Day 4
Wednesday August 13th, 2008
South Beach Campground to Aberdeen, WA
72.4 Miles
Almost immediately after leaving the South Beach campground Hwy 101 turned west away from the ocean and headed toward Lake Quinalt. That meant that I spent today riding through the Olympic National Forest, but it also meant I didn’t get to see the Pacific.
Early morning fog over the Queets River
Not fun riding 101 in thick fog
Today also marked another change to the itinerary. My original plan had me riding to Copalis Beach tonight, and then riding on to Ocean Shores the next day, where I would catch a ferry across Grays Harbor to Westport. From Westport I was to ride on to Bay Center for the night. Unfortunately the Westport-Ocean Shores ferry stopped running earlier this year never to return. That meant that if I stuck to the original plan, I would have to ride around Grays Harbor, through the twin cities of Aberdeen and Hoquiam and add about 37 miles to my day. I decided instead to skip riding out to Copalis Beach and ride straight to Aberdeen. That way I could start in Aberdeen in the morning and follow 101 to Bay Center.
Second Breakfast, Quinault, WA
Lake Quinault
The only problem with this plan is that there is no great places to campout in downtown Aberdeen. I decided to get a motel room. As a nice birthday surprise, my girlfriend said she join me in Aberdeen and follow me to Bay Center tomorrow. After some quick calculations, I decided that if Monique would be willing to drive sag wagon for me and carry some of my gear, I could probably shoot for Astoria, OR and make up a day I lost getting a late start to this trip. With that motivation, I made short work of riding into Aberdeen today and arrived around 3pm.
Interestingly on my way through town, I passed the hospital where I was born, 38 years and 2 days ago. It has a commanding view of the Aberdeen-Hoquiam area, since it is poised on top of a hill. In fact I believe it is called Hillside General. I rode by and gave the old building its proper respect. I might have stopped to touch it or shoot a short video with the hospital as a background, but like I said, it is poised on top of a hill. I’m now sitting in the hotel room using this extra time to get caught up on homework and plan the next few days of my trip,
Maury
