The adventure part of the trail is a 25 mile single track through some remote areas of forest on the northern part of the Olympic Peninsula.
Weather promised to be good and that is why we decided to go that way instead of due south.
A bit remote, but not enough, because I could still find the Expresso and Coffee shops with bakeries and all kinds of goodies.
It is a bit strange, I have to intersect here, that I have been feeling excited to see a Safeway or some other familiar grocery, not to mention TJ's (back in Seattle). The year and a half between touring Southern A and Northern part of the A. when I was home in the Bay Area in CA and not on tour, I experienced claustrophobia like reactions when I found myself in ANY biggish kind of store, panic to the point that I had to leave without purchasing what I came in for, if I even remembered what it was. Overstimulation drove me to the point of tears and I dreaded to shop for anything and avoided it the best I could. Now, I get excited to find those stores out here and get my chocolate and all the things that are familiar to me -need my comfort food!
So, back to the ODT trail: It was beautiful and challenging, but short enough and doable in one day - yes, it took us a whole day to ride 20 miles with a 120 pound loaded bicycle on dirt. It was a "nerve tickle", when the trail got really narrow, or a root stuck out, a bolder in the way, or the turn was to tight, or the pannier got caught and threw me in the direction I didn't mean to go.
Enchanting forests, fragrant and inspiring until some cut down areas reminded me of the reality of the logging companies still able to rape the land.
James landed on the ground a couple of times, but didn't seem to mind too much. Some chain teeth marks was the worst reminder - even days later...but it was too much fun to bother getting upset.
We cut the trail 5 miles short, because we heard from all three people (all male, by the way...) we met on the trail, that the last few miles aren't worth it. It was late enough and our thighs complained already (they weren't used to all that rigamarole). We hit the national park campground by Crescent Lake
at the end of the Trail and the end of the day where they wanted to charge us $25 for a hiker/biker site they had just given one of them to a bunch of people with bikes on cars! I was appalled ......after James tried, I had to go in and look that lady at the registration square in the eyes and ask: Do you actually mean it? I mean, really, is that your opinion or what are you thinking? We just rode our bicycle from Anchorage to the Olympic Peninsula and you want to charge the same kind of money you charge people with bicycles on cars? She said she was sorry......(NOT....she was annoyed, like me). We left defeated and a bit disgusted. A golf cart followed us out the gate and the young man asked us if we were unhappy with the premisses - hell yah! We told him our dilemma. Well, turned out he had the authority to give us a site for $12, he was the manager! Nice! We stayed and not only that, but had ice cream and a bottle of wine from the campground store to round up the day, followed by an "all you can eat" breakfast in the morning and our bill never exceeded $12.
