by Bill Gedye

You’ve been riding for 25 years or so and you’ve done just about every road in the area,what do you do next? Obviously, you look for a stretch of road you haven’t done before and end up chowing on a great bowl of chili, chilling at a tranquil coffee oasis, exploring the U.S.Navy Underwater Museum, and riding an awesome stretch of road.

How about the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State? Now, the question is, clockwise or counter-clockwise? This looks to be about a 2 day trip, so overnighting somewhere is a necessity. Clockwise, there doesn’t appear to be too much in the way of accomodations other than State Parks in the Forks area, so its over to Port Angeles from Victoria on the Blackball ferry M.V.COHO and turn left.
The Blackball is pretty accomplished at moving cars and trucks back and forth across the Strait of Juan de Fuca but they are hopeless with bikes.

There is one spot up against a wall near the bow where all bikes are placed and you are directed to tie your bike to the bulkhead with a single strand of rope. This really made me nervous since it looked like dental floss attaching my crash guard to a point up on the wall. But, the Strait was calm and we made it without falling over.

More interesting was the escort by two armed U.S.Coast Guard zodiacs. They bracketed the COHO once we entered US territorial waters and looked like the familiar whale watching boats until you noticed the guy standing at the bow of the boat with the mpg attached to the pedestal. Now, my buddies speculated that the USCG is practising vessel escort. Considering the post 9/11 paranoia and the apprehension of Ahmed Rassad with a trunkload of explosives destined for LAX from this same COHO, they may be looking for a good reason to hose down the side of the ferry with that .30 cal nozzle. We made it into port without any holes in anything that day.
Once past a very polite and accomodating U.S. Customs officer, I entered Port Angeles and turned left, heading south along Hwy. 101, the northern end of the Pacific Coast highway. Traffic was light, the weather was great, but I had to stop for a coffee.

Washington State is known for great coffee, and roadside coffee stands dot the landscape like parking meters along a street. Inhabiting these tiny stands are gorgeous, personable American women of every size, shape and color. According to a Seattle talk show for guys, some of these coffee bar baristas have their own cadre of fans who return to watch the cappucino action again and again.

One of the best of these is “Brewed Awakenings”, just south of Port Angeles, manned by ‘Tracy’ on my visit. The amazing feature of this spot was the tranquil waterfall around the back where you could relax at a patio table. Avoiding the Zen references, I’ll just say that this place provided a refuge from the 101 traffic pouring by just a few yards away.

Further south along 101, through places named Hama Hama and Hoodsport, the 55mph speed limit forces you to slow down and enjoy the scenery. So does the continuous presence of the Washington State Police. These guys are everywhere. I must have see 4 or 5 cruisers in the last four or five hours – all with someone pulled over.
The highway winds alongside the Hood Canal for the most part, taking you through small towns with abandoned chip shops waiting for the summer tourists before they get splashed with new paint and come to life. Where the road winds closer to the canal,you’ll be amazed at how much it looks more like a large river – large enough to hold the John Wayne Marina, pilgrim.

Whoops, when I got toward the outskirts of Aberdeen, I missed the turnoff for the museum. That’s what I get for trusting road signs…they’re for locals who already know their way. Got lost 3 times in tricky sections through Aberdeen, so I’ll have to double back later to see the museum I’ve heard so much about. Part of the experience of the journey is getting lost, just like the breakdowns. Learning to accept them as part of the journey has lessened my frustration and heightened my appreciation of riding.
Finally made it to Ocean Shores via Hwy 108 to Hwy 12, then the tricky part of Hwy 109 through Aberdeen, and finally Hwy 115 south.

I discovered that this part of the coast is not as appealing as the area farther south around Long Beach, off Hwy 103. That area has more of a small town feel while Ocean Shores has wide deserted boulevards connecting large but scattered chain hotels. In the descending darkness and fog, the place looked like a set for a horror movie. It was amid these eerie surroundings that I settled in for the night, my trusty Jameson’s and a clip of large bore Nicaraguan cigars at my bedside in case of trouble. The muted roar of the ocean finally lulled me to sleep.

Man, mornings are cool on this part of the coast. Heavy marine layer cloud and a stiff breeze off the ocean made me don every stitch of clothing I carried for the ride out. You gotta expect that April is not summer, but this part of the State is about 10 degrees colder than farther inland, where the sun is just rising into the face of morning commuters. Here, the cool moisture in the misty air is so heavy that it is running off the windshield like rain. At least it is softening up yesterday’s baked on bugs for easier removal.

Heading north up Hwy 109, the road wound inland and the penninsula’s logging heritage was evident by frequent clearcuts. Abandoned sawmills, beehive burners, and rusted logging equipment overgrown with blackberry bushes meant that this area had seen better times.

Where the highway did contact the coast, the views were spectacular. The Sandpiper Inn, just south of Pacific Beach on Hwy 115, was sitting on prime ocean view property. This is where I should have stayed last night – right on the water for about the same price and I could have pulled the bike right up to the door.

