An End with an Asterisk or Two
Finding ourselves just 6 miles from the end of the trail, you would think we would be in for an easy finish, but like most things in my life, I find a way to make them way more difficult. For starters, we weren’t legally allowed to finish the final 6 miles of the Olympic Discovery Trail as it was closed. The western terminus sits on the Quileute Reservation and at the time, it was closed to non-tribal members thanks to the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic. Also, we still had to find a way to reconnect the trail where the pesky landslide had wiped out 200 critical yards of trail that would keep us from having to do a very dangerous 40 mile reroute. It was time to do some planning.
The landslide was in the process of being cleared, but it was rumored that it would still not officially open for several months. Having seen the damage in person, I knew I wouldn’t be able to carry the bike and trailer over the debris field, but I was fairly confident that we could walk through it. Under normal circumstances, we would have waited, but Captain had recently developed a very persistent, near continuous nose bleed, that had me worried that her nasal cancer was on the rebound and that we were running out of time, so the decision was made, we would walk it.
(click photos to enlarge and see descriptions)
We chose a cold, winter morning in the middle of the week when the trail should be clear of other visitors as crossing the landslide would be illegal as the 200 yards of the slide itself were still closed, though the trail leading up to it was still open. Our progress was slow going now that Captain was down to 2 miles an hour on a good day, but since the whole hike would only be 2 miles, I was confident we’d be done before raising any suspicions. Though we didn’t do this section with the bike and trailer, we would still be doing it under our own power. We wouldn’t be able to claim that we had biked the entire trail, but we could claim to have covered the entire thing by ourselves. Well, aside from the closed 6 miles on the Quileute Reservation. I just had to hope it reopened to the public before Captain’s health declined any further.
Several days later, a solution presented itself. I was looking at the Olympic Discovery Trail's website and keyed in on a sentence I hadn’t paid any attention to previously, “Alternatively, users may stay on State Hwy 110 instead of turning onto LaPush Rd, cross the Quillayute River, and go to Mora Campground and Rialto Beach in Olympic National Park.” In short, an alternate terminus had been authorized and this one was on public land and was open!
On February 20, 2021, we headed west for what we thought would be our last ride on the Olympic Discovery Trail and it was wonderful.
The majority of the short ride followed the Quillayute River to the Pacific Ocean. Here, the Sol Duc (left) and Bogachiel (foreground) join to form the Quillayute. The ride itself was mostly flat which made for a nice way to end things.
The road soon entered into Olympic National Park. Besides the ocean itself, this was the last real landmark that we’d be passing on this trip. I started to get a little emotional as I knew my promise to Captain to have one more great adventure with her was about to be fulfilled.
About a mile from the end, we came upon a speed limit sign that used radar to show you your speed. True to our slow form, we clocked in at an astounding 6 miles an hour on a flat, paved surface. We weren’t fast, we weren’t breaking any records, but we were a team and had done it together, that was what was important. A few minutes later, the dense old growth forest started to thin out, the air began to smell salty, and we could see waves and sea stacks in the distance!
I stopped pedaling for a moment and took in the sight. We had really done it, we were just a short coast down a hill to the alternate western terminus at Rialto Beach.
It would be the second asterisk on our trip as it wasn’t the normal end point, but right then, I could not care less. I got back in the saddle and let gravity pull us down to the sign for Rialto.
The driftwood was piled high for hundreds of yards in every direction and I didn’t see any clear path that would allow me to bring the bike and trailer down to the shore, so I got the dogs out of the trailer and we walked the last couple minutes down to the pounding waves, making sure to each get at least one foot wet to make our journey to the ocean official.
It had taken us numerous rides over the course of 3 months to complete our double asterisk, double crossing of the Olympic Discovery Trail (both east to west and west to east). We’d ridden about 280 miles, walked 2, and finished at an alternate end point, but we’d done it.
392 days prior, Captain had been diagnosed with nasal cancer and a life expectancy of 88 days. Today, we were 304 days beyond that, and I was grateful that we’d been able to share this journey together. As we made our way back to the car, I reflected on the trip and the many other adventures the dogs and I had previously had during our decade plus together. It was sad knowing that this would be the last hurrah for Captain though, so I tried to focus on the positive instead. The following day, Captain had a cluster of 3 more seizures and it felt like the end had finally come.
I couldn’t have been more wrong as our adventures were just starting, I just didn’t know it yet!
This map is an approximation as Google does not have all the roads and trails utilized by the ODT as options so this is as close as I could make it.
