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Port Angeles to Quilcene

Day 30 · Completed

Port Angeles East

East Port Angeles, WA

The Coho crossing and Port Angeles waterfront

This day on the route

Date
The day
Ferry + walking
Walked
2.9 miles

Day 30, October 6: Victoria–Port Angeles ferry plus 2.9 miles walked. She spent the night at the Holiday Motel in east Port Angeles.

Water crossing excluded from walking mileage.

Route overview, not turn-by-turn directions.

Gouache illustration of a white ferry on choppy blue water, with a low waterfront town and forested hills beneath a warm ochre sky.
Illustration inspired by East Port Angeles, WA.

On October 6 Jeana walked 0.8 miles to the Coho, crossed the strait in fog and walked 2.1 miles on to Port Angeles East. The crossing’s water distance is excluded from the mileage.

Black Ball Ferry Line’s M.V. Coho connects Victoria’s Inner Harbour with Port Angeles across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The operator describes a crossing of about 90 minutes over 22.59 nautical miles. Those water miles are part of the journey, but none are counted in the walking distance.

The ship’s history begins in Seattle in 1959, when it was designed and built for the Achesons’ ferry company. Its first commercial sailing to Victoria took place that December. The service links two downtown waterfronts, and it brought the walk from Vancouver Island to the northern edge of the Olympic Peninsula.

Back in the States after a foggy crossing, she called at the Port Angeles and county fire stations and walked into the Peninsula Daily News to share her story. A very kind woman gave her a room for the night at the Holiday Motel. She also walked two miles of the next day’s route ahead.

From the road

Back in the States after a foggy crossing, and a smoothie to see her off

That morning she left Linda and Paul’s home with deep gratitude for all they had done to support her work encouraging people to join the Canadian Blood Services Stem Cell Registry. She walked 0.8 miles to the ferry and 2.1 miles on to Port Angeles East, 2.9 miles in all, and on top of that she walked 2.0 miles of the next day’s route.

While she waited for the Coho ferry, and again on board, she met lots of folks who were interested in her backpack, and that led to good discussions about the fifth Steps to Marrow walk. It was a very foggy morning for the crossing over the Salish Sea. The man seated across from her told her it is a stressless way to travel.

It was quite a milestone to be in Port Angeles and back in the States. This was Day 30 of a 45-day walk, and she had lots of long walking days ahead of her, mostly because the towns are further apart and there is more wilderness in between. She felt ready to work through whatever obstacles arose.

The New Day Eatery offered her a bowl of soup and half a sandwich for lunch, and it was delicious and filling. From there she called the Port Angeles Fire Department to see whether they could help her with lodging for the night. A very kind firefighter named Tyler said he would take it to the city for approval.

She missed Tyler’s return call while fumbling with her phone, and when she couldn’t reach him, she decided to walk over to the station. There she was able to share information with the firefighters about how to join the national registry, NMDP (the National Marrow Donor Program). Unfortunately, Tyler didn’t get approval, so instead he walked her down the street to a smoothie place and bought her a smoothie, to see her off as she carried on her search for somewhere to stay in Port Angeles.

She tried several hotels along the way and ran into some pretty wonderful people, but she was not able to find a place to stay. She stopped in at a second fire station, the county fire station, which Tyler had recommended, and shared information there about how to join NMDP, but she still had nowhere to sleep that night.

As she walked and talked to people and looked for a place to spend the night, she saw the Peninsula Daily News and walked in to share her story. She was pleased that they were interested in printing it, but rather than doing an interview, as local papers used to, they asked whether she had a press release.

So she contacted Jay, a friend who has been so instrumental in helping her with her journey. He is responsible for the Foundation’s beautiful website, and for the amazing social media posts that, thanks to his expertise, are encouraging people in countries all around the world to join their registries. It is an international effort. Jay very kindly agreed to send a press release, so she hoped there would be a story about the Jada Bascom Foundation’s fifth Steps to Marrow walk and the importance of joining the United States national registry, NMDP.

She was very excited that the press in Port Angeles wanted to take part, because the media can reach so many people. Talking to people face to face and inspiring them to join the national registry is important to her, she says, and so is using the internet, through the website and social media. But it is also so important for local media to tell the story of the walk to local citizens, and that is why she is very grateful to the Peninsula Daily News.

Her day also took in an extra two miles of walking, spent looking for her lost pullover. The most important part of that story, though, is that Thrift Star kindly let her pick out a comparable light jacket. That was a blessing, because temperatures were dropping and it would keep her warm and healthy. She sends many thanks to Thrift Star for its generosity.

Shortly after she arrived in Port Angeles East, she found a very kind woman who gave her a room for the night at the Holiday Motel.

