Ride Around The Olympic Peninsula-Part 3

As I said earlier, my intent was to camp two nights at Lake Ozette. But I had been consulting Ms. Tom Tom(the onboard GPS) and started looking at more options for the second night. I decided that after the hike, I would have time to pack up and go somewhere else for the night. I decided to go farther south to Mora Campground on the north shore of the Quillayute River. It is also an Olympic National Park Campground.

It is only about 65miles from Lake Ozette to Mora, so I was there in about 2 hours. Once again, the campground was mostly empty, so I had no problem finding a nice campsite along the river. Later I rode the additional 2miles to Rialto Beach. I was there for only a few minutes when the rain started, so I retreated to the camp and got under cover for a while. The rain was light and quit in the early evening. It did get quite cold thru the night and my light weight sleeping bag was marginal for keeping me warm enough through.

The next morning, I rode to La Push on the south shore of the Quillayute River at the entrance to the ocean. It has probably been close to 20 years since I have been there and was pleased to see that the town has changed a lot for the good over the years. I was glad to see a newer RV park/hotel complex that looked nice. I had stayed at the previous hotel and it was less than desirable.

I rode back to Forks for breakfast. Interesting, Forks was a setting for a movie about vampires(Twilight?). The town is now a destination for fans of the movie. It was funny when entering the town to see people getting their pictures taken at the town's sign.

Rialto Beach looking north.

Rialto Beach looking south at James Island at the entrance of the Quillayute River. A few years ago a Coast Guards man lost his life when his boat was overwhelmed by storm seas and washed overboard. A Navy officer got into trouble trying to deliver his sailboat to Bremerton in the middle of the winter. The Coast Guard went out to assist him and at least one did not come back. One young seaman did ride the boat ashore onto James Island.

Driftwood on Rialto Beach.