Olympic Discovery Trail and my first bikepacking trip

Trip report:
Last weekend I went on my first ever bikepacking trip and it was incredible! I went with two others and we did an out-and-back 36 mile stretch of the Olympic Discovery Trail (ODT) in Washington state. Our total trip over 2 days was 72 miles with 3000 ish feet of elevation gain.

The segments of the trail we did are fully paved and at times travel along low speed, low traffic roads. It is well marked and I would have had no trouble guiding our group even without GPS. Cell service is sparse at best. There were some running creeks and waterfalls along the way that would have provided for us if we’d been running low on water.

Day one, we traveled east to west. It was misty, overcast, and exactly the sort of vibe most people envision for the PNW… just not at the end of June.

We began at the Joyce Rd access point for the ODT in Port Angeles. We had to climb almost immediately to get over a stretch of some foothills of the Olympics.

The downhill coasting into the Lake Crescent access point was a lot of fun but expect some traffic on weekends and in peak season.

Once at the Spuce Railroad trailhead, the trail follows the northern banks of Lake Crescent for roughly 9 miles. A fair bit of that was flat or low grade climbing.

It’s breathtaking and we were lucky to see it in both draped in very authentic PNW fog as well as glistening under pure blue sky and sunshine the next day. This is a very popular hiking trail so we had a lot of people-dodging to do for the first few miles after the trailhead until about the Devil’s Punchbowl swimming hole.

The trail dips in and out of classic Pacific Northwest forest – towering cedar and spruce, ferns for days, and every form of moss and lichen you can imagine.

Near the end of the Spruce Railroad trail, the ODT splits off to right. There is a port-a-potty here and is the only one we saw directly on the trail.

Next we traveled the Mt Muller/ODT section and this is where it takes a turn to the sky- you’ll climb no matter which direction you are coming from. It’s not a bad climb by any stretch but with my gear, it was slow rolling. I, on my analog hardtail, got left in the dust by the many ebikes along the route.

After the short Mt Muller climb and descent, we had to cross a highway. It was easy one day, hectic the second.

All 3 of our group really enjoyed the sections of the ODT that came after that highway crossing. The remainder of Mt Muller along with the Camp Creek sections were stunning Olympic forests filled with magic and wonder… along with much easier grades, in both directions.

Beyond the west end of the Camp Creek section, the ODT joins with Mary Clark Rd. We saw a total of two cars on this road across both days. So I can confirm that it is indeed very low traffic as promised. It was probably the most boring section but still offered spectacular wildflowers along the roadside. This section, and our journey, ended at Highway 101 in Sappho.

We stayed at an amazing HipCamp out in Sappho. It was an total gem and much quieter than the public campgrounds
would have been.

We biked the whole trail the other direction the following day and were treated to one of the famously perfect summer days this area likes to brag about.

All of us much preferred the west-to-east direction. The gentle climb to start the day was a great warm up. The reward of Lake Crescent views and stopping to swim was the perfect cap.

So if anyone is thinking of doing the ODT and can only run it one way, west to east is it. I’ve done the rest of the segments as day trips and it really does have better flow when you start at the coast and end in Port Townsend. The same applies for the Olympic Adventure Trail- it’s far more enjoyable running west to east.

For my first outing, it delivered everything I wanted and then some. I learned a lot from this forum ahead of time so I packed well and had good gear. Thanks to everyone who posts about their gear- it really helped me ensure I was very prepared for this trip.

Wow that looks so nice! What a beautiful place.

What GPS are you using?