Now head east through Aloha to Humptulips and head back north on Hwy 101 through the Olympic National Forest. This is another inland section of the highway which runs through the woods. Pretty straight and nothing but green on either side, but at Queets, you arrive back at the ocean and the great panoramas off to your left.

Just 35 mi south of Forks, at Kalaloch, lies Kalaloch Lodge, set in the middle of an endless stretch of coastal beach. It sits at the head of a small bay littered with driftwood. This is a more upscale resort but a great stop for a coffee and a warmup. The attached general store not only provides groceries for the resort cabins, but also gives us bikers an alternative to a restaurant sit-down-in-your-raingear if you want to stretch and get the feeling back in your fingers.

At last! Ten miles south of Forks, the sun came out and I started peeling off the layers of raingear. This is where I made my next great discovery…Moore’s Restaurant and Antique Store – located in Beaver, Wash. You’ll be able to easily spot this place…just look for the old 30’s style gas station with the Model T stake truck parked under the canopy. The chunky chili was fabulous and the staff treat you like a local.

Now comes the great part about touring on a bike….the surprises around the corner. Little did I know that another great discovery was waiting for me down the road a piece. Hwy 113 is the connector between Hwy 101 and Hwy 112 (which parallels Hwy 101 back to Port Angeles), but 113 runs along the water, so it was the obvious choice. This stretch of road ROCKS!! It follows a creek for the first part…winding and doubling back on itself through rich bottom land. Then the elevation changes start..up and down as well as winding around. All the time it is smooth enough not to upset the bike in the corners but enough to round off the flat center tread of the touring tires. Up and over the top of the hill, it straightens out and begins a downhill run to the coast and Hwy 101. Looking around, you can tell that the logging business is much better in this neighbourhood by the newer logging trucks complete with chrome wheels.

Farther along Hwy 101 toward Port Angeles there is a little town called Joyce, Wash. Two little creeks run through Joyce…. ‘Itsa’ and ‘Upthe’. If this isn’t enough, there’s a little bitty street named ‘Bythe Way’. Someone has given this a great deal of thought.

That evening was spent in the Silverdale area, very near the Underwater Museum. The museum is accessed by taking Hwy 101 from Port Angeles to Hwy 104, then Hwy 3 to the Keyport exit 49, just 5 mi south of Poulsbo, Wash. Exit 49 is actually State Route 308, which takes you right to the door of the museum.

Just pulling into the museum is an eyeful. Your brain has to choose between 3 large structures:
- one is the sail from the de-commissioned nuclear sub USS Swordfish, poking up through the grass like all 700 feet is submerged under the parking lot. This is unsubstantiated, but rumor has it that the Swordfish was depth charged by the Soviets for 3 days as it slipped into the middle of a Soviet Navy anti-submarine warfare exercise in 1963.
- another is the manned bathyscaphe TRIESTE, which dove to the bottom of the Marianas trench, the deepest part of the ocean, in 1960. TRIESTE is the vehicle which found and investigated the remains of the USS SCORPIAN and USS THRESHER, both nuclear subs inexplicably lost at sea.
- the third is the Lockheed built DEEP QUEST, the next generation bathyscaphe, operating from 1967-80. In 1969, it recovered the black boxes of 2 aircraft that had crashed in the Pacific Ocean.

Inside, even more wonders. The development of marine mines is traced from the original powder-filled kegs, which were let loose on the tide to float into enemy ships, to the latest air-dropped acoustic and magnetic type, which mined Haipong harbour during the Vietnam War.

There is a huge display of US, German and Japanese torpedos from the WWII era. If you are a torpedo nut, you will be in heaven. You will learn that only the early steam torpedos left a wake, like in the movies. The modern electric torpedo leaves no wake – you don’t know its coming until you hear the big boom.

There is a mock up of the control room from the USS GREENLING (SSN 614), containing the periscopes, ship control panel, ballast control panel, and the fire control panel.

Finally, what I consider the piece de resistance – a captured WWII Japanese KAITEN (Heaven Shaker) manned torpedo. This is 50 feet long with one sling seat, a small hatch, and one crude periscope. It is only just big enough for one small person to sit up. The pilot is sitting behind 3000 bs of high explosive and its a one-way trip after release from the mother submarine…you either hit something or run out of power. Only 50 of these ever saw action and only one US ship was actually sunk by a KAITEN – the destroyer USS UNDERHILL, July 24, 1945.

What are my lasting impressions of the trip?
- the discovery that there are more places to stay on the west side of the peninsula than I originally thought (Sandpiper Resort and Kalaloch Lodge).
-a unique coffee bar just south of Port Angeles on Hwy 101 (Brewed Awakenings).
-Upthe creek, Itsa creek and a street named Bythe Way near Joyce, Wash.
-the chili at Moore’s Restaurant in Beaver, Wash.
-the US Navy Underwater Museum in Bangor, Wash.
-finally, that fabulous stretch of Hwy 113, running from Hwy 112 to Hwy 101.

There’s lots to see out there and a surprise around almost every bend.

Bill Gedye
Two Wheel Tales.