Day 8: Sequim, WA
September 7th, 20204.70 mi / 9.02 mph / 188 ft. climbing
Staying at Sequim Bay State Park Campground
The timing of this trip was based on where and when reservable campsites were available, and holiday weekend campsites are real hard to come by in one of the rainiest areas of the country during its 2-month rainless period, so the plan had us returning home on Sunday. Since the route home takes us right past our friend’s house, Rett had gently nudged her to throw a small Labor Day BBQ, and she had generously run with the idea. Unfortunately her man-friend came down with some COVID-potential symptoms a couple of days ago, so sadly-but-smartly, she had to cancel the BBQ.
In Rett’s mind, the BBQ was the only reason we were finishing our trip on Sunday rather than Labor Day Monday. In my mind, it was because there was no place for us to stay on Sunday night. But now that we’d secured a really nice hiker/biker site at Sequim Bay State Park, and the BBQ was off, we realized there was no remaining reason for us to go home just yet. So, let’s not!
While I’ve stayed multiple nights at National Parks, specifically to hike some famous epic trails, I’ve never done an unplanned nothing-day while on a bike tour, so I figured it would be interesting to see what it feels like.
Morning fog on Sequim Bay (definitely fog…this was from the pre-smoke days!)
Morning fog on Sequim Bay (definitely fog…this was from the pre-smoke days!)
Yeah, this sure is a place that’s worth spending another day in doing nothing!
We took our time getting out of bed, but we did need to get groceries for the day since three extra meals hadn’t been part of our plan. Luckily it was an easy 2 miles down the Olympic Discovery Trail to a super-stocked casino gas station, where we loaded up on as much beer (and ice!) as we did food.
We explored the entirety of the park, confirming we had the best campsite, and spotted two insane guys climbing around the underside of the bike trail bridge and relaxing(???) in a hammock suspended six stories above the ravine. Had a nice talk with a cyclist who stopped by our site and extolled the virtues of the cycling community around Sequim (“In an area halfway between Seattle and rural life, there’s definitely a mix of political views in the cycling club, and we all go home and tell our spouses how crazy the others are, but we all get along!”)
In the lower-left, there’s a guy inside the green-gray hammock suspended between the beams of the bridge, and more towards the center is his friend standing on one of the beams.
Wide shot of the bridge-troll daredevils/relaxers(???)
Then it was mostly just relaxing around our campsite, sipping beers, munching on snacks, reading books, writing this post. Almost impossibly soon, we found ourselves down at the dock watching the water soften to pink as the day turned to our last night, for real this time. And Rett spotted her seal again!
Rett seal-watching on our last night of vacation…
Hello Mr. Seal!
Sequim Bay
Heron over Sequim Bay
Us
As we sat around the campfire, a headlamp from the dark blinded our eyes. Another cyclist, arriving at the last possible moment to end the shutout of other hiker/biker site-users we’ve seen on this trip. No story-swapping though, as he was silently asleep in his tent before we even put our fire out.
Campfire, from back when we could still do such things!
The moon had been rising super-orange the last few nights, so much so that I thought it was a sodium-vapor light on a building shining into our tent the first couple nights (it was even oranger than this picture shows). Only recently have I realized that was probably a precursor of the wildfire smoke arriving in force to Washington.