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August 18, 1999
Did you ever look up at a puffy white cloud
and wish you could go up there and sleep on it? Well you can just about every day in the
Olympic Peninsula. Actually the clouds come
down to sleep with you, gently enveloping you in their mist – and getting your tent
all wet, and your clothes soggy and your maps damp, and …. That’s how I woke up
August 18. The day got much better, however, as I rode to Port Angeles, set up my tent, unloaded my bike and
took one great ride up to Hurricane Ridge. The
ride up is a major climb – from sea level to 5260’ at the top (a new personal
one day climb record for me), but so well worth it. When I turned the final corner on the
way up it was WOW – someone just transplanted me to the Swiss Alps.
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The Olympics really are that beautiful and, from the top, they fill the
horizon to the South. A few steps more and you also get a great view, to the north, of
Port Angeles, the Strait of Juan de Fuca,
Victoria, British Columbia and Mt. Garibaldi (most northern of the Cascade
Volcanoes). |
I’ve ridden
up many passes and down the other side, but until today I’ve never ridden up and back
down the same section of highway where there was a major climb involved. Since I now have
this direct comparison, I can say for sure that riding downhill is easier than riding
uphill.
On the way back down, I ran into my two Greek
friends again. They were on their way up, and were quite relieved when I was able to tell
(and show) them that they were almost to the top. |
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(Great
Adventures to Scenic Places)
