Cycling the Palouse to Cascades Trail - Sunday, October 15 - Ponderosa Pine Campground to Vantage - 52 miles

 I woke up a couple times during the night to pee. At 6:00am I had been horizontal for about 10-11 hours so I figured it was time to get up and get moving. We had a cup of hot cocoa in bed, then packed up the saddle bags and headed out a little after 7:00am. There was no one on the trail until we reached Ellensburg, 17 miles away. There we saw locals using the trail for morning walks, runs and short in and out cycles. The route passes through 2 short tunnels as it winds down the Yakima River shoreline. They are short, but still require a headlamp. Once out of the Cascades foothills it is a series of about 5 or 6 miles long stretches of absolutely straight trail across the plains of Ellensburg to Kittitas. 

We stopped in Ellensburg for breakfast. The railroad grade was bulldozed out of existence in downtown Ellensburg. You have to take a side trip down the city streets to rejoin it. Along the way are restaurants and grocery stores and CWU. We ate breakfast at a coffee joint and relaxed. Before riding out of town, I stopped at the Grocery Outlet for a package of cookies to see us through the afternoon. We arrived in Ellensburg about 9:30am and didn’t leave town until about 10:15am.  Andy had pegged Kittitas about about mile 30 for the day so we were surprised when we entered town at mile 25.5. We figured it must be 30 to the Renfrow Trestle that crossed high about I-90. The trail now starts an uphill grade of about 2% for the next 10 miles. Our tired legs balked at the extra exertion, but it was manageable. 

Three years ago when we rode to the trestle we found it had not been worked on since its days as a train trestle.  There was no way to ride across it. We had to lift our bikes over fences and scurry around on some side roads to rejoin the route on the other side of I-90.  This time the trestle was converted to horse/foot/bike path and we simply rode across, grinning at the luxury of it.

Now comes the hard part.  The old railroad bed sat on sand and the sand is still there. With bikes in low-low gear we struggled to maintain 4 miles per hour as we rode across the loose sand.  Andy actually walked parts of it, noticing that he kept up with me even though he was on foot. After about 3 miles of this torture the surface hardened up a little, making it possible to ride at about 6 mph, although the effort of peddling was about the same. 

About 6 miles from the I-90 crossing lies the Boylston Tunnel. It is closed due to a partial roof cave in and loose rock at its entrances. Last time we rode up and over the tunnel. This year we rode through it. The west entrance was choked with tumble weeds blown in over the years.  There was a narrow path between the mass of weeds and rock cliffs of the entrance that we negotiated to enter the tunnel. The tunnel was lined with concrete at both ends, but the middle was just bare rock.  The floor was smooth enough to cycle across. In the middle a portion of the roof had fallen in and created a small mound of rock we had to walk our bikes across, but other than that the tunnel was fine. On the eastern entrance water has encroached and we had to ride/push our bikes through a swampy area for a 100 feet. 

Now to the downhill!  The next 14 miles is all 2% downhill to the Columbia River.  It is not fast enough to coast on, but with minimal peddling effort we could maintain about 12 miles per hour on this steady downhill grade. At no time can you ride with only one hand on the handle bars. Pockets of deep sand lie on the grade and when your tires enter it the bike squirrels all over the place. Two hands driving is the only thing that keeps the bike upright. The only part that is packed hard enough to ride is about the width of a car tire. Drift out of that narrow band and the bikes tires start sinking into loose sand slowing the bikes speed and causing the bike to drift sideways. 

This part of the railroad is so interesting. The route traverses a side hill that has many ridges on it. The builders made cuts through the ridges and deposited the material from the cuts into the draws between the ridges so the ride is a series of cuts and fills. In the cuts, which are just wide enough for a train to traverse, rocks fall off the sides and lay in the roadway. You have to carefully steer through these areas to avoid these fist sized boulders. It was better this year than 3 years ago. The state parks department must have sent a plow up the grade and pushed most of the rocks to the sides. But there were still many to dodge.

We noticed some large vehicles off in the distance and heard what sounded like automatic heavy gun fire.  As we approached we saw they were Army vehicles of some type, about 20 of them, out on maneuvers.  We waved at them as we rode past.

