Sunday - Day 2 - Legs D, E, & F

After a short night of sleep, I awoke at around 7:30 and was able to greet many of the riders that I hadn't seen the night before. Many were amazed that we rode in the dark and came in so late.

I brewed up a cup of tea using my very small alcohol burning ADVRider stove. Note the flames under the steel cup.

(Note to self: "Don't handle the cup after heating water this way!"

Heading up Route D, we came across this cool old water tank.



You can see that the road was paved. There are many sections like this throughout the Peninsula and it's a welcome relief from riding some of the gravel sections. Speaking of gravel, the gravel in the north and east portions of the ride tended to be on round gravel, while the gravel on the south and west sections tended to be crushed and much easier to ride on.

There were a lot of elevation gains in this section and lots of photo opportunities.





And here's Bart riding in "Scout position".


We leapfrogged with Ian from Touratech on his Triumph Tiger. Here he's doing his best Lewis & Clark pose and seems to like the ride.




Of course, what ride report from the Olympic Peninsula could leave out some flower or logging residue pictures?





And some more mountains


Riding out of the mountains, we found ourselves in Forks for a little fuel stop and a time to eat. Forks has gained recent notariety as the setting for a series of Twilight books about a Vampire named Edward and his teenage girlfriend, Bella. The town is clearly capitalizing on the trend. By the way, the Twilight sandwich was very good.

Here's David, Dan, and Ian.








Riding up the Clearwater Road, we came across these unusual mile marker signs. I wonder what they mean?



Unless you've ridden this road before, you wouldn't know that there is a correctional facility along this road and there is dense underbrush on both sides of the road that the escapees wouldn't even attempt to traverse. So they come out on the road and having 1/2 mile markers helps pinpoint them when pedestrians are reported to search parties as being on the road.

The rest of the day's ride took us up and over several saddles before dropping down into the Upper Clearwater Campground where we were to camp for the night. It was a very tranquil scene and it was good to arrive around 4pm and be able to set up camp for the night in the daylight.

Here's the bridge that spans the river. Those beams are laminated wood and note the rope swing that's available to use on those warm summer days.


One of the riders, Rick, camped with his Hennessy Hammock and it was impressive in how easy it was to set up and the sheer comfort.


The river was nearby.


Not a bad view out of my tent!


While we waited for riders to arrive, there was a little "shrimp on the barbie" to be prepared and eaten.



Walking around the campground, I came across this little mushroom.





Then the hunters who were camped across the campground from us brought by some great treats (elk jerky, dried salmon, and pickled vegetables) which were enjoyed by all.





Eventually all of the riders showed up. Dinner and libations and some rousing stories were enjoyed around a blazing campfire before we retired to our tents and a good night's sleep. We still had one more day of riding and much of that 3rd day's route I had not previously ridden.