Why this ride
202 km one way from Home - plan on about 4 h 14 of riding. The stops in between: White Center and Scenic stretch near Black Diamond. near Enumclaw is the high point.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Olympic Peninsula Hood Canal · part 2
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 202 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 14
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Chinook Pass Scenic Byway
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 13 km this is Chinook Pass Scenic Byway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 13 km
- Named road
- Chinook Pass Scenic Byway
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Photo stop near Home
Home is a small community on the Key Peninsula, a long, wooded finger of land reaching into southern Puget Sound west of Tacoma. It has one of the stranger origin stories in the Pacific Northwest: in 1896 a handful of idealists founded an anarchist colony here on the shore of Von Geldern Cove, and for a couple of decades it attracted free thinkers, writers and the suspicious attention of the authorities. The colony faded, but the name stuck.
Read the complete Photo stop near Home write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Photo stop near Home is where the day begins. Next is Olympic Peninsula Hood Canal checkpoint 8.
2. Near White Center
Ferries are the quiet heart of this corner of Seattle. White Center, a modest, diverse neighbourhood, lies just inland, and Lincoln Park offers forest trails, beaches and views over the water.
Read the complete Near White Center write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Finish at Olympic Peninsula Hood Canal checkpoint 8. That is the ride. Next is High point near Enumclaw.
3. High point near Enumclaw
Enumclaw sits on the plateau east of Seattle where the suburbs thin out into horse paddocks, hay fields and dairy farms, with Mount Rainier standing on the horizon on any clear day. The mountain, at about 4,390 metres, is an active volcano and the highest in the Cascade range, covered in more glacier ice than any other peak in the lower forty-eight states. It looks very close from here, and it is, which is a large part of why so many riders begin the day in this town.
Read the complete Enumclaw write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
This is where the road stops climbing. Next is Scenic stretch near Black Diamond.
4. Scenic stretch near Black Diamond
Planning note
Scenic stretch near Black Diamond, late in the day. Next is Back to Olympic Peninsula.
5. Back to Olympic Peninsula
The Snoqualmie Valley, where Carnation sits, is a quiet pocket of dairy farms and berry fields in the western foothills of the Cascades, a short way east of Seattle's suburbs. It is a place where cows graze in sight of snow-capped peaks, with the Tolt and Snoqualmie rivers winding through the flats and the dark ridge of the mountains behind. The village of Carnation takes its name from the Carnation Milk company, which once ran a famous model dairy farm here. Lake Marcel-Stillwater, nearby, is a scattering of houses on the forested slope.
Read the complete Olympic Peninsula write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Finish at Back to Olympic Peninsula. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Photo stop near Home to Near White Center
Photo stop near Home → Near White Center is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near Enumclaw to Scenic stretch near Black Diamond
High point near Enumclaw → Scenic stretch near Black Diamond is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scenic stretch near Black Diamond to Back to Olympic Peninsula
Scenic stretch near Black Diamond → Back to Olympic Peninsula is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.