We reached the truck about 3:45pm. We both changed into cleaner clothes, loaded up the bikes in the truck bed and the bags behind the seats and started the drive back to Kirkland, about 3 hours away. We stopped in Ellensburg for dinner at the Sugar Thai restaurant. It was excellent.  We got to Andy’s house about 7:30pm.  I flew his F-18 flight simulator with the 3D headset. That is sooooo cool, even if I did get shot down by a couple of Migs. We next moved to his hot tub for 20 minutes.  By this time I was exhausted and went to bed.

What a great trip!!

The trestle over I-90 is repaired!!

Andy shows his approval of the new trestle surface

Approaching the closed Boylston Tunnel

Riding thru the weeds on the east side of the Boylston Tunnel

Riding down to the Columbia River

Approaching one of the cuts thru the ridges


Army troop transports on maneuvers (zoom way in to see)

Cycling the Palouse to Cascades Trail - Saturday, October 14 - Snoqualmie Pass to Ponderosa Campground 7 miles east of Cle Elum - 40miles

 Lazy morning. Up at 8:00am, breakfast and out the door about 9:00am. Drive to Snoqualmie Pass is about 45 minutes.  There was and annular solar eclipse happening as we drove. Tabitha had it live on her phone. In our area it was a partial eclipse and we could see the sun through the broken clouds enough to see a big chunk taken out of it by the moon.

It took us a little bit of exploring to find the Hyak parking lot for the trail. We saddled up the bikes, said goodbye to Tabitha and rode west to the Snoqualmie Tunnel.  It is 2.25 miles long!! We rode to the western terminus, then turned around and rode back. Headlamps are a must as it is totally dark in the tunnel. You can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but at 2.25 miles distant it offers no lighting in the immediate area around the bikes. 

Once back on the east side we immediately started down the trail. It is slightly downhill, about 1% grade, but the surface is loose rock and gravel. This creates a lot of friction so coasting is not at all possible. You have to peddle the bike every foot of the way. Unfortunately, the route parallels Interstate 90 so there is a constant background roar of traffic, but it is not too bad. The trail starts out in the trees but as you pass Easton and then get to Cle Elum the trees begin to thin out. It is amazing that they were able to survey a route that is continuously uphill at about 1 to 2 % all the way from Ellensburg to Snoqualmie Tunnel. It weaves around hills and generally follows the Yakima River the whole way.

We skipped stopping in Easton. We stopped there when we did this ride in 2020 but found the town depressing with few services. We rode on to Cle Elum.  We arrived about 2:00pm and were both very hungry, having held off eating lunch until we arrived. We rode about 1 mile off route into the town and had lunch at “Stella’s”. Sandwich, salad and a pumpkin, chocolate chip, coconut muffin to die for.  

We rode back to the trail and the final 7 miles east of town to the Ponderosa Campground, accessible only by this trail. There were two other tents there when we arrived about 4:30pm. We found the easterly most tent site still available. I took our water bottles to the river and filled them, then purified the water with Aqua Mira, after which we set up the tent. We did my Yoga routine. This helped a lot because we were both fatiqued from 40 miles of continuous peddling over nearly 7 hours. We were both pretty stuffed from the late lunch, but we enjoyed our pumpkin muffin. I cooked up a mountain house dinner, but Andy said he was good. It started to rain, so we crawled into the tent and relaxed on our inflatable pads, reading the news and emails and listening to the rain hit the tarp. We watched a episode of Stranger Things, season 4 and then flipped off the phones and headlamps and went to sleep about 9:30pm.

Cycling the Palouse to Cascades Trail - Friday, October 13 - Getting Ready

 Sally has her 50th high school class reunion this weekend.  It starts with a get together of her middle school classmates tonight.  She is leaving at noon today, I suspect to do a little last minute shopping before arriving at 4:00pm for the start at a bar/restaurant somewhere in Tacoma.

I plan to leave about 3:00pm for the long drive to Vantage. Before we both leave I cleaned out her car and the truck.  I drove her Prius up onto the yard to wash the outside. Didn’t want her to be seen as a country hick driving a dirty car. I simple vacuumed mine and cleaned out all the trash.

I put the bike rack from the Vanagon in the back of the pickup, beneath the two bikes. The plan is to drive to Vantage and meet Andy there, me in my pickup, he in his Tesla Y. Put the bike rack into his receiver, mount the bikes on the rack, leave the truck until we cycle to it on Sunday afternoon and drive his Tesla back to his place for the night.

