Bike Tour on the Olympic Discovery Trail
There's something so humbling, so exciting, and so freeing, about pedal-powered travel. It's a beautiful idea that your propulsion is driven solely by the movement of your own two legs - fuelling your adventures and allowing you to discover new places.
Over this three-day cycling journey, we covered about 230 kilometers, with only 30 kilometers of that being an unintentional detour due to unfortunate navigation skills...
From Port Townsend to La Push, we pedaled for 3 days, through forests, along salty coastlines, on busy high-speed highways, through pitch-black tunnels, and "mountain bike" graded trails. Our longest day was a 105km day which at the 50km mark felt insurmountable in that moment. One gas station Gatorade stop at a time, and we kept on moving. When we reached our accommodations for the night; a tiny home Airbnb, the feeling was indescribable.
Slow travel; where you are truly interacting with your environment and your surroundings. While I love pedalling (really, truly), the best part of bike touring are the stops you stumble upon.
Stop 1 - Disco Bay Detour
There was the most heavenly taproom you could have ever asked for in this tiny village of Discovery Bay. Despite what the name suggests, this was not a detour at all - in fact, we cruised down a large hill right into this place. Just when my cycling thoughts were drifting to beer or milkshakes (or anything cold and thirst-quenching really), this place emerged like a gift from the heavens.
The coolest part - on their patio, there was a charcoal BBQ where you could bring your own oysters and grill em' up. Or whatever else you wanted to grill for that matter, but oysters are the thing around there. What a beautiful community hub - people gathering over a local brew, and cooking up fresh-caught seafood.
All in the one complex they had this glorious taproom (which hosts cool events like Wilderness Wednesdays), an outdoor supplies store where the owner tried to get us hooked up with every bike accessory imaginable, and lastly, Sea Change Cannabis. Now that's a winning trio.
Carrying on, we departed from the highway's shoulder and found ourselves on beautifully forested and paved coastal roads. We could ride side-by-side, even chat to each other, and not have to worry about giant Budweiser trucks who are spatially unaware and oblivious of cyclists (our experience earlier in the day).
That evening, we made our way into Sequim (affectionately pronounced "Squim" by the locals), home of the world-famous lavender fields! Through a serendipitous Google search, I had purchased tickets to the Jungible Summer Music Series that night at a local lavender farm. We were lucky enough to catch the "True Loves", a wonderfully talented 8-piece funk/soul group, including the trombonist for Macklemore. With the lavender fields behind us, and the groovy stage set-up; the ambiance was truly divine. Add in an old bearded-man dancing highly intoxicated, beautiful farm dogs, some funky tunes, and draft beer in hand. Just a glorious evening observing people passionate about music and sharing their good vibes with others.
Over this three-day cycling journey, we covered about 230 kilometers, with only 30 kilometers of that being an unintentional detour due to unfortunate navigation skills...
From Port Townsend to La Push, we pedaled for 3 days, through forests, along salty coastlines, on busy high-speed highways, through pitch-black tunnels, and "mountain bike" graded trails. Our longest day was a 105km day which at the 50km mark felt insurmountable in that moment. One gas station Gatorade stop at a time, and we kept on moving. When we reached our accommodations for the night; a tiny home Airbnb, the feeling was indescribable.
Slow travel; where you are truly interacting with your environment and your surroundings. While I love pedalling (really, truly), the best part of bike touring are the stops you stumble upon.
Stop 1 - Disco Bay Detour
There was the most heavenly taproom you could have ever asked for in this tiny village of Discovery Bay. Despite what the name suggests, this was not a detour at all - in fact, we cruised down a large hill right into this place. Just when my cycling thoughts were drifting to beer or milkshakes (or anything cold and thirst-quenching really), this place emerged like a gift from the heavens.
The coolest part - on their patio, there was a charcoal BBQ where you could bring your own oysters and grill em' up. Or whatever else you wanted to grill for that matter, but oysters are the thing around there. What a beautiful community hub - people gathering over a local brew, and cooking up fresh-caught seafood.
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| So many fun options! |
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| Stoked cyclist quenching his thirst |
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| Hibiscus Cranberry Gose - mmmm!!! |
All in the one complex they had this glorious taproom (which hosts cool events like Wilderness Wednesdays), an outdoor supplies store where the owner tried to get us hooked up with every bike accessory imaginable, and lastly, Sea Change Cannabis. Now that's a winning trio.
Carrying on, we departed from the highway's shoulder and found ourselves on beautifully forested and paved coastal roads. We could ride side-by-side, even chat to each other, and not have to worry about giant Budweiser trucks who are spatially unaware and oblivious of cyclists (our experience earlier in the day).
That evening, we made our way into Sequim (affectionately pronounced "Squim" by the locals), home of the world-famous lavender fields! Through a serendipitous Google search, I had purchased tickets to the Jungible Summer Music Series that night at a local lavender farm. We were lucky enough to catch the "True Loves", a wonderfully talented 8-piece funk/soul group, including the trombonist for Macklemore. With the lavender fields behind us, and the groovy stage set-up; the ambiance was truly divine. Add in an old bearded-man dancing highly intoxicated, beautiful farm dogs, some funky tunes, and draft beer in hand. Just a glorious evening observing people passionate about music and sharing their good vibes with others.
.... the rest remains a mystery. /I am posting this now 7 months after it happened, without the ability to continue writing and remembering all the small details. Sorry folks (Mom, the only person who reads this)!
haha, I was wondering how you could remember all this! But you only got as far as Stop 1.
ReplyDeleteThis has been sitting in my drafts folder since August... I did not just write. But somehow I have found myself with all this spare time to review draft folders and such.
Delete