Haakon's bike blog

Into the States - continued

What would you do if you celebrate your wedding with your loved ones and closest family, and a complete stranger comes up to you asking you if he can spend the night on your yard? Right, you welcome him and push a beer in his hands! That's what happened to me the previous weekend in Shelton, a logging town just after passing the Hood Canal. So I met Katie and Eddy, the bride and groom that were previously married in Las Vegas, but invited only their closest family members to that ceremony. That is the reason they threw this party for all their friends, lasting the entire weekend..Now I know my limits when it comes to multiple day parties, so I wasn't in for the whole nine yards. Yet I met many interesting people that evening, of which the groom's parents (being veterinarians), Bob, the bride's dad who I ran into again by accident a couple of days later in Mt. Rainier NP and Phil, a rugby coach that had worked in Harare, Zimbabwe for some time. And there was Justin, a lively guy who seemed to be even more excited about my cycling trip than myself. He was talking in superlatives that biking around the way I was doing 'is the shit!'. Well, I couldn't agree with him more!

Next was Mt. Rainier, the highest mountain in the state of Washington with 4.392 m. Just after entering Mt. Rainier NP I had to climb for 30 km to a height of 1.646 m: tough cycling! But the reward after reaching the summit was sweet. After hiking up one of the trails at Mt. Rainier I had astounding views over the Cascade Range with Mt. Saint Helens at the horizon. Many of the towns I ride my bike through in this part of Washington have a history in logging. Logging is still in place but its importance has declined due to competition from other countries. That is the reason youngsters are moving out these once thriving cities, leaving behind a declining and ageing population and a relatively large number of people on welfare. By the way, passing a cedar mill smells really nice, giving out a distinct, aloe vera like scent..

Now that is all very interesting, about the mills and all, but my real interest went out to Mt. Saint Helens, indeed the 'mother of vulcanic outbursts'. Being lucky again, I was taken along with Jay, a teacher himself from Morton, to visit the mountain from the western side. He had visited the mountain muliple times from the eastern and southern side, but never from this side. Along came Hansa, an exchange student from Czech. Observing the extent of the devastation that the volcanic outburst caused on that day in May 1980 was incredible. Vegetation and wildlife is slowly returning to the mountain slope but you can still distinguish a very clear line between the untouched forest and the trees that were toppled by the force of the blast. Another distinctive remnant of the 1980 event are the trees floating at the surface of Spirit Lake, just next to the mountain. The blast was so powerful (with velocities traveling up to 1000 km/hour), it blew down giant trees like matchsticks. Many of them ended up at the lake, that itself was uplifted nearly 100 meters through the debris avalanche caused by the landslide. The landslide and following outburst lowered the summit of the mountain by 400 meters. The tourist center displays various impressive stories of people that were in the area at that time, some of them being able to get out in time. Others were less fortunate, finding themselves in the blast zone, being killed by the debris avalanche or by suffocation. In total, 57 people were killed. Now, the mountain is relatively quiet yet still active. That can be clearly seen from the crater rim where gasses escape the gradually expanding dome.

I got really lucky, managing to get a permit to climb the mountain a couple of days later from the south side: ascending 1500 meters up (and the same way down!) through lose scree and boulders. I joined a group of friends who happened to have a spare permit up the mountain: Markus, Coleen, Dave, Brett and Charlene. Charlene's husband, Ernie, took my bike in his truck back to Portland. That is how my bike and myself ended up in Portland! I would love to tell you that everything went well on the hike, and it did actually, but I am suffering a major muscle ache now:-). Let's see how it goes when l mount my bike again today! Summiting the mountain symbolized the halfway point of my trip through Canada and the States. From here I will head for the coast, leaving the beautiful Cascade Range behind me, down to San Francisco. The plan to reach Los Angeles by bike, I already gave up on one of the first days of the trip. Since I am meeting Margit on September 30 in San Francisco and we are both flying from Los Angeles, it made more sense to me to pack up the bike and chuck it in the back of the rental car. Indeed, less is more!

So far, I have not written much about my cycling statistics, partly because I appreciate the journey more than fitting as many kilometres in a day as possible. Then again, many people along the way ask me how many miles I ride each day. So, for all the statistics aficionados:

Cycling days so far: 18

Rest days: 7

Hiking days: 1,5

Average distance per day: 65 km

Kilometrage so far: 1200 km

Distance as a measure of exertion is somewhat deceptive since it is first and foremost the topography that determines your destination that day. A couple of days ago, I had to take a detour since bicycles were not allowed on the interstate. The detour took me over a mountain that proved to be the most difficult road so far: the road was so steep for several miles, I had to push my bike for an hour (but I got there finally!). Consequently, my average speed is ranging anywhere between 13 and 18 km/hour. My lowest gear allows me to ride at 6 or 7 km per hour, which is still faster than pushing your bike uphill at 3,5 km/hour. And to keep my body from deteriorating, I stretch twice a day. And that works for me!

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A warm goodbye from Portland, Oregon!

@Corianne and Erin in Packwood and Gretchen in Seattle: thanks for staying at your place!

Reacties

Reacties

Arjan

Echt cool dit allemaal Haakon! Leuk dat je overal zo gastvrij onthaald wordt, daar kan Nederland nog wel wat van leren :-)

Pieter

dat zijn de statistieken wel he!!!

Suusy

De sort of Eddy Zoey's programma 'Hoe gastvrij is de States!!!

Sanne Hezemans-Nube

Hey Haakon,
Wat een gaaf avontuur zeg!
Wij wonen sinds 1,5 jaar in de VS (onder San Francisco, Carmel Valley).
Mocht je dus nog een slaapplek zoeken.... Je bent meer dan welkom!
Heel veel succes en vooral enorm veel plezier!
Groetjes, Sanne

Dies

Mooi verhaal man, en die gastvrijheid is echt super. Je vermaakt je wel volgens mij! Ik krijg zin om die kant op te gaan als ik je verhalen lees. Veel plezier met margit binnenkort ! En doe haar de groeten, dies

Haakon

@Arjan: helemaal mee eens! Ik moet ook eerlijk toegeven dat ik dat minder snel zou doen dan veel mensen hier. Toegegeven, de huizen hier zijn vaak groot, groot genoeg om een gast uit te nodigen.
@Sanne: nice! Thanks for the invitation:-) ik hou m in mn achterhoofd. En leuk dat je mijn reis volgt. Wat heeft jou en je man naar de States gebracht?
@Koen: die foto's suggereren idd een beetje dat ik alleen maar bij mensen logeer. Ten minste de helft vd tijd kampeer ik, dat kan zijn op een goedkope camping ($10) en anders wildkamperen. Kwam laatst laat aan op een camping, en die vroegen $22. Maar dat vind ik te duur voor een stukje gras en een douche dus ben weggegaan en hebe plekje langs te kant vd weg gezocht. Alles goed met de kleine trouwens? Kan ie al praten:-)

Olivier

Nice stats ;)

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