Gas is about $4.85 a gallon, yet when I drove through Packwood last weekend following the ski patrol refresher I saw it for $4.39 a gallon. As I left the house and headed up Hwy 12 toward White Pass I wondered if the price was still that low. It was $4.89 in Onalaska as I drove through. I listened to Micheal Lewis’ new book on Sam Bankman Freis as I drove. In Packwood the price was still $4.39 so I stopped to top up. From there it was up over White Pass, down to Yakima and then north to Ellensburg. Andy called and said he was charging his car in Ellensburg. I was only about 10 minutes away. He texted me his position and I navigated to him. As I turned right on Canyon Drive I saw him walking to a coffee shop. I pulled in to the Tesla charging station and unloaded the bike rack, figuring it would be easier to install it on his car in the daylight and on dry pavement rather than in the dark on gravel at the terminus of our ride. With rack mounted we continued our drive to where the bike route crosses Huntsinger Rd and parked the truck. Andy arrived a few minutes later as he side tripped in Ellensburg for a Subway sandwich. With all the gear transferred to his car we drove back to Kirkland, arriving about 10pm. I went to bed. Super tired.

Thursday, September 28, 2023 - Back on the Trail - 8.86 miles - Km 14 to Km 0 - 1158’ total vertical up - 1152’ down - 4 hrs 52 minutes - Darling Creek to Pachena Bay

Boy, did it rain last night!  I was sound asleep when it started about midnight, but the drumming on my tent slowly woke me up. At first I ignored it, but I eventually realized I should check the margins of the tent to make sure no water was leaking in. A quick look with my headlamp showed all was dry, yet I did raise the edges of the bathtub floor to make sure the water stayed out, then went back to sleep, or at least tried to. The drumming of the rain was intense and loud. 

I dozed off and on the rest of the night. At 5:30am I realized I had not written about the two days and three nights spent at Nitinath so I cranked up my iPhone and got caught up. 

Lying there in the tent everything was damp. Nothing worse than damp nylon. Nothing had taken a direct hit from rain, but the humidity must have been about 120%. I was warm and very comfortable on my sleeping pad, my down quilt thrown over me, but it was clammy. 

I saw Malcolm walk by the front of my tent about 7:00am, said good morning, and began getting out of bed. I packed everything before emerging from the tent, then wandered up to the bear box to get my food. Bones was now up, as was Malcolm Jr. 

Once fed and packed we headed out, about 8:55am. First order of business was crossing the Darling River. There is no bridge and although I walked a bit inland looking for rocks to hop I ended up wading the river. My socks and shoes were already totally wet having not dried a bit overnight so the shock of wading the stream wasn’t a big deal. We were on the beach for a Kilometer to Michigan Creek. The sun was out with a few clouds in the sky. A gorgeous morning. We rock hopped Michigan Creek and then walked down the beach a bit to some hanging bouys that we thought marked the entrance to the trail. Malcolm was a bit in the lead and followed a faint path off the beach that quickly dead ended. We retraced our steps back to the river and found the trail leading up and out of the campsite. It was muddy and steep at first but soon reached the plateau. The trail was a real trail!  Well maintained, easy to stride out on for the most part and well brushed. We stopped at Pachena Lighthouse, met the keepers and admired the view, warming ourselves in the sun. 

About a Kilometer further down the trail was a side trail that lead to an overlook out onto a large flat rock area about 2-3 acres in size. This was covered in Sea Lions barking, growling and lazing in the sunshine. We found a nice place to sit and watch and spent 15-20 minutes admiring these huge, lumbering animals. Back on the trail we moved non-stop for an hour until my stomach cried out for lunch. We all stopped and Malcolm and I had a Michelle Shake, then it was off again. We would have liked to walk the beach the last Kilometer to the car but the tide was in so we climbed up the three ladders and down the four we had already played on a week ago to reach the car. 

The bus driver that had ferried us a week ago was outside the office and consented to take our picture. Malcolm Jr wanted to take a last swim in the ocean. Us three old guys changed out of our wet shoes and loaded up while Malcom swam. 

