|
The Ride to Ozette (Sunday 7/1)
Daren and I met up with Randy on his VTX and Roland on his Concours at the Edmonds ferry to start the Ride to Ozette. Doug and his Beemer were waiting for us at Four Corners as promised. A guy new to the group, YA (Yet Another) Bill of Poulsbo caught up with us on his Aprillia Futura.
Our native guide Mark Hollingsworth of Port Angeles had problems with his Multistrada and could not make it, so that left YA Bill and I to represent the Italian sport tourers. YA explained that he had been informed of our ride by a friend in California. Such is the power of the world wide web.
We all pulled off to the shoulder north of Hood Canal as the odometer on Roland's Concours rolled up straight nines. We recorded the event, then Roland did a quick loop to roll the odometer over to all zeroes. A passing deputy sheriff thought something might be wrong when she saw 5 bikes pulled over and stopped to offer assistance. She was quite amused when we told her why we had pulled over and wished us a good ride.
After topping off in Port Angeles, we headed westbound on US 101 and took the back way to Hwy. 112 via East Beach Road along Lake Crescent and Piedmont Road over the ridge between Lake Crescent and Hwy. 112. Hwy. 112 runs along the Strait of Juan De Fuca and alternates between beach views of Vancouver Island and twisty climbs over ridges. We lucked out by not getting stuck too often behind slower vehicles in the twisty portions.
We stopped for lunch at the Breakwater Restaurant between Clallum Bay and Sekui. The food was good, but it took a long time to get to us. A local patron attributed this to a new cook. I took a photo from the parking lot with Vancouver Island in the background.
YA Bill had to return home after lunch, so he missed the road between Hwy. 112 and Ozette, which was curvy, empty, and with a fairly decent suface. Ozette is one of those "western-most spots in the 48 states reachable by a paved road". It is a part of the Olympic National Park and consists of a lake, a campgound and a ranger station. There are hiking trails leading from the campground to the ocean, which would be worth a weekend stay to explore.
We stayed long enough to take some photos, then left. We took Hwy. 112 directly back to US 101. At a gas station near Sequim we saw another Aprillia Futura. Seeing even one Futura is a rare occurance out here. This one was ridden by a couple from Sacramento on tour.
Traffic was not too bad between PA and Kingston and there were only 2-3 cars lined up at each ticket booth at the fery dock. I think most of us got home before dark, which is unusual for one of our trips to the Olympic Penninsula. Of course it helps that sunset is still after 9:00pm. We are thinking about making a return trip later this summer to explore some of the side roads we passed up on this ride.
__________________
Bill Anderson & Darkwing Duc (06-ST3s, black) Edmonds, WA. USA
Last edited by Bill_Anderson; Jul 2nd, 2007 at 10:17 am.
|
Linear Mode
