A multi-day cycling adventure that combines rail-trail exploration, a legendary mountain, and even the lure of an international day ride.
We can’t stay away. The Olympic Peninsula is one of our bicycling group’s favorite destinations, and we’ve returned to Port Angeles in search of a big challenge.
We have a two-step cycling strategy to fully experience this area. First, we warm up by exploring the popular Olympic Discovery Trail. We then pedal our way up to Hurricane Ridge on our second day. Once we survive that mountain climb, we can look for ways to extend our stay.
We’re in Port Angeles because the city has successfully fashioned itself as a premier bicycling destination. We like riding on pavement, but we just as easily could have set our sights on gravel roads or mountain bike trails. There are miles and miles of paths suitable for most wheels, including e-bikes. There’s even a pump track for tricks.
With Port Angeles as our base, and a bike map in hand, we can ride in any direction.
On the Trail
Ready to stretch our legs, we start by joining the Olympic Discovery Trail near 7 Cedars casino east of town. The trail, easily accessed near US 101 and Dean Creek, guides us for nearly 27 miles through trees, past farmed fields, along open spaces, and around small communities.
We’re enjoying one part of the full 135-mile Olympic Discovery Trail (ODT), the region’s celebrated rail trail that stretches from Port Townsend west to the Pacific Ocean. It’s a combination of vehicle-free paths, quiet neighborhood streets, remote gravel, and eventually highway shoulders once the route approaches the ocean. Currently, the ODT is about two-thirds complete.
We see only minimal, slow-moving traffic today as we safely follow the pathway through Sequim Bay State Park. Once in suburban Sequim, the directions deftly navigate away from danger using community multi-use paths, bike lanes, and quiet side streets.
We arrive at Sequim’s Dungeness River Nature Center and stop for obligatory photos while crossing the historic Dungeness River Trestle Bridge. The span once served the Milwaukee Road rail line and the logging industry for 75 years until 1980.
Sounds of chirping forest birds and the wind-ruffled trees ultimately give way to squawking seagulls and water lapping on the Strait of Juan de Fuca shoreline. We appreciate our final three stunning miles along the water’s edge into Port Angeles.
Up the Mountain
While yesterday’s outing was a comfortable excursion, today’s effort up into Olympic National Park is anything but easy. Our destination is Hurricane Ridge, elevation 5,242 feet.
That’s 20 miles uphill for those starting at the Port Angeles waterfront. Prudent bicyclists, however, might skip the first two miles and begin the route at the national park’s visitor center on Mt. Angeles Road.
Cyclists travel throughout the Pacific Northwest to test themselves on this popular climb. Hurricane Ridge Road is closed to motorized vehicles once a year—the first Saturday in August—so riders can Ride the Hurricane and make their way through the old-growth forest to the ridgeline.
We methodically take on the mountain, pedaling up the road alternating concentrated efforts with stops to rest, drink, eat, and stare at wide vistas. From the Morse Creek Overlook, nearly nine miles from the summit, one can see Canada, Bellingham, Mt. Baker, and several other Cascade Range mountains on a cloudless day.
And once at the top, we see distant Mount Olympus and Bailey Range.
Then there’s our reward, a breakneck descent down the same twisting, snake-like road. Pavement that slowly passed under our wheels on the way up now appears only as a blur. Quick glances at our speedometers show we’re gliding at nearly 40 mph, rapidly returning to the bottom.
An International Ride
We’re relaxing over food and drink at the Port Angeles waterfront after the hard ride, sharing recollections, when we see the Coho ferry arriving from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. An idea forms. Let’s take tomorrow’s early morning ferry to Victoria, spend the day riding our bikes, and return that evening.
Like Port Angeles, we’ve been to Victoria before and we know the city’s network of dedicated bike trails, waterfront paths, and the challenging hills north of town that make this a rewarding way to complete our Olympic Peninsula getaway, cycling Port Angeles.
Written by guest blogger Dan Shryock
Dan Shryock is an Oregon-based author and travel writer who specializes in cycle tourism. His series of “Why We Ride” biking articles appears on Substack.
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