Palouse to Cascades Trail

Thursday,  June 22, 2023

North Bend to Cle Elum

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/1K3HTwq7QAb

The Palouse to Cascades Trail was so beautiful,  and if I never do it again,  that's alright. 

We left our warmshowers hosts, Craig and Shelley, at 845am. It was 59 degrees and sunny. 

We finished the Snoqualmie Valley Trail then picked up the Palouse to Cascades Trail at Rattlesnake Lake. We soon learned that the PtC was MUCH rougher. But, the beauty of it kept us going... that and there really was no way off.

This is an old snowshed to keep snow off the tracks. 

After 30 miles and about 5 hours of rough uphill, we finally made it to the tunnel.

It was cold (45 degrees), dark, and long.  

The tunnel is 11,894 feet (2.253 mi; 3.625 km) long and is at an approximate elevation of 2,600 feet (790 m) above sea level, just north of Keechelus Lake. Its east portal is at Hyak. The tunnel was originally constructed for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad in the early 1910s and was abandoned in 1980.

Darryl had a picnic lunch for us on the other side of the tunnel at Hyak, where there is a ski resort.

The way down was supposed to be easy. It was still beautiful and still very rough. 

We finally made it to Cle Elum at 7pm. We all quickly agreed to take the road tomorrow instead of the trail.

Our (orange) caboose for the night! 

Miles: 57

2,283 feet climbing

Way too many rocks on the trail

Relive video: https://www.relive.cc/view/vE6JnXz87g6

Wallace found a friend

Wednesday,  June 21, 2023

Federal Way to North Bend Washington 

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/eMnotZVtPAb

Wallace found a friend. More later... 

The weather was perfect all day.. started out at 50 degrees and got to 69 with a slight tailwind most of the way.  

We had some beautiful trails and some terrible roads and hills. Lots of hills. Steep hills. 

Something I like to do on my bicycle trips is to give out a St Michael pocket token to people I meet along the way. Today, on this boardwalk, I felt lead to give one to a little girl.  She was about 3 years old.  The mom was so excited and amazed because her and her husband were to leave in 4 weeks to go to Saudi Arabia to teach at an international school. She just thought it was so cool that I would come along and give her that.  I know it was all God's timing! It made my heart happy.

Immediately after this beautiful boardwalk on Puget Sound, we began climbing steep hills. This did not make my heart happy.

Darryl is great at finding us along the route and providing water, snacks and lunch. See, he  even photo bombed our selfie on the trail.

While stopping to take a picture of the Cedar River, we noticed a bald eagle in the tree. Then we noticed three! Kay even had binoculars to see them better. 

Wallace the pig started travelling on my bicycle trips in 2019 when Barbara,  Damaris, Dottie, Mary, and I went to Idaho. We rescued him from a truck stop surrounded by rubber chickens in Limon Colorado. Today, he found a friend on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail. 

The last few miles into North Bend required some teamwork. 

But, it was worth it! 

We are staying with Craig and Shelly tonight. They are very nice people who fed us a wonderful meal and opened their lovely home to us for the night through warmshowers.com website. 

53.5 miles

3271 feet of climbing steep hills  (10 to 14%)

Tomorrow is a long tunnel!

Relive video: https://www.relive.cc/view/vJOKZx85A5v