West Olympics by Bike and Foot, Aug/Sep 2021

For the past couple of years I’d been imagining a bike tour circling the Olympic Peninsula. I’d never done any multi-day bike touring (mostly weekend bike-camping trips) so mid-June 2021 as a preparation for my “big ride” I decided to do a test-run around the hood canal. The results were a little disappointing. With my huge bike and being overweight, I found I could comfortably ride about 25 to 30 miles a day and still feel fine for the next day of riding. I didn’t want to turn my vacation into a road-race so I needed to change my plans. I needed to average about 50 miles a day in order to finish my vacation in time so I didn’t miss any work.So I came up with a combination of bike touring and backpacking. I figured I knew my fitness levels well enough to make it a comfortable enough ride and hike. The general idea was to cycle from Tacoma to the Dosiwallips Campground in Olympic National Park, find a good spot to chain my bike up, and switch to backpacking. After a week, I would return to the bike again and ride home.It worked out. The amount of gear I needed to carry on the bike was kind of insane, but it worked.