Removing the Asterisks
First Beach, La Push, Washington - The Official Western Terminus of the Olympic Discovery Trail and Great American Rail Trail
A week or so later, the Rod Ends: Female Studded, 52100 Steel Spherical, Right Hand, 3/8"-24 Thread Size, Carbon Steels arrived and I excitedly tried putting one of them on the bike and trailer and was pleased to see that it fit perfectly. I was eager to try it out, though since this wasn’t the same piece, I wasn’t positive it would be able to hold up to the stresses that we were going to put on it. Rather than drive the 6 hour round trip to where we’d had to unexpectedly stop near Cle Elum, Washington when the first one was lost, I decided to do our test rides a little bit closer to home, back on the Olympic Discovery Trail. As fortune would have it, the major landslide that had blocked our progress near the Spruce Railroad portion of the ODT had been cleared and the trail was reopened for bicycle traffic meaning that we could do our test ride there and get rid of one of the two asterisks on our claim to having completed the Olympic Discovery Trail caused by the fact that we had had to previously walk this section of trail without the bike and trailer.
We only had about 2 miles to ride to finish the section, but I didn’t want to leave anything to chance, so I stripped as much weight as possible from the bike and trailer, including my camera, as I wanted to give us our best chance for success. Besides, how much gear do you really need to ride 2 miles on a bike? Now, a 2 mile ride isn’t much of an experiment, but everything worked flawlessly. In fact, things went so well, and the weather was so nice, we pushed it more to about a 10 mile day. It was a longer ride than expected, but the trail was virtually flat minus one hill and it was all on a paved, dedicated bike path. It was a great day for a ride and a great ride.
Since the trailer had worked perfectly, I decided we’d go on a slightly longer ride with much more elevation on it as I figured that the climbs and descents would put the most stress on the connector, so this would really be a better test of whether or not it was going to work. I tried to find a segment that wasn’t incredibly long but that had some sustained climbing and descending on it and the section that came to mind was the one that we’d had to skip previously due to the Covid closure of the Quileute Reservation, asterisk #2. As fate would have it, the reservation had recently reopened to non-residents meaning we’d be able to get rid of the second asterisk as well and would have fully completed the Olympic Discovery Trail and, in turn, have started the Great American Rail Trail at it’s official starting point as well.
(click photos to enlarge and see descriptions)
Our final ride on the Olympic Discovery Trail would be from the "No Vampires" sign to First Beach. It was all along a somewhat busy road until right near the end where the tribe was installing a very nice bike path that ran almost all the way to the beach, nice way to end it. Riding on roads can be a little stressful with the extra width of the trailer and knowing that Captain Fantastic and Dogzilla are inside, trusting me with their lives, so I always breathe a sigh of relief when we make it to quieter dirt roads and trails.
I stopped at the gas station for some Slim Jim’s for the dogs and a Gatorade for myself to start off on the right foot. When I came out, it was nice and sunny and there was a family of 3 that wanted to meet the dogs. Always happy to talk about the dogs, I obliged and we talked about our various pets for a few minutes. Once we finished talking, the ride began with a long, steady climb to a plateau where Olympic National Park ends and the reservation begins and then ends on steep downhill almost all the way to the beach. It’s always fun to end with a downhill because you get to relax, take in the scenery, and just let gravity do all the work, and there isn’t a better way to start a celebration than that!
The climb was steep enough that we wound up taking 2 breaks. The road itself ran through a mostly forested area which was nice and when we got near the top of the climb at the parking lot for Third Beach, a couple visitors stopped us to warn us that a coyote had just run across the road not 30 seconds before our arrival. I wish we’d gotten to see the coyote as I’m sure it wouldn’t have given us any trouble, but it was still nice to know that there was wildlife around. Plus, it may not have been a coyote at all but may have been a werewolf as in the “Twlight” series, the Quileute reservation and La Push were where the werewolves lived….
The border between Olympic National Park and the Quileute reservation is pretty obvious as you go from a protected, old growth forest to a completely logged area that was being developed with several large construction projects. And without the forest, it was becoming obvious that we were approaching the coast as the sunny skies had disappeared entirely and were replaced with a layer of fog. We wouldn’t have any great views to greet us at the end of the ride, but it would still be memorable.
As we had made the high point, I was able to stop pedaling for a while and just coast down to the coast. We passed Second Beach, and then quickly rolled through town proper and before we knew it, we were at the sign for First Beach and then the parking lot for the beach. We’d made it! I looked for a spot to get the bike and trailer down to the water, but again was thwarted by massive piles of driftwood that were unnavigable with a bike and trailer. Not to be defeated, I rode around the town area for a bit, looking for a way to get to the Pacific and eventually found a campground that looked promising and rode around until I finally found a long, sandy path that the bike could get through on. It took a lot of effort to push the bike and trailer through the soft, deep sand, but it was worth it to officially end our bicycle touring adventure on the Olympic Discovery Trail, thus removing the final asterisk from our ride. The beach was shrouded in fog which gave an intimate feel to the setting as it masked the enormity of the Pacific Ocean behind it. It was symbolism that I wasn’t fully grasping at the time as to just how huge of a trip a world-wide bicycling tour would be but instead was just focusing on the here and now of myself and my two best friends; a very fitting metaphor for the trail ahead that couldn’t have been written any better by an author. As this chapter was ending, we were only just turning the page to the official beginning of the Great American Rail. Sure, we’ve already done a few hundred miles of it, but that would just be a prologue to an over 4,000 mile trail.
When we got back to the car and had loaded everything up and were ready to leave, I turned around and saw that the fog was lifting revealing a stunning view of at least a dozen sea stacks all around the area. It was the absolute perfect sendoff from the Pacific as our route wouldn’t be touching another ocean for quite some time.
