So what does a bicyclist do on a day he only has to go 25 miles? Take about 10 extra miles in detours and go on an 11 mile hike of course. I decided I really wanted to see the Dungeness Spit. So with quite a bit of meandering and getting lost, I made my way out there and took the full hike out to the lighthouse. It was gorgeous, well worth every cent of the $3 charge and the several hours of walking. It was a tremendous experience, having the ocean on either side, the mountains behind, a narrow, driftwood strewn beach ahead. It was slower going than I expected it to be, I'll admit, sometimes having to race inland away from the approaching tide, slowed down at all times by the rocks and sand. But it was truly worth it. The east side of the spit is a bird sanctuary, and amongst the endless, ever present gulls, I actually saw a bald eagle, who regrettably launched into flight the moment I went to grab my phone for a picture. Even as it threatened to rain on me, I determined I wasn't going to regret the long walk. Though I was very glad it never more than drizzled. Some people sitting at a picnic table near the lighthouse at the end of the road (who asked me about my cycling...since I was still wearing my bike helmet...and thought I was somewhere between cool and crazy) were generous enough to snap a nice couple pictures of me.
What time of the day I spent actually biking, I mostlu took the Olympic Discovery Trail...and generally regretted it, finding it a generally pretty, but often unnerving and arduous passage. Despite being well warned by my last host, by accident I ended up trying to go through Sequim Bay Park along the trail, only to end up turning around after realizing that wasn't really a thing. Then there was that crazy winding section. Then the sheer, switchbacked drop down to a bridge that I had to walk down, struggling to hold my bike back, before then also walking up the similar conditions on the other side. I was genuinely torn between amusement, distress, and a complete uncertainty as to how to make him leave me be.
Eventually though, I got my address and got in for the night. My hosts are great, have treated me really well. In the list of unusual things of the day, we ate popcorn coated in yeast and salted with mushroom powder, and it was actually really good.
My bike is having issues, already, that worry me. I feel I really got ripped on the maintenance I had done. ...But it's late now, and I can rave about that later.
No comments:
Post a Comment