Day 3 May 27th

Day 3 May 27th

Stats: 65.55 Miles, 6:55 Hours, 9.8 MPH average, 40.1 MPH top Speed, A bit of rain here and there but mostly sunny and high of 80

Today started off with a big disappointment, we woke to find our tasty seasoned almonds, 12 slices of cheese, all our bread, and some other tid bits taken and eaten by some sneaky animal of the night. We suspect raccoon or crow, but that is still up in the air.

Either way we started day three in the rain and a bit behind schedule, but never the less in good spirits. The first part of the day was drab and boring, 101 out of Sequim is a bit run down and uneventful. I did manage to find a 2 GB jump drive still in its packaging though on the side of the road, and the rain had stopped early so things were looking up. Shortly we were in Port Angles, where we quickly spotted a Dollar Tree dollar store and filled up on candy, pickles and chips.

Our hopes were high for Port Angles however we were presented with another disappointment since the old timer at the visitor info desk told us that our craved seafood lunch was pretty lack luster in the fair city. So we kept biking in search of other food and ended up lost in hillyville, and Molly began to redden in the face. We navigated our way out and back onto 101, however we managed to pass all the markets, and with yesterdays track record of no grocery’s in 40 miles we were panicked. Luckily we stumbled upon Lynn’s Caboose, a little roadside trailer serving up beef and shakes. We indulged ourselves again, in too much food, and found the coma creeping back into our lives.

We fought it off and clambered back onto the bikes and headed west for Lake Crescent. Lake Crescent was the beginning of the rain forest, and completely amazed Molly and I. The pristine blue waters, and temperate rain forest surroundings made us almost forget about the non-existent shoulder and the endless barrage of giant logging trucks flying by at high speeds. And for anyone who has never seen a Pacific Northwest logging truck drive by, these suckers are moving at the speed of light and could care less of who or what is on the shoulder in front of them. Needless to say it got pretty exciting at moments. But to get back to Lake Crescent, this place was unreal!! My words cannot even describe it, just look at the pictures.

On the west side of the lake there was the one building town of Fairholm, which is simply a general store. We were soaked again from the afternoon rain forest shower we received, and decided to stop in to buy some supplies. After deciding on ramen and peas for dinner we headed out to tackle our last leg of the day, Fairholm Hill and the 12 mile ride into the rain forest to Sol Duc Hot Springs. Fairholm Hill ended up being over 2 miles of the steepest hill we had yet encountered and finally broke Molly. I knew at some point in the trip it would happen, when Molly’s emotions got the best of her, but I had hoped it wouldn’t happen by the second day on bikes. Either way, the water works started flowing and the phrases “I can’t do this,” and “This is terrible,” were tossed around. With a lot of coaxing, a bit of pep talking and me walking her bike to the top of the hill, I was able to get her back on the bike and head south with me into the rain forest. This little jaunt ended up being 12 more miles of uphill hell for Molly, which produced more tears, however these ones were squelched with Jolly Joes Grape Mike and Ikes.
To end the day we arrived at Sol Duc, set camp quickly at an amazing site on the beautiful Sol Duc River, and rushed over to the hot springs to soak. We got in an hour of bathe time at the springs which are deep into the rain forest and surrounded by mountains and clouds, it’s truly another amazing place! Northern Washington in the past two days has not disappointed us. Plus we finally got our first shower in two days, which normally would not be such a bad stretch, but we had already biked over 130 miles though rain and 80 degree sun, so we were pretty soiled.

Finally after the needed cleanse and relaxation we headed back to camp and had another round of grilled cheese, hopefully the animals won’t get to this batch, and our ramen concoction. The day is finally over, and as Molly sleeps, I sit here in the latrines, charging my laptop and typing away!