July 13, 2012 - Centrailia, WA - Motel

There was a light rain as we woke up in Potlatch.  It stopped before we got out of the camper, but the dripping trees continued to get everything wet.  The campground is thick with tall pine trees.  We suited up (rain gear) and headed out. 

Updating The Trip Report in Potlatch SP - Hoodsport, WA

We were expecting to get all around the Olympic peninsula loop road today.  The loop road passed innumerable small cottage and resort areas, just like any other lakeside, or ocean side area.  We stopped at the first visitors center at the north end.  Don got his stamp and we ate breakfast and gassed up in Port Angeles.  The ride to Port Angeles was not very scenic, as the fog and rain clouds obscured all the mountains. 

We continued the drive around and it thinned out on the west side.  It was just pretty much road, sky and trees.  We turned onto the Hoh Rain Forest road and to another visitors center.  The road wound back 15 miles or so to the area where there is a huge rain forest.  The vegetation and trees changed to what one would expect of a rain forest.  The trees were huge, moss covered monsters, and sub-tropical plants were everywhere. 

The All Too Familiar Welcome Sign

Paused Along the Road

We toured the visitors center and looked around.  Don noticed a sign high above the sidewalk outside the entry.  He told me to step back and stop.  He took a picture of me under the sign that read “Average Rainfall, 137.92 inches”, and a line indicating that height.  Southwestern Ohio gets about 41 inches a year.  WOW – and when we were there, the sun was shining, blue sky and puffy clouds.  What luck. 

The Sign Above My Head Reads "Avg Rainfall 137.92 Inches" and is Set At that Height

By the time we returned to the loop road, I could tell we would be pressed for time in getting to the a motel in time to do laundry and eat out at a nice restaurant.  The ride on the west side was a little better because the clouds had lifted and many of the mountains could be seen.  We were surprised at the number of high mountains here.  Mt. Olympus is almost 8,000 feet and many of the surrounding mountains are impressive too, many of them snow-covered. 

Snow Covered Mountain On the Olympic Peninsula

We pushed on and checked the route at our next gas stop.  Don programmed the target location into the GPS and we headed out.  The roads were very confusing even with the GPS.  I had found some motels on the internet, but when we got there, no motels were to be found.  We regrouped again, and headed south on I-5 towards Centralia.  We found a motel, but it was almost 6:30 and we decided to stay, eat in a restaurant, and skip the laundry until tomorrow. 

We will make an early start in the morning, and have a leisurely day, with plans to stop early to do laundry. 

There is US RT 101 running along the Oregon coast that is supposed to be a great ride, but Crater Lake NP is the other way and considerably inland from the coast.  We will have to plan this out so we don’t end up in the middle of nowhere, and wasting a full day meandering around.  We both wanted to stop at Crater Lake NP.