Hoh to Port Angeles
This is the third installment of my trip log of my first overnight trip with the new Benelli TRK502X, doing 7 nights / 8 days from Portland, up the Olympic Peninsula, over to Bellingham and then finally to Orcas Island.
My planned route for day 4 in Gaia GPS. Actual track was almost exactly this, except I didn’t make it all the way to Neah Bay.
Day 4
Planned Destination: Heart o’ the Hills Campground
Actual Destination: Port Angeles
Planned / Actual Accommodation: Camping / Roach Motel
Planned / Actual Miles: 215ish / 204
Planned Route: Leave Hoh, gas in Forks, then out to La Push and Rialto Beach. Then out to Cape Flattery before heading back toward Port Angeles along the Strait of Juan de Fuca and starting up the road toward Hurricane Ridge.
Route Notes
I broke camp at 10:40 after some socializing with various friendly camp neighbors drawn to the romantic notions of traveling by motorcycle. I enjoy it to be honest; I’m doing something most people just dream about. Of course, there are other people doing things I only dream about (traveling the world by motorcycle, for example); someone’s always got greener grass than yours.
Today’s ride was all pavement and was mostly about covering miles to get to interesting destinations. I’d never been to La Push and wanted to go because it was a surf destination my brother (who used to live in Port Angeles) had talked trying but never did. La Push the town is pretty scrappy, but the beach there is amazing. It was raining and foggy, which added to the mysteriousness. After La Push, I backtracked and then headed to the other side of the Quillayute River to Rialto beach. I almost didn’t do this part; it was raining and the riding wasn’t the best and I didn’t know what to expect. I’m really glad I went, though. Rialto Beach is gorgeous. Somehow, I didn’t get any pictures. There was a park ranger there answering questions and there were lots of people. It’s popular starting point for backpackers. Public restroom was a plus, too.
La Push and Rialto Beach
After walking Rialto Beach for a bit, I headed back to 101 and then up to 112 and headed west along the Strait of Juan de Fuca toward Neah Bay and Cape Flattery. Still raining on and off, but not as bad as it was out toward La Push. As we’re in the middle of the pandemic, a lot of towns in Washington that are on native land are closed to outsiders and/or non-residents. For the most part, that hadn’t been an issue, but Neah Bay was the exception. At about Seal Rock on HWY 112, there was a sign indicating that Neah Bay (and presumably the rest of the Makah Reservation) was open to residents only. I’m sure I could have ridden through without issue, but I’m not interested in being a dick so I turned around and started the ride back toward Port Angeles. I’ll have to come by this way some other time to see Cape Flattery.
Planned route through Neah Bay to Cape Flattery. I turned around at Seal Rock on HWY 112.
The ride to Port Angeles included obligatory stops at Salt Creek (where I’ve surfed with my brother several times) and the WWII gun bunkers at what use to be Camp Hayden. Once in Port Angeles I just rode around looking for a cheap-looking motel that wasn’t too far out of town.
Lodging Notes
Motels were surprisingly full; there was a mountain biking event in town and it drew a lot of cheapskates (not unlike myself). I ended up at the All View Motel, which was a tad on the sketchy side. Not cheap, though; I think I paid $90 for the night. Let’s just say I did not touch the carpet with my bare feet, and I checked all the way to the foot of the sheets to make sure they had been changed and were not covered in foot lint (they’d been changed). All that said, my back was killing me from three nights camping on a thin air pad and I needed a real bed; I was happy to find a motel. I had dinner out on the back deck at The Rail, made some plans to meet up with a friend in the morning, came back to the motel, plugged in devices for charging, and got a fantastic night’s sleep…finally.
