Pacific Coast Tour – Day 11 – 13; Anacortes to Elma – Hot and Hilly

Day: 11
July 28, 2021

Distance: 70 miles (383 total)
Anacortes to Kitsap Memorial Park

So the night before we had realized we were out of oatmeal, so rather than make any breakfast/coffee in camp, today we started our day off at a cute convenience store for breakfast burritos and sugar coffee! Even though we just ate on their sidewalk, it was actually a really nice way to start the day.

Looking at Google maps we decided to take a “shortcut” to Deception Pass, avoiding the main part of Anacortes. Let me just say that was a very hilly start to our day. By the time we made it the 10ish miles to the pass we needed a quick break to mentally prepare ourselves to cross. The traffic wasn’t backed up and slowed down this go around, but luckily it had rather large gaps between cars, so we were able to enjoy the views a little easier than last time.

The bit of SR 20 just south of Deception Pass has been our least favorite coming north, so we were dreading it, but when we got there we came to realize it was at a slight downhill almost the entire way – no wonder it had sucked so much going north!

We were making excellent time, and rolled into Coupeville around lunch time. We stocked up some supplies (like oatmeal) and found some single serve mochi ice cream! So good. We also bought some wraps and apples to enjoy on the ferry for lunch.

Our original plan had been to stop in Port Townsend for the night, but when we got there at 2 pm, and we were still feeling strong we opted to carry on. (The fact that tomorrow was supposed to be really hot, and a longer day mileage wise in order to get us to hiker/biker campsites also helped sway our decision). So we enjoyed some quick pastries from a bakery, then rolled out of town.

As we made our way past the bike trail my knee started aching, and the hills started growing. We ended up pushing the bike A LOT. But sometimes that’s faster, and it gave our legs a chance to stretch.

We had a pretty rough stretch into Port Ludlow, where we opted to stop for a convenience store break. More ice cream! It’s amazing what ice cream can do for the moral. As we were resting Andrew recalled that this bit we were on was the day our Garmin had awarded us “most accent” and we had doubled the distance! No wonder we were exhausted. (Garmin said 4516ft elev gain at the end of the day).

After some googling, we opted to leave the ACA route and instead take the much flatter but busier highways to the Hood Canal Bridge. Yes there was more traffic, and there wasn’t anywhere to break, but the wide shoulder gave us a glorious flat 8ish miles to the bridge.

When we finally rolled into Kitsap we treated ourselves to coin showers before cooking a late dinner and crashing.

Day: 12
July 29, 2021

Distance: 43 miles (426 total)
Kitsap Memorial Park to Twanoh State Park

So after having such a long day yesterday we didn’t let the sun or birds wake us up, and slept in until 8! To add to our already slow start we got to chatting with another biker at the campsite and didn’t leave until 10:15. That was a bit of a mistake since today was a scorcher of a day.

Since we had passed it on the way out, we knew there would be a Target on our way through Silverdale. We had been hunting for a cheap watch that lights up so we could easily check the time from the tent, and apparently cheap watches are really hard to find. Target to the rescue though, we found an $8 Pikachu watch! We also bought like food and stuff, but that’s less exciting.

After a very long break outside Target we continued our way through city/suburbscape. The Cycling the Pacific Coast book had suggested a different route from the ACA to avoid traffic through Bremerton. While yes, there wasn’t too much traffic it was VERY hilly, and we ended up pushing our bike a few more times.

After several short breaks in shade spots, we eventually came across a nice park, Otto Jarstad Park, where we took another long break, and ate a late ‘lunch’. There was a kid and grandpa that we enjoyed eavesdropping on that were sitting in lawn chairs in the creek (with the heat, I was a little jealous of them!)

After pushing our way through some more heat and miles we made it to Belfair, where we refueled with (more) ice cream and Gatorade. The biker we had met that morning was actually going around to the various hiker biker campgrounds to create a document comparing them all. He suggested we carry on past Belfair to Twanoh State Park and we weren’t disappointed! The hiker /biker site is right on the water of the Hood Canal. Well I guess I should note it was like 15 ft from the highway, so it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but still pretty cool.

When we rolled into our campsite we were both exhausted with heat, so naturally we jumped in the water fully clothed. It was marvelous. Unbelievably wonderful.

Day: 13
July 30, 2021

Distance: 45 miles (471 total)
Twanoh State Park to Elma

We set an alarm for 6 am this morning so we could try and beat some of the heat. (The forecast was even hotter than yesterday; we’re really looking forward to hitting the coast and getting those nice sea breezes!)

We had a nice flat start along the Hood Canal in the morning, but it couldn’t last forever. We had a monster of a hill to meet back with the ACA route in Shelton since we had detoured a little for the Twanoh campground and didn’t want to backtrack.

We enjoyed a nice long break/ second breakfast at a park in town then braced ourselves for the hot road and long steady uphill out of town. The heat was brutal today. We were so excited to reach the 20 mile flat/downhill into the outskirts of Elma. And very upset about the final hill. Drenched in sweat with another few hours of high heat and sun we made the practical decision to book a hotel. And go big or go home right? So we ordered delivery pizza. After cleaning up we spent the evening lounging about in “luxury” while we watched the Olympics.

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