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motorharpDuring a previous Birthday Hike to Cape Disappointment, gorthx and I discovered... The Discovery Trail! We decided to try it this year. On bikes! Most of the trail is a flat, wide strip of pavement that goes through the dunes along the Washington coast - great for cruiser-style bikes. The first part of the trail was very hilly, not all paved, and COVERED WITH NEWTS - not the best combination for a 3-speed street bike.
It was about 8 miles total, and I'd probably skip the first 1.25 miles of trail with the 300 feet of elevation unless I had a better bike. The trail starts in The Port of Ilwaco (still don't know how to pronounce that) which was small, but not so small it didn't have a knitting store! There are several off-shoots on the path along the way with parking areas, so you can jump off and on the trail pretty easily. It winds through several different habitats - rainforest, swamp, dunes. There are also several art installations and placards that make this a fun trip for nerds, hello.
I checked darksky.net the previous day and the weather didn't look that great, but the actual rain was supposed to stop around 11am, then just be cloudy. We got to the parking lot around noon and it was definitely still raining. We ate our usual Whole Food sandwiches in the car, bracing ourselves for the weather. As soon as we got all our rain gear on and bikes ready to go, it stopped raining.
Our main interest in the trail was seeing the giant whale skeleton.
As you can see, the whale skeleton was not-so-giant. Apparently, it's been vandalized over the years. Thanks, people!
The second main attraction was the carrot cake I had been feasting on for a few days prior to that. IT WAS DELICIOUS! I love carrot cake and I found a recipe in "My Two Souths" (combo of Indian and Southern American cuisines) that is amazing, with tons of cardamom and black pepper. I am already having a really hard time waiting to make it for my birthday again next year.
We got almost to the end of the trail - the last quarter of a mile was impassible due to two feet of water.
We turned around and rode back with a tailwind (yes!). The whole trip took about three hours, and as soon as we got back in the car, it started raining again. :)
It was about 8 miles total, and I'd probably skip the first 1.25 miles of trail with the 300 feet of elevation unless I had a better bike. The trail starts in The Port of Ilwaco (still don't know how to pronounce that) which was small, but not so small it didn't have a knitting store! There are several off-shoots on the path along the way with parking areas, so you can jump off and on the trail pretty easily. It winds through several different habitats - rainforest, swamp, dunes. There are also several art installations and placards that make this a fun trip for nerds, hello.
I checked darksky.net the previous day and the weather didn't look that great, but the actual rain was supposed to stop around 11am, then just be cloudy. We got to the parking lot around noon and it was definitely still raining. We ate our usual Whole Food sandwiches in the car, bracing ourselves for the weather. As soon as we got all our rain gear on and bikes ready to go, it stopped raining.
Our main interest in the trail was seeing the giant whale skeleton.
As you can see, the whale skeleton was not-so-giant. Apparently, it's been vandalized over the years. Thanks, people!
The second main attraction was the carrot cake I had been feasting on for a few days prior to that. IT WAS DELICIOUS! I love carrot cake and I found a recipe in "My Two Souths" (combo of Indian and Southern American cuisines) that is amazing, with tons of cardamom and black pepper. I am already having a really hard time waiting to make it for my birthday again next year.
We got almost to the end of the trail - the last quarter of a mile was impassible due to two feet of water.
We turned around and rode back with a tailwind (yes!). The whole trip took about three hours, and as soon as we got back in the car, it started raining again. :)
