Bike Packing in Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park was our first bike packing trip in Canada (and my first official ever). Thanks to Viv and Jeff‘s famous organising skills, we basically just had to show up. Lucas had just bought his new gravel bike so was super excited to use it, and I borrowed a bike from Annie for the trip.
We started our trip very early Saturday morning, catching the ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island. We then biked about 35km from Swartz Bay to Victoria where we grabbed some snacks from Crust Bakery (would recommend a visit) before getting on our next ferry over to Port Angelus in the US.
On the ferry, next stop Port Angelus
Once in Port Angelus we stopped off at El Taco Loco which was a Mexican restaurant located in a retro looking diner, so was an interesting vibe, but there was no denying it was good mexican food. Well fed, we began our journey from Port Angelus to Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park. This was about 43km of biking on a mix of paved bike paths and road. Strava says it was about 3 hours of moving time.
We stocked up on American snacks at the Joyce General Store, which also had a cat in a basket
We got to the lake and our campsite at some stage in the afternoon. This trip was in mid May so we had a decent amount of daylight but it was definitely still pretty chilly. You will see photos of the lake shortly, but it was torture as it looked like the perfect swim spot, but only Lucas was brave enough to bear the cold. If you have watched the Twilight movie then you will know it is based in a town called Forks. Forks sits right next to Olympic National Park, towards the coast, so as you can imagine the area gets a lot of rain. Luckily we got pretty lucky with the rain.
Our campsite for the evening
The thing I like about bike packing is the random association it has to cafe/restaurant hopping, I guess with the overall intent to pack lighter. This trip was no different, we only packed snacks since we knew we would be able to buy every meal. At Lake Crescent we had dinner in the camp restaurant, and brekky the next day. One of the photos below is us eating our ribs and burgers for dinner.
Evening scenes at Crescent Lake, with Jeff having a little pre dinner snack
Morning scenes at Crescent Lake
Day 2 had the best riding of the trip. We essentially rode back to Port Angelus, but via a specific gravel trail called the Adventure Trail. The trail was perfectly built for gravel bikes - we were impressed since it was a decent length. We went through beautiful forest and had epic views out to the ocean. Kate and Josh went back the more direct route via the road, while Viv, Jeff, Lucas and I took this route. Strava says it was about 63km, 950m vert, and took us about 6 hours. We rode past the river that we crossed on the way over, and this time Jeff was the only one who braved the cold. Never the less, we all had a go on the giant swing which propelled us out over the river and back. So fun.
Gorgeous day on the Adventure trail
Solid effort for letting go Jeff
We got into Port Angelus in the late afternoon where we unwound and got Indian for dinner. Day 3 was the most chill, we caught the ferry back to Victoria on Vancouver Island, grabbed brunch at Crust Bakery, and then biked back to Swartz Bay to catch the ferry back to Vancouver.
This was such an epic trip, there's something so liberating about travelling around via bike, with all the gear strapped to the bike. It was a great mix of exploring somewhere new, good food, beautiful outdoors, and for some of us, making new friends. This was one of our favourite trips of the year, thanks Viv and Jeff for organising!
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