We drove into Bamafield looking for free showers. We found a grocery store to get coins for the showers back at the Pachena Point Campground, then back to the campground to take showers. Nice hot water but cold air once out of the hot spray. 

Clean and loaded into the car, it was a long drive to Port Alberni where we stopped at the Dog Mountain Brewery for dinner. I had a green salad with chicken breast. Back in the car we drove to Naniamo, caught the 8:15pm ferry to Tsawwannen. The drive to Anacortes was interrupted with a quick stop for gas north of Mt. Vernon at Bow Hill. Bones and I washed windows while Malcolm pumped gas and then we completed the journey to Malcolm’s house, dropping Malcolm Jr. off at his house about midnight. Bones drove his car to Malcolm’s house and we got to bed about 12:15am.  Long day.  Great trip.

Friday morning we were up about 7:45am. Malcolm prepared toast and an omelet for us for breakfast, then Bones and I loaded up our cars and drove for home.  I stopped at the grandkids house about 12:45pm and played with Junie, Izzy and Sam until Sam went down for his nap at 2:20pm. Junie, Izzy and I loaded into the white van and picked Robby up from school. I was showing Robby the photos of conchs, sea lions, seagulls, kelp and the rest of the trip when Sally arrived. She and I left shortly, went to tour their new house and then drove our separate cars home, me in the Caldwell’s Prius, her in our Prius.  What a great 10 days!

Chuck fills his water bottle at Michigan Creek

Pachena Point Lighthouse

Chuck descends a long ladder

Sea Lions on the rocks separated by a large surge channel

Close up of the Sea Lions

Malcolm, Bones and Malcolm Jr and their Gnome at the finish of the trail

Wednesday, September 27, 2023 - Back on the Trail - 12.25 miles - Km 32 to Km 14 - 869’ total vertical up - 1004’ down - 7 hrs 38 minutes - Nitinath to Darling Creek

No use getting up early for two reasons. The boat across the Nitinath Narrows doesn’t start making the crossing until 9:30am and the tides are not favorable further up the beach until after noon. Our start got pushed back a bit further because Shelly and Carl in the Crab Shack didn’t open until after nine and were a bit slow getting breakfast going and computing our acculturated bill. We didn’t load into the boat until 10:15am. No matter. Low tide wasn’t until 12:30pm and the 2.7m tide to allow crossing the beaches didn’t happen until after 2:30pm. 

Malcolm, Malcolm and Bones enjoyed a sausage, scrambled egg and hash brown breakfast. I ate my standard, and delicious, cereal for breakfast. Hippi Doug took us across the now quickly running inlet, tied up at the “dock” on the other side and we gingerly walked the narrow plank from floating dock to shore, glad to see it had roofing nailed to its slippery surface. Malcolm Jr and Bones headed up the trail first, Malcom and I lagged behind for a minute, started hiking, then realized we had not started our recording devices, got them recording and then started out again. 

We were in the woods for the first few Kilometers, from Km 32 to 29, then dropped to the beach at Tsquadra Pt. We walked the beach, a mixture of soft, grainy sand and bedrock to Tsusiat Pt. Here the tide did not allow us to round the outside of the point so we took a short trail up over the neck of the point and dropped onto the beach on the other side. Malcolm took to the forest trail (he found it easier on his right knee which beach walking seemed to aggravate) while Malcolm Jr, Bones and I stayed on the beach to Tsusiat Falls. Malcolm dropped down off the trail to join us. Here we ate lunch at the base of the falls, Malcolm Jr went for a swim in the pool at the base of the falls, M & M played a little frisbee and Bones visited the facilities before we climbed back up to the forest trail and continued on to the Klanawa Cable Car river crossing. I got out ahead and had to wait about ten minutes for the rest to catch up. While on the platform for the cable car I helped two people crossing from the other side by pulling on the ropes to bring them across.  Malcolm and Bones arrived as they finished their crossing, doing just one man to the car at a time. The second man noticed his bear spray was missing. Bones and I loaded ourselves into the car and started across, telling him we would send the bear spray back if we found it on the other side. 

This must be the longest cable car on the trail, and the most difficult to pull up the last half to the platform. We found the bear spray and sent it back, but then couldn’t find Bone’s trekking pole. We concluded we much have dropped it in the river on the crossing. M & M soon followed and we were back on the beach again for over 3 Kilometers. There was no forest alternative on this stretch, (Km 23 to Km 20). 

