Travelling the 101 around Olympic Peninsula, WA

[kahn10]

I'm gonna be riding my bike down the coast from the Canadian border to Seaside, OR this weekend. I noticed that 101 goes two ways around Olympic National Park. What I'm wondering is if it is worth the extra 80 miles (scenically) to head west towards Forks from Port Townsend and then head south on the west side or just head straight south along the east side of the peninsula along the sound. I don't mind travelling the extra distance, I just want to know which is a better view and/or if either route provides any interesting towns or stops.

[RainMan62]

If time isn't an issue, I would suggest going west. Lake Crescent is beautiful and directly on the route, and either Sol Duc Hot Springs or the Hoh Rain Forest would be an excellent detour. Neah Bay and Cape Flattery are at the northwesternmost point of the continental US if you like that sort of thing (I do) and the Makah Reservation has a good visitor center. And if you like towns with unusual names you wouldn't want to miss Humptulips. From there you can detour to the ocean and take SR 109 to rejoin 101 at Hoquiam. Finally on a practical note, the stretch of 101 between Olympia and Aberdeen is mostly four lanes and likely has more car traffic going faster. So I would vote for the northern/western route. Have a good trip!