I feel ready to find solutions for any obstacles that arise.

Jeana Moore
The Greater Victoria Public Library James Bay sign, with a second line in another language, sits above tall glass windows reflecting power lines and trees.The grey stone BC Legislature, with green copper domes and a small gilded figure on top, seen past two red-and-white gate barrier arms, traffic cones and a large evergreen.A fountain stands against a low stone wall lined with painted provincial crests, with wide steps and a stone block marked 1967 – 2067 in front and a tall pink building flying a Canadian flag behind.Water spills from a dark bowl in front of a bronze lion and unicorn flanking a coat of arms, with a Union Jack and a blue flag with gold fleurs-de-lis above and water trickling down the stone wall behind.Victoria's Inner Harbour under heavy grey cloud, with sailboats at the docks and a large château-style building with steep roofs reflected in the still water.Calm grey water stretches up Victoria's harbour toward a white bridge and construction cranes in the far distance, with a large multi-storey building on the left shore and a marina of moored boats below city buildings on the right.Through a misted, rain-spotted ferry window, a person in a yellow hooded jacket stands at the white deck railing facing a wall of fog.The ferry's wet outer deck runs along a white railing beneath an overhanging bridge wing, with two people at the far end and the sea fading into thick fog.White wake churns along the side of the ferry below a white railing as the grey sea disappears into fog.A copper builder's plaque on a green bulkhead reads M.V. Coho, 1959, Hull No. 105, built by Puget Sound Bridge & Dry Dock Co. of Seattle and designed by Philip F. Spaulding & Assoc.A framed display of embroidered maritime patches, including Black Ball Line, M.V. Coho, Grays Harbor Bar Pilot, Todd Shipyards, Foss, Victoria Clipper and Port Angeles Pilots.A pier lined with low grey sheds on pilings emerges from thick fog across dark water as the ferry nears the shore.
Show all 24 photos from this dayShow fewer photos
A row of gulls perches along the ridge of a grey corrugated roof in the fog, in front of a building signed Downriggers on the Water Restaurant & Cocktails.Seen from the ferry above, two workers in high-visibility vests handle mooring lines on a weathered wooden dock, with a gangway leading to a grey terminal building over misty water.Seen from above, a weathered dock gives way to open timber beams over dark water beside a railed walkway, where two workers in high-visibility vests head toward a gray terminal, with Canadian, American and red flags flying above rows of cars in the fog.A red work boat with a white cabin is tied up at a low pier where a yellow crane sits among equipment, while a large ship looms in the fog behind.A painted Welcome to Port Angeles, Washington sign on a corrugated metal wall shows an eagle perched in a tree beside a tall sailing ship and small boats in a blue bay below mountains.A tiered fountain splashes in a brick plaza in front of a long mural of tall forest, a rock standing offshore and ocean surf, under a blue sky with autumn trees above.From a raised viewpoint with an American flag, a downtown Port Angeles street runs straight down to the harbour, where large ships sit on the blue water under a wide sky.A restored red 1926 American LaFrance fire engine lettered Port Angeles F.D. No. 1, with gold-leaf trim, silver headlamps, a searchlight and an eagle-topped bell, stands indoors beside an information placard.A brick clock tower with a red dome rises above rooftops and dark forest, with a long, hazy mountain ridge behind under wispy clouds.A shop window painted with a rainbow and a yellow star reading Thrift Star, with jeans and other clothes on display behind the glass.Looking down at a dark hiking shoe mid-step on a pale concrete sidewalk at the edge of the asphalt road.The storefront of KONP Radio 1450, with a red-lettered sign above a glass door with station stickers, a low brick base, and dark windows with a few local event flyers taped up.
Distance walked
2.9 miles
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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.

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NMDP — Join the registry · checked Sep 1, 2026

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Sources

Local history and background reading for this stop.

  1. About Black Ball Ferry Line — checked Sep 5, 2026
The flyer: STOP BLOOD CANCER set in tall letters over a dark plum page, a quote, and a QR code beside a text-to-join line for the U.S.One standing face of the table tent: the same headline and quote on the left, a large QR code on the right.

Take it off the screen

Print it. Put it where people already stand.

A coffee counter, a church foyer, a break room, a race table. Every sheet carries the code that opens Jeana’s walk, and a number to text for anyone who would rather not scan — no app, no wifi, nothing to hand back.Every sheet carries the code that opens Jeana’s walk — nothing to install, nothing to hand back. The number to text printed beside it is for joining NMDP, which registers people who live in the U.S., its territories and the freely associated states. If you live anywhere else, find your country’s registry.

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