Olympic Peninsula Circumnavigation

"GCOR is a circumnavigation of the Olympic mountain range primarily using the gravel roads of the Olympic National Forest, DNR and state forests land. It is 440 miles of beautiful, remote and varied forest land. They’re not easy miles either! There are 7 major climbs over 2000′; 40,000′ of elevation total." - GCOR race page.

My friend Elisa and I had blocked out 9 days at the end of July for a longer bikepacking trip TBD. It would be her longest bikepacking trip ever and in her own words, she hadn't been riding much and so wanted to make sure we didn't have too much climbing each day. So of course, she sent me the GCOR route as a potential trip idea. While I initially had been eyeballing another bikepacking trip on Vancouver Island, I was intrigued by the idea of exploring the Olympic peninsula since it was new to me. I accepted the challenge to figure out a less gnarly version of GCOR, and this is what we ended up with. 

We loved everything that was NOT on the 101, so if I had to do this again with more time, I'd probably add back in a few of the gravel road sections that didn't involve gratuitous climbing. I'd also prolly try not to do it in a heatwave again, too. But that all said, we had an amazing time and I'd do it all again!

Dispersed camping in the rainforest.

Remote gravel roads for days.

Uh, this is the turnoff!?

Lake Crescent afternoon dip post-ice cream bars from the lodge.

Hiker-biker campsites are the best!

Sequim Bay at sunset.

Morning views from the tent.

Proof we had 30 minutes of clouds.

We love random farm stands so much!

Roads less travelled.

Forks fame.

Car free joy!

More car free joy!

So many hand pies!

A few tips for bike tourists:

• We parked our car for a small fee at the Dow Creek RV Resort... it's not something they typically do, but it made for a perfect starting point as we stayed the first night there after a long drive to prep and we also enjoyed showers at the end!
• Washington State Parks have hiker/biker sites (even if not immediately apparent on the website) and in our experience, they were never full. A ranger told us that there is an official policy that they cannot turn away someone arriving on foot or bicycle.
• Other than the initial part of the route from the Dow Creek RV Resort to Spider Lake to Lake Quinault, there are plentiful resupply spots. The Shell station in Forks (which houses Ron's Food Mart) has a suprisingly good selection of single serving foods that are easy to grab and go for a bikepacking trip. But the real winners were the North Shore Grocery near Lake Quinault (owned by an Asian family with a surprisingly good selection of random Asian goodies) and the store in Quilcene (a gem with homemade tamales, fresh baked goods, a dozen types of hand pies, and everything in between).
• You cannot depend on small cafes on this route to be reliably open... with staffing issues and other potential pitfalls, it's good to have a back up plan!
• Farm stands also dot this route, especially along the west and north part of the route.
• The Olympic Discovery Trail is an amazing car-free experience!