Airestreaming in Port Angeles, Washington

Apr 15, 2026 · 4 minute read/750 words

Where we camped

Elwha RV Park campground

The campground was fun, the owners clearly care about the grounds. They have a active green house which allows visitors to pick their own vegetables. The time of our visit the green house was mostly empty but was starting to ramp up with seedlings being planted. I suspect maintaining the garden space in the off season is labor intensive and not a priority. The site also runs a cycling tour group, where they rent bikes. I started talking to them about routes to ride and the advised me not to ride due to the logging trucks. I advised them I commonly rode a few hundred miles a week and was comfortable on the road and I was looking for rides that were 40-120 mile loops. They were concerned the batteries on the bike would not last for those distances. I quickly came to the conclusion they were not going to be much help in my cycling adventures.

The cycling is awesome here, the Olympic Discovery Trail ODT is an amazing route. I was able to ride many routes that included the ODT and into Olympic National Park. I rode both gravel and road bike on the ODT. Many of the paths gravel tires are the right choice, if you are putting any major miles down with a central starting point, I would suggest a road bike with wide and tough tires. The main reason is that taking the ODT is not a loop, you will need to ride many miles on the road to get back to where you started.

Elwha Chainsaw art

The campground clearly had an on site artist that loved to make carvings with a chain saw. I was impressed by the skill required. Much of this persons art were a one shot carving of a tree stump that was in place. Requiring the artist to the desired design first try.

Elwah Dam

The Elwah river had a dam and reservoir that had funding approved for dam mitigation in 1992, the dam was completely removed by 2014. The original builders of the dam cut corners and ignored regulations for fish ladders. The corner cutting caused a failure of the dam and a downstream bridge. The dam needed to be rebuilt and was holding water from 1914 - 2011 (two year drawdown of the reservoir). Elwha is proud of the dam removal and the positive affects it has had on the river and overall ecosystem.

The campground had awesome trails for us to walk the dogs on. A few times a day we would walk out the the forest and walk a trail that was well marked, maintained, and graded. It was a blast walking along the river here. Traveling in the Pacific Northwest reminds me how precious water is and how little of it the Southwest has.

Cycling

I had much fun riding bikes here. The ODT trail is incredible and I was able to ride to a hike inside Olympic National Park. We are yearly inter agency pass holders ($80 for U.S Citizens). The pass allows for access to all 63 National Parks for 1 year. The pass allows a vehicle. Donna was driving to meet me at the sol duc hike/waterfall. The ranger at the entry station was cool about letting Donna and the truck in the entry gate since we were separated (me on bicycle, her in truck). The road to the National Park entrance ran along the cascade lake and had a windy two land road, which often had no shoulder. This cools signage/system advised cyclists to push a button and a light would flash letting motorist know to share the road. The windy road was Eleven miles long and the light would flash for one hour, expecting the cyclist to traverse the road at 12 MPH