afternoon through Wed. evening before heading back to Port Angeles to catch the Dungeness Line.

I'd sure appreciate any tips on planning those few days. I'm most interested in scenery and riding, not so much concerned about city life or experience. A few decent coffee shops, some stops for decent food, would be fine. I'm looking at staying in B&Bs or an Inn or something.

I had my eyes on the Lake Crescent Lodge. I wish I had a few more days, but I don't. I've heard mixed things about Sequim and Port Angeles. Several in this forum said they'd skip Sequim. Others have said the ride from Sequim to Port Angeles is great.

Do I catch a bus and head out to Lake Crescent from the start?

I could catch a bus from Townsend to Sequim and bike from there to Lake Crescent on Monday (50 mi).

Maybe I kiss Lake Crescent good bye for this trip and explore instead the Sequim Bay area? Or just stay in Port Angeles and check out Hurricane Ridge and the surrounding area?

I'd like to take in the most scenic that that area has to offer, and really appreciate any recommendations.

By the way, I visited your beautiful state last September and with the help of this forum planned some amazing riding out in Leavenworth, rode the North Cascades Highway, and did the Kitsap Peninsula and Whidbey Island. Absolutely beautiful.

Thanks for that, and thanks in advance for whatever tips you can give me!

Tesgin

Seattle Forrest

I really don't have much to say about the Oly Peninsula at all. Port Townsend is very cute, I know that area because I have family there but the rest of it is big and spread out, and hasn't resonated with me the way the Cascades have. So I really don't have much useful advice.

Hurricane Ridge is gorgeous, a lot of people go from Port Angeles for a challenging climb and I think you could take a bus up (?) to the top and have a memorable descent. On a clear day you can see many glaciers from the parking lot.

It's been an alarmingly bad winter for snow, I don't think the Olympics ever got 10 % of their normal snowpack this year. The scenery is different because of it, and I've heard the rivers are already at late July or early August levels measured in cubic feet per minute. So far it's been warmer and clearer than normal. I don't know if that affects your plans.

winston63 

I'm no expert, but I've done a couple of self-supported bike tours in the area.

The ride from Sequim to Port Angeles is really gorgeous. It's not very long or overly challenging, but it's quite pleasant and I think you should find a way to fit that in. If your ferry isn't due until late you could even do a return ride from Port Angelas out to Sequim and back again.

We've done the ride from Port Townsend to Sequim and that's not bad but Highway 20 is pretty busy and very narrow. I don't know if I'd do that route again to be honest. You can detour around the narrow part of highway 20 but I think it adds something like 10 miles to the trip. We did do that one trip and it's probably a bit more comfortable than Highway 20.

If it's logical to stay in Sequim, I can recommend the Red Caboose B&B: Redcaboose Getaway a Sequim Bed and Breakfast Olympic Peninsula
All the rooms are in renovated train cars, but the breakfast is the real reason to stay there: it's absolutely out of this world and will definitely get you fuelled up for a day of riding!

Good luck!

toddles

I've done this trail and it's awesome. You can't really catch a bus out to Lake Crescent that I know of and any riding around that lake is treacherous. There are zero shoulders, the corners blinding, and always some big ass trailer or truck around the corner. But as soon as you move away from the lake, heading west, Hwy 101 is actually pretty great for riding.

My wife and I rode the ODT by starting out in Sequim. There are sections with deep ravines and areas that I thought were challenging (tight corners you must almost come to a complete stop before starting up a short but steep ascent, etc...). Once we got to Port Angeles we pretty much called it. It's natural place to stop. You ride 4 miles along the bay and can continue around it on the spit for another 3 or for if you want. You can also continue on the path further up for a short period via some road riding -- but it pretty much leaves you nowhere unless you want to continue to Lake Crescent. See my later posts for more info on the Lake Crescent ride.

We thought it was a great ride and it can be done by a fit biker round trip. I could have done it pretty easily but my wife is not quite there yet and we rode it one way. Just know that it's harder than it looks as there are a LOT of ups and downs -- except in the prairie section. Also one of the river bridges is closed in Sequim and you'll spend an extra 15 minutes or so detouring.

All in all, I'd like to go back and ride it again myself.

toddles

By the way, Lake Crescent is awesome -- scenic -- and people do ride it... but do so with care and totally expect going around that sucker with cars rallying down 101 behind you looking to pass. I wouldn't call it a place to gawk while riding and I question how enjoyable it'd be to ride(on hwy 101 that is). And Port Angeles isn't much of a place. I'd rather stay in Sequim by far.

toddles

We stayed here. Great.

Sunset Marine Resort - Sequim - United States

Tesgin

To clarify, you are referring here to the section between Sequim and Port Angeles, right? Or to the road going to Lake Crescent? Sounds gorgeous.

So, I'm understanding you to say that, gorgeous as Lake Crescent is, bicycling there from Port Angeles on a road bike is probably ill advised? I was really hoping to do that, but it doesn't sound like a good idea on road bike?

Tesgin

Seattle Forrest

Everyone has a different tolerance for risk from cars. I rode US 2 over Stevens Pass, and will never do that again; a friend of mine thinks it's nothing. I don't know where toddles's comfort level is, but it's true Lake Crescent is on US 101 which is basically the only road on the peninsula. (That's a bit of an exaggeration but not too much.)

Going on a week day would help a lot.

toddles

I rode out there in late April so it's pretty familiar to me. In fact, I was thinking of doing the same thing but we called it in PA. Hwy 101 from Port Angeles to the beginning of the east side of Lake Crescent is really good. That is, even though the volume of traffic is heavy with larger vehicles, the shoulder is huge and the ride fairly flat except for some hills leaving PA. But otherwise very doable. However, when you approach the lake, there's even a big traffic warning sign to bikers advising you to pull over and read. The road is very narrow, hugs the lake, and is very curvy with lots of guard rail. Which means the line of sight is poor also. There's just really only a few places to pull over the entire length of the road and the only way cars can get around you is to pass -- but they're limited because there's only a few places they can pass. When we drove the length of the road by car, we came behind two sets of bicyclists and had to putt putt behind them for what seemed like eternity before being able to go around them in our small sedan. Being a cyclist I was sympathetic but I'm not so sure trucks and campers are. Nor am I sure they're looking out for you.

If you rode over Hwy 20 (North Cascades Hwy) then I trust you know what you're doing and are a solid rider. You could do it if you wanted. And you're right. It's amazingly beautiful going through that stretch. One of my favorites. But just know when I tell you that you literally will be sharing the road with the drivers because there aren't a lot of safe places to pull over and there are a lot of trucks and campers making their way through this stretch. It's just really tight. Arguably it is the tightest stretch on the whole peninsula (I'd say definitely but it was some time ago that I drove my car from Lake Crescent around to Aberdeen and I'm a little fuzzy there).

Again, I remember this pretty clearly because my wife was driving at the time and I was scouting the trip to see if it was something I could do by bike. We even stopped at the warning sign for bikers along the way. I don't recall ever seeing a warning sign for bikers instructing us to read it before we rode a segment before -- so that gives you an idea. I'm not scaring you. I'm sure you can do it -- I just want you to know what you're getting into. You'll need to be hyper-vigilant. In hindsight, I'd say if you can ride with a partner even better. Ride side by side so drivers can see you and won't be tempted to do ill-advised passes.

toddles

If you're going to do it -- Forrest brings up a great point. Try to do it on a weekday.