Cycling in Washington state

After a nice chat on the ferry from Victoria, BC to Port Angeles, WA, it was a bit chilly and damp a start down the most northern part of route 101, my guide south. 

Cycling along in the drizzle / rain there was a nature hike where I decide to take a peak at the temperate rain forests and walk down "a moment and time" path, wherein I meet a threesome of people to walk to a waterfall with. 

After cycling for another 2 hours in the rain I find that where I was told on the ferry that I could eat and camp was only a camp. Too hungry to stop for the day, I consult Google maps to see there is a cafe about 15 miles away, with a long up hill to start.  A little weed and some house music in my head and I'm back at it, dancing on the pedals. 

After about 45 minutes, cold and tired,  I am happily surprised to see a sign for "hot springs".  Only to speak to the park ranger at the gate who said it was 12 miles in the wrong directions and not really worth it. Dismayed, I keep on, and soon happily surprised to find an amazing bike path. Far better than the one on Vancouver Island. 

With the thought of food on my mind I continue on towards the cafe, only to find that the cafe is closed. But,  as luck would have it,  just next door was a local "chili festival". Live music, free bad food (1st hot dog I've eaten in probably 20 years) , cheap beers and they let me camp right there for free.  More of a duck dynasty kinda crowd and the typical standard American diet (garbage), I ate what I could stomach  over some low brow conversation. 

Thankfully it was all sun the next day and I attempted to dry some clothes on the back of my rig. Heading towards the coast there was a point where I felt like I was descending for over an hour....and I didn't recall doing nearly that much uphill on either side of the descent, curious... 

Had to stop at a random place in remote area in search of water. Which led me to a short conversation with this character, who took little time in diving into his government conspiracy theories...

Cycling the coast now brought more tourists traffic and nice views. 

The Washington coast was a lot of raw forest, undeveloped land. Really beautiful.

 Beaches doubling as arboreal graveyards.

 Kalaloch campground and beach

Camped out and cycled a bit with 5 bike mechanics from SF. Thinking of meeting 1 in SF to install a dyno hub on my bike to become energy independent. 

Found a nice spot at an RV park to camp. 

Crab cake sandwich

 Cape Disappointment

 2 girls cycling Vancouver to SD for their first bike tour!

 The alleyway I ended up hanging out in for a while to plug in and wifi

 The Astoria bridge over the Columbia River connecting Washington and Oregon was a bit hair raising. A small slice of road to keep a straight line for what must have been a mile +.