A series of cliffs and headlands forces the trail back into the forest for Km 20 to Km 17. Here, for the first time, we found real trail, not the root tangled, stump blocked, boardwalk mess the previous days had presented. We were able to cruise and covered the 3 Km quickly, At Km 17 we dropped back to the beach and pulled into Darling River campsite at about 6:00pm. Malcolm thought he would take the trail for this section, but returned to the beach in less than a Kilometer when the forest proved a little more difficult walking than the beach. 

Due to all the rain the fire ban had been lifted. Once tents were up and dinners cooked we all sat by the fire I had started and enjoyed the warmth and light. A couple ladies camping further up the beach joined us around the fire for about 15 minutes. Bones sang a John Prine song and then I trundled off to bed. What a great day.

Looking out to the ocean through Nititath Narrows

Chuck on the trail high above the surf

Chuck up on the trail

Malcolm Jr, Chuck and Bones walking the pristine beach. Notice the arch of rock on the point. Tide was too high for us to go through it. We had to pass over the treed isthmus.

Longest cable car crossing of the trip

An old anchor graces the shore

Chuck and Malcolm lounging in the chairs overlooking Valencia Point, named after the ship that wrecked here

Bones and Chuck enjoy the one and only campfire they were allowed to build on the hike. At least the pounding rain made for one good thing.

Our camp on the beach at the Darling River

All the camps had composting toilets. Climbing ladders to go #2 seemed natural after all the other ladders we had to climb during the days of hiking

Malcolm, Bones, Malcolm Jr and Hippie Doug crossing the Nititath Narrows to continue our hike after a two day layover to wait out the storm.

This is the "dock" and "gangplank to get to shore on the north side of the narrows

Malcolm strides out on the beach

The surf was high, big and pounding. We didn't get to pass through "Hole in the Rock" pictured here

Malcolm Jr and Bones rounding a point just before Tsusiat Falls with the tide still threatening

Tsusiat Falls

Malcolm hides his pack in a bear box. The ladders leading up and down from the forest trail to the beach are partially visible in the background

The violent storm dislodged great masses of kelp which washed ashore

Conchs in the end of a cut log on the trail

Wednesday was a gorgeous, sunny day.

Chuck inspects the dislodged kelp piles

Chuck and Malcolm on the WCT high above the beach

Monday and Tuesday, September 25 & 26, 2023 - Hiding From the Storm - 0.00 miles - 0’ total vertical up - 0’ down - Zeroing at Nitinat

There are lots of reasons to take a zero. Most usually involve a need of rest or resupply or injury healing time. On this trip it was to avoid bad weather. 

A storm has been building off the coast of Vancouver Island for most of the week leading up to this hike. We have watched each day, wishing it would go away or that the weather services were wrong. Friday was gorgeous, as forecast. Saturday rained all morning as forecast, but gave us an unexpected dry afternoon. Sunday was supposed to be rain free until late in the afternoon, and it was. Monday and Tuesday were to be nasty with a strong storm surge and heavy rains. And they were. So we spent both days and the three nights bookending those days at Nitinat. We had a cabin with no electricity, four queen sized bunk beds, a propane heater and a couple chairs and tables. We were comfortable and dry. But it seemed noisy here. The roar of the ocean was loud and unremitting. The storm had worked the ocean to a frenzy. We sat in our cabin or out on the deck or down at the Crab Shack and watched water flow into the “lake” from the ocean all day long, regardless which way the tide was supposed to be going, due to the storm surge. The water level in the estuary was full, the water was right up to the branches of the shoreline trees that hang over the water surface, close to the water line. Foam and debris were carried into the “lake” as they called it, from the ocean all day. 

Both days were exceedingly relaxed days. Up about 8:00am. Breakfast of cereal on my bunk. Down to the Crab Shack to sit around the wood stove and chat with people. I watched 6 episodes of “Stranger Things” during the two days. Played cribbage with Malcolm. 

We spent a lot of time hanging in our room just talking. Super nice. Got to know Bones better, as well as catch up with Malcolm. Super fun people to be around.

