Okay, this is the way that the weekend was planned:
· - Arrive on Friday afternoon
· - Hurricane Ridge on Saturday morning
· - Adam and I spend Saturday night in his RV
(Dwaine with his family in their trailer)
· - A leisurely ride on the Olympic Discovery Trail
on Sunday morning
· - Head home
Now here is what actually happened. Due to family obligations and vacations, a
lot of our group was not available for this ride. We ended up with just three guys (Dwaine,
Adam, and Mike). We’d had a long string of days that were hot and dry leading
up to this weekend; so, of course, “Hurricane Ridge day” (Saturday) had
lightning and rain forecast for most of the day at Hurricane Ridge. Being on top of a mountain with lightning was
not a part of the plan, so we decided to do the trail ride on Saturday and
Hurricane Ridge on Sunday which had a decidedly better forecast.
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| Adam's RV Ours accomodations for the weekend |
Saturday morning found Adam and I up and getting ready by about 4:35 AM. After a quick bite for breakfast, we met Dwaine outside of the RV around 5:00 AM and were on our way soon thereafter. Our campground was about six miles west of Port Angeles with easy access to the Olympic Discovery Trail. I was feeling a little uncomfortable about the idea of leaving before it was light outside, but Dwaine and Adam both had lights; and, as it turned out, it was no problem. We got on the paved trail and headed toward Port Angeles. Soon we were riding through PA with the trail taking us right along the water. I loved this part of the ride. From there, we followed the trail over to Sequim. After a quick tour of Sequim, we were heading back the way that we had come. The return trip seemed to go by pretty quickly to me. The ride ended up covering about 53 miles, was considerably more enjoyable and interesting than I had expected, and we managed to stay dry! We learned that the Olympic Discovery Trail runs from Port Townsend through Sequim and Port Angeles before making its way to La Push on the coast.
Saturday evening found us (Adam, Mike, Dwaine and his family - wife, Deanne and daughter, Dana) enjoying one of Adam's specialties "Kalbi short ribs" for dinner. OMG - that was a good dinner!!
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| Adam preparing to make "Kalbi short ribs" for dinner... |
Our ride on Sunday started out pretty much like Saturday with a 5:15 AM departure and the same route on the trail into Port Angeles. Once we were at the PA waterfront (i.e. at “sea level”), we turned and started the climb toward Hurricane Ridge National Park and the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center (which sat approximately 19 miles away at an altitude of 5,240’ above sea level). As we climbed through Port Angeles, we soon came to the Deer Park Ranger Station which is considered by most folks as the beginning of the climb to the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center. The 5.2 mile section of the climb from this ranger station to the next one (i.e. the Heart O’ the Hills Ranger Station) is steep (7-9% mostly) and a grind – at least it was for me as I really needed a bit lower gearing. Dwaine and Adam both had lower gearing and seemed to handle this section more easily than me. We arrived at the Heart O’ the Hills Ranger Station at about 6:45 AM. There was no ranger present, so we proceeded on our way without stopping (we had National Park Passes if we needed them). The remaining 12 miles or so of the climb were less steep (more in the 5-6% range) which provided some relief from the steeper grades below but which still could wear you down due to the length of this portion. It was foggy on the lower levels of the climb; but, as we ascended, we climbed out of the fog. The views were probably spectacular, but we were focused on getting to the top. A few miles from the top, Adam took off and Dwaine followed not long after. This left me to proceed at my own pace which was fine by me. The portion of the climb near the top can be discouraging if you are not familiar with it. You come around a corner and see the road climbing far above you on the other side of the valley, and it’s easy to assume that when you reach that point it will be the top. Unfortunately, this happens at least 3 or 4 times in succession before you actually arrive at the top. It was a relief to finally see the visitor center parking lot which marked the end of the climb.
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| Mike, Adam, & Dwaine Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center (picture courtesy of Dwaine Trummert) |
After a quick bathroom stop for Dwaine and Adam, we prepared for the descent (which included me getting my GoPro ready to record this portion of the ride). I discovered that my GoPro would not record, because it thought that the memory card was full. I knew – in fact – that the memory card had no data on it and that something was confusing the GoPro operating system. A quick reformat of the memory card did the trick, and we were ready to record our descent.
The descent is fast (much of it between 35 and 40 mph), and
the scenery is spectacular.
Unfortunately, “fast” and “sight-seeing” are not compatible, so we
ignored the scenery for the sake of safety (the GoPro did capture a lot of the
scenery for later viewing). When we
descend, I am often toward the back of the group as I am capturing the descent
on my GoPro; and I want as many people in the video as possible. I love sitting back there watching cyclists
maneuver down a mountain road through the turns. There are no hairpin turns on the descent
from Hurricane Ridge, but there are plenty of high speed, sweeping turns. In addition, we had done the climb very early
in the morning; so there was very little traffic to contend with; and what
traffic was there was easy to see at a distance. As a result, we were often able to use the
entire road (i.e. both lanes) during our descent. Watching Dwaine and Adam gracefully sweep
through turn after turn was really enjoyable (and beautiful) for me.
We were probably going around 35 mph about half way down the
descent when I noticed a small rock just ahead of me. I doubt that it would have caused a problem,
but it made me reflexively “twitch” my handlebars to miss the pebble. At 15 mph, a quick “twitch” of the handlebars
is hardly noticeable. At 35 mph, that
same action caused a small – but violent – “lurch” of my bike to the left. Luckily, it didn’t result in a problem; but
it certainly refocused me on the task at hand…!!
A bit further down the road (at about the same speed),
Dwaine said something to Adam and me who were fairly close behind him. I couldn’t understand what he said, but just
after that I detected some movement by the guard rail just to our right. A deer
had been standing just off the road and had jumped the guard rail as we flew
by. I checked the video later; and, sure
enough, there he was.
Much of the last 7-8 miles of the descent was in fog that
was pretty dense in places. It caused
condensation on the lenses of our glasses (and the GoPro) which hampered our
vision a bit, and it made the road surface wet which made us slow down. There are three tunnels in that section through
which you pass in quick succession. A
couple of them are long enough that it is very dark and - for me at least –
sort of unnerving. I don’t like it when
I’m on my bike and can’t see the road surface ahead of me.
After the tunnels, we passed the Heart O’ the Hills Ranger
Station and began the final 5 mile descent toward Port Angeles. This is the steepest portion of the Hurricane
Ridge climb. Fortunately, there was less
fog here, and the road surface was pretty dry.
We flew down this section and, soon, found ourselves on the outskirts of
Port Angeles. From there, we simply
retraced our steps back to the campground.
This weekend was really memorable for me. The ride on the Olympic Discovery Trail on
Saturday was so much better than I expected, and the climb (and descent) of
Hurricane Ridge was special (as usual).
In addition, having the luxury of staying in Adam’s RV (which was really
nice) and spending some time with Dwaine’s family was pretty cool. Hopefully, if we do this again next year, we
can get more of our group involved.
One final thought – let’s not forget those “Kalbi short ribs”
that we enjoyed on Saturday evening.
They were awesome!!
Click on the following link to see the video of our descent off of Hurricane Ridge:
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