Weblog: Portland Cycle Tour: Port Angeles > Olympic Hot Springs

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I took the 10:30am Coho ferry to Port Angeles, arriving arround noon. US Immigration was no problem, though I wondered what to say when they asked me my occupation. I'm not sure which is worse for them: unemployed or self-employed software engineer. I decided on the latter. Probably the only things worse to say would be drug-dealer or terrorist. There was another touring cyclist who was going to do a one-week trip through Port Townsend and Whidbey Island [the only other touring cyclist I would see for almost a week].

In PA I ate some lunch, found the Safeway to get food for the rest of the trip, and picked up Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino at a used book store (I've been looking for this book for a while).

I cycled out of town following the recommended route of Bicycling the Pacific Coast by Tom Kirkendall and Vicky Spring, which I had picked up some years ago and am using as a rough guide while I'm going along the coast. This route took me through residential areas and quiet rural streets (Edgeglow was one one of them), and was much nicer than what I would have done otherwise, which is head straight to US 101 (the national highway that goes along the pacific all the way down the coast).

My destination for the day was the Olympic Hot Springs, which are undeveloped, un-advertised hot springs in Olympic National Park. Once I hit the US 101, I continued west until the Elwha Valley entrance to Olympic National Park, where I turned south onto Olympic Hot Springs Rd. This road was quiet, easy, and pretty, following along the Elwha River, until I got to the ranger station. There I filled out a back-country permit. After this the road was almost continuous steep uphill for at least seven miles. It wound through moss-covered old-growth. Two miles before the hot springs, there was a parking area and the road was blocked by boulders, but I could continue by bicycle. There were a bunch of washouts after this. The first was easy to push my bike through, although it was difficicult getting it up the steep bank, but the second major one was more difficult. The road disappeared at a 20+ metre cliff, and a small trail wound down to the bottom, where a narrow log bridge went over a stream. I just barely managed to push my bike over the bridge while loaded without dropping it in the stream. I also walked it through a couple of other washouts which normally I wouldn't have needed to, but I'm still getting accustomed to the handling of having front panniers.

There is a basic campsite near the hot springs. By the time I reached there, I was famished so I cooked some pasta. Of course, just as the pasta was done, I kicked over the whole pot by accident when I stood up, but managed to salvage most of it and the pine needles added flavour. Toward dusk, I headed down to the hot springs. It turns out I forgot my head lamp at home, so I had to make due with a red flashing rear light. There is a trail along the river, and periodically there are small warm streams flowing from above over the trail. Wherever you see those, you can climb up and reach pools people have made by arranging stones. Because of the darkness, I didn't venture very far along the trail, but enjoying sitting in one of the earlier hot springs as it got completely dark. There were a few other people around, but there were more than enough pools for everyone to have their own.

The weather was partly cloudy, with a warm night.

Distance: 38.93km today, 38.93km total; Average Speed: 12.1km/h; Time: 01:59:54
Posted on Mon, 25 Aug 2020 at 22:00 at Olympic Hot Springs, WA, US (altitude 694m) (map/google earth)