On Tuesday there was a break in the rain.  We hiked south on the trail about a mile, retracing our steps, and then left the mail trail to follow a connecting route to the ocean shore. Here we found the surf pounding, 12 foot or better waves smashing into the rocks and up surge channels. We hung out for over an hour just marveling at the waves and making phone calls home. In Nitinath we didn’t have any cell service. Here we had nearly four bars. It gave Malcolm a chance to catch up with Michelle on the John Muir Trail and to find where she had been the past few days and what her plans were going forward. I connected with Andy, he was at Disneyland, and with Sally. 

Back at the Crab Shack Malcolm and I started a Crib game while waiting for crab dinner. We had to suspend play when the crab was served but finished once we had the table wiped down. A Canadian hiker named Delaney wanted to play the winner. Malcolm scored 23 on his first hand against Delaney and never looked back, double skunking him. His friend, Kenny wanted in on the action so we played a game of four handed, Malcolm and I against Delaney and Kenny, Yanks versus the Canucks. There was much playful banter about cheating as Malcolm and I pulled ahead. Kenny was spouting political complaints about our two left leaning leaders, Trudeau and Biden while we countered. At times it felt slightly hostile. It didn’t help that at the end of the game, when boxing up the cards I accidentally dropped a card on my lap that I didn’t notice until I scooted back. Of course it was an ace. More semi friendly jiving about cheating occurred, especially now that they had the “evidence”. 

During these two days the sound of the pounding surge of surf out on the ocean filled the air. It wasn’t until after the storm had passed Wednesday morning that we noticed how quiet it had become that we realized how big and unusual the storm surge had been. 

We had the chance to interact with Sam and his wife Hazel, both 1st nation natives of Canada while we were in the Crab Shack. Sam's brother, Carl started the Crab Shack 23 years ago. On Monday Carl and his wife Shelly took over the duties of cooking and tallying food orders to tabs. Both women were a little standoffish unless they were talking about themselves or their families. Carl and Sam were both jovial men, good story tellers and liked to sit around the wood stove and bs. It was fun to get to know them a bit. The only non-native worker was Hippie Doug. We aren't quite sure how he got into this self proclaimed nepotism group enterprise, but he was well liked and an industrious worker. The first night at the Crab Shack he had a few beers and loosened up a bit.

The group of 7 that had rode across the Gordon RIver at the start of the trail had arrived Tuesday morning at the Crab Shack with tales of horror. The night before they had been camping on the beach. The storm surge had created waves and tide so high that at least one washed under their tents and lifted their sleeping pads off the ground.  Pouring down rain, windy and now a wave threatening to wash them out to sea in the dark. They had had enough and were taking the boat up the Nitinat Lake to the other end and bailing out of the rest of the hike. It made our decision to hike quick and hole up in Nitinat seem all the more appropriate. 

It seemed like we should pack up and get ready to go Tuesday night for an early start on Wednesday, but the first boat ride across the narrows doesn't go until 9:30am and the tides won't allow us on the beaches until after 2:00pm. We just went to bed and planned to pack up in the morning.

Tuesday afternoon south a mile from Nititat, on the beach watching the storm surf pound the coastline

The Crab Shack and dock

Bones and Malcolm taking it easy in the Crab Shack as rain falls outside.

Cabin #1, our home for three nights while the rain fell, the wind blew and the ocean pounded the coastline. In the background is the narrows that connects the ocean to Lake Nitinat. The storm surge pushed the water inland all day Monday and Tuesday, filling the 30Km long lake to capacity.

Malcolm and Malcolm drying out and enjoying the warmth of the Crab Shack as Sunday comes to a close.

The Crab Shack floating on its log pontoons in the Nitinat Lake. We saw seals, otters, salmon and birds during our stay.

The deck on the front of Cabin #1, overlooking the narrows. The foam can be seen streaming into the lake from the ocean. Malcolm Jr set up his tent on the deck so he could sleep outside. Dry and comfortable.

Ryan lowering the live crab pot over the side. If you ordered crab to eat, up came the cage, out came a crab and shortly you were eating it. Doesn't get any fresher.

Malcolm, Malcom and Bones enjoying a whole crab each

Malcolm outside the Crab Shack on the slippery deck

Hippie Doug pilots the boat across the narrows on Wednesday morning, the Crab Shack receding into the distance.