A mile from Mud bay there is a "y" in the road. To the right Highway 101 begins a 326-mile loop. The loop goes some 326 miles around the circumference of the Olympic Peninsula and eventually returns to Mud Bay via the pacific coast and stretch of Highway 8. To the left Highway 8 travels to the west and what the federal government has called, "The New Appalachia." The area is from just west of Olympia out to the coast for a hundred miles of the loop. It also includes more of southwest Washington State. There is no official sign or line delineating "The New Appalachia." However, when you leave mud bay there is a different natural environment and human culture.