After a month of getting our gear and affairs in order, the time to set out has finally has come. Our daughter G and her husband D have kindly offered to garage our car while we go on this ramble. So last Sunday, the two of them drove us out to get started in Ellensburg, WA. We’re grateful for their helpful send-off.
The Palouse to Cascades trail is amazing. You can hike or bike your way across Washington car-free if you’re so inclined. And there’s a ton of history and a lot of great places to primitive camp, picnic, or stay.
This Ellensburg section is largely prairie and rangeland. Hot, dry, and windy. But we were excited to take this trail as it winds up into the forest through several historic tunnels and then leads you down into Seattle—without hardly riding on city streets.
We’re still adjusting to carrying the heavier load, so our first night, we camped about 20 miles in at Whispering Pines campground right on the Yakima River. It was a nice spot to take a break, especially after the morning drive. Our goal with The Ramble Project isn’t to set out to break any speed records, we just want to get out and enjoy the experience together.
The next morning, we had the trail to ourselves as we rolled out of the rangeland and into more forest. When we hit the town of Easton, we stopped at the local grocery. It was too early for lunch so we ordered a couple of breakfast sandwiches and coffee.
The market was a one-woman show. It was an old school establishment with an open kitchen and diner booths on one side of the store and goods on the other.
We bought a couple of snacks on the way out and she warmed up to us and was pretty talkative. Apparently, a lot of cyclists come through and just use the bathroom but don’t buy anything or make a mess. She seemed to appreciate us and we did our best to give bike people a good name.
One of the coolest thing about the trail is the Snoqualmie Tunnel. It clocks in at 2.3 miles of impressive darkness—and it’s freezing inside, even in the middle of summer. (We saw a family coming out of the tunnel wrapped in blankets.) Headlamps are also a must. If you don’t feel like biking the whole state and want to check it out, you can park up at the Hyak trailhead and walk it.
The parking lot at Hiyak is massive so we were surprised we didn’t see another soul inside the tunnel the whole time. I guess that’s our reward for going in the mid/off-season.
Once you get through the pass, we marveled at how dramatically the landscape transforms into the more lush, ferny forest. This part of the trail gets Cortney’s extra stamp of approval as there are tons of exceptional views and it’s all downhill.
After putting in a 44-mile shift, we camped at a great spot right off the trail called Alice Creek. Again, we had the place to ourselves. And we called it a day with my favorite bean, rice, and avocado burritos.
We finished the last 10 miles to the trail’s end at Cedar Falls. It was all downhill and gorgeous.
The trail segues nicely into the city Leaf Line bicycle trail system where we met this couple from Iceland cycling from Seattle to Chicago, they were full of energy and super inspiring.
Even though getting around town was a little tricky (and hilly), we made it safely to Bellevue and rewarded ourselves with Korean fried chicken and some well-deserved beer.
All in all, we’ve been super impressed with the area’s bike infrastructure. It’s amazing how we’ve been able to go from rangeland to mountains to the city on these amazing car-free routes.
Cheers to that!
-Erik
You guys are the best, have really enjoyed your posts and your photography. Be safe, and roll on!