Port Angeles sits low on the northern edge of the Olympic Peninsula, facing the Strait of Juan de Fuca and, across the water, Vancouver Island. It is a working harbour town of some nineteen thousand people, with a long curved sandspit called Ediz Hook sheltering the port, a ferry that sails daily to Victoria in British Columbia, and a downtown of brick storefronts, bookshops and seafood spots. It is also the main gateway to Olympic National Park, which means it has what the rest of the peninsula lacks: choice.
For a rider doing the loop around the Olympic Peninsula, this is the logical place to fuel, eat and reorganise. The supermarkets, hardware stores and motels are all here, and so are the practical things nobody lists in guidebooks, like laundromats and a place to buy a spare tube. The national park visitor centre is on the edge of town and can tell you about road conditions on the Hurricane Ridge road, which closes in bad weather. Highway 101 runs right through, east toward Sequim and west toward Lake Crescent, so you are well placed.
The landscape here is a rain-shadow oddity. The Olympic Mountains block most of the Pacific moisture, so Port Angeles and neighbouring Sequim are much drier than the rainforests on the coast side. The town gets a fraction of the rain that falls at Forks, only fifty-odd miles away. The upshot is that the best riding weather is often right here, while the west side is under cloud. The sea air is cool, and fog can drift in during the summer mornings, burning off by midday.
Historically, the town grew around timber, fishing and shipping, and Coast Guard and naval history have left a mark. The waterfront is pleasant for a wander, with views over the strait to the Canadian mountains, and the fish and chips on the pier are a local ritual. Traffic on the main road gets heavy on summer weekends, when ferry arrivals and visitors to the park stack up. Start early, and use the town as a base before heading into the quiet forests to the west.