Day 32 · Completed
Blyn
Clallam County, WA
Blyn and the railway landscape beside Sequim Bay
This day on the route
- Date
- The day
- Walking
- Walked
- 10.4 miles
Day 32, October 8: 10.4 miles walked, from Sunny Farms through Sequim to the Longhouse Market at Blyn. Current trail guidance includes road-sharing near Old Blyn Highway.
Route overview, not turn-by-turn directions.

On October 8 Jeana walked 10.4 miles from Sunny Farms through Sequim to Blyn, and stayed dry that night at the Sequim Bay Lodge.
She took the bus back out to Sunny Farms, walked the 2.7 miles back to her hotel and on through Sequim, where Starbucks gave her breakfast, and along the highway and the trail to Blyn. She stopped at the Longhouse Market, just 0.8 miles into Blyn.
The Olympic Discovery Trail preserves pieces of a much older transport network. Its stewards describe five original railway trestles converted for trail use. Bridges and former grades make the railway’s presence visible even where trains no longer run, carrying people walking, cycling and rolling through the landscape.
The trail’s Blyn guidance also describes a section shared with Old Blyn Highway and calls for care around traffic. Rather than camp in the rain, she remembered her daughter Issa’s advice to keep herself safe and dry, and the Foundation hosted her that night at the Sequim Bay Lodge.
From the road
Cold calls to the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, and a dry night at Sequim Bay Lodge
She got up early and left her backpack in her room at the Olympic View Inn. She caught a bus, then walked the 2.7 miles back to the hotel. As she came into Sequim she stopped at Starbucks, where they gave her a lovely breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee. She is always grateful, she says, for nourishment in the morning before a long day’s walk.
When she went to check out, she noticed that Amie, the clerk at the desk the night before, had printed out a poster from the Jada Bascom Foundation website telling people how to join NMDP, the National Marrow Donor Program, and hung it on the wall. Amie had also printed out a little table tent, which was sitting on the counter.
She was so pleased to see people using the resources on the Foundation’s website. Think about a place, she says, where you might put up a poster or a little table tent that tells people how to join the national registry and save a life.
It was a wonderful walk, mostly along Highway 101, with stretches where she could walk the Olympic Discovery Trail. Just over halfway, she stopped at the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s water company. There wasn’t anyone there, but there was a nice bench out front, and she sat down to change from her hiking boots into her walking sandals.
She also started phoning the tribe to share information about how to join NMDP. On a cold call, she says, the first person to pick up can make all the difference. A lovely woman named Joan answered and very kindly transferred her to all the right people. First Joan put her through to a woman named Lonnie, and Jeana left Lonnie a message about the possibility of a place to stay for the night.
Then Joan transferred her to the tribe’s medical department, where she spoke to a woman named Victoria. Victoria really got what Jeana was talking about: the importance of diversifying NMDP enrolment for underrepresented populations. She promised to send the message further up the chain, and Jeana and the Foundation now have contact information to follow up in the future.
She hopes her team at the Jada Bascom Foundation — a team of volunteers, she points out — can help her follow up and find out whether the information could go into a newsletter for tribal members and onto the tribe’s website, and whether posters or a little table tent from the Foundation’s website could be printed out. Dreaming big, she wonders whether they might even arrange a bone marrow drive where tribal members could join NMDP. There are lots of possibilities, she says, to continue these life-saving efforts.
After a substantial rest, she carried on toward Blyn. Just as she came into Blyn she reached the Jamestown S’Klallam casino, but they weren’t able to help her with a room for the night. A woman at the front desk explained that even though it carries the tribe’s name, it is run by a company whose policies would not allow it.
It was just 0.8 miles farther into Blyn to the Longhouse Market, where she stopped. The manager answered her need for a meal with a beautiful panini of tomato and various cheeses. It was delicious.
She had already run out of places to try in Blyn, but she had one more idea. She called the police department to ask whether there was an appropriate place to put her tent for the night. She prefers knowing, she says, that no one will show up in the middle of the night to ask her to move on.
An amazing young officer happened to be close by, so he arrived very quickly. Officer Mike listened as she explained what she was doing and what she was looking for, and confirmed that there was really nowhere in Blyn for her to put her tent. She suggested walking outside of town to try to find a place, but he thought it might be better to backtrack: there was a campground about two and a half miles back and a motel three miles back, and he offered to give her a ride to either one.
As they talked, it came up that a bus ran into town, which she could try to catch in the morning. So she asked the Foundation to host her for the night, and stayed at the Sequim Bay Lodge.
She was thankful for advice her daughter, Issa, had given her about three weeks earlier: “Mom, please make sure to take care of yourself and arrange housing that will keep you safe and dry.” As she weighed the campground against the lodge, Issa’s voice came to her, and she chose the lodge. She was so glad she did: in the night it began to rain, and she surely was happy not to be in her tent.
When you are making cold calls the first person to answer the phone can make all the difference in the world.
- Distance walked
- 10.4 miles
Choose where you live
Continue to the official registry that serves you. It decides eligibility, handles registration and contacts you if you may match a patient.
United States — NMDP
NMDP accepts new registry members who are 18 to 35, live in the US, its territories or freely associated states, can meet NMDP’s health guidelines, and are not already registered through another US organization. Joining happens at home: you answer a few questions on NMDP’s site, they mail you a free cheek-swab kit, and you swab and send it back. Once you are a member you stay listed until you are 61 unless you ask to be removed — 61 is when NMDP takes you off, not an age at which you can join. NMDP makes the final eligibility decision.
Check the listed age range
NMDP — Join the registry · checked Sep 1, 2026
Prefer to text? Send JADA to 61474 and NMDP will take it from there.
Browse all official registry options
Eligibility rules can change. Confirm the current requirements with the official registry before joining.
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Sources
Local history and background reading for this stop.
- The Olympic Discovery Trail — checked Sep 5, 2026
- Olympic Discovery Trail: Port Angeles and access points — checked Sep 5, 2026


