seattle to spokane

6 days, a mountain pass, and whole lot of wheat. we rode from seattle to spokane at the end of summer '24.

9:30 am - a group of eight of us met at the i-90 tunnel to begin riding east across the state. about half of our group was going to go to ellensberg and back, while the other half was going for the whole dang thing. i rerouted us a lil bit at the last second so i led the group and didn't take a lot of photos since i was a little preoccupied navigating. woops ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. i'll inundate you with photos for the remaining days.

about halfway through the day while hopping the fence of a closed bridge, taneum snapped his derailleur hanger by accidently releasing his rack. he rigged it up to go single speed the rest of the day. a friend happened to be working semi close to our big rest stop in north bend and brought him a back up hanger. alas the derailleur was shot too. he carried on going single speed into day 2.

we made it to alice creek campground, which had plenty of spots on a wednesday night. we were all a bit banged up after a short cut idea went awry. i'll be brief - never trust the googlemaps "short cut".

the crossing of snoqualmie pass - its something special. high steel bridges, waterfalls, rock climbers, and smooth paths.oh and one long friggin tunnel. bring an extra layer for that one! look at will's face. havin the time of his damn life crossing the pass!

me n a burgie. onne of the few stops you can get between alice creek and ellensburg, and its a good one.

aaaand there went taneum's rear cog and cassette body. when we got to the pass we happened to chat up a maintence crew manager for a bit, and to taneum's luck he was eating lunch just about where taneum's chain sucked right into the cog. he graciously took taneum into ellensburg in time to get a new wheel and rear derailleur before the local shop closed.the cassette body was ripped in half like a soda can by the single speed tension...

it was a long but mellow day with a good rest along the yakima river. we made it into ellensburg just before dark and got dinner as a group before about half our crew made a return to seattle. we also got to see taneum ride up to the restaurant with a funtional bike! what a friggin sight! we slept in real beds too. it'd be the last time til seattle.

it was a day of deep sand and chunks of track ballast. though wouldn't be the chunkiest ballast we'd encounter that trip. wait till day 5...

after pushing through some hills and some tough terrain, it was all smiles to see the dang columbia river. we'd be greeted by some semi wild packs of dogs. one gang of chihuahuas and their rottweiler muscle. no one was bitten luckily.

we loaded up on supplies at the 76 in beverly and headed out to find a campsite for the night. the campsite at the beverly dunes seemed like a country teen drinking spot, so we opted to keep moving.

lenice lake had a small gate we hopped and turned out to be pretty peaceful. gave my self a little tin cup lake rinse, drank our beers watching the birds on the lake, and fell asleep with ease.

beverly to warden had my dang favorite section of the whole tour. lower crab creek road. riding along the quiet gravel road with the morning sun hitting the yellow hills in the background was sumthin' else. we read the bicycle trail along the road has goat head thorns, so we just took the gravel road. no problems at all.

lower crab creek road was uuuhh wooww.

we got lunch around noon after some big time climbing. we looked at the mileage left and the temperature. it was in the high 90's and we had about 25 mi to go on road. we opted for a spa afternoon at the othello quality inn, which meant waiting out the heat taking showers and chillin with a beer in a hotel room. three of us including myself realized we had flats when we rolled in. while they prepped the room, we fixed our tubes.

the road was narrow in sections, but not many cars. we stopped in warden to re-up on supplies, made it about a mile or two out of town, and set up camp along the trail. we finally cracked open the stove and a couple camping meals. kaylie said this was the best nigh of sleep she had. maybe it was the mushroom risotto.

warden to breeden falls was hands down the toughest day of em all. some self inflicted, some just due to the trail conditions. we didn't register ourselves with the state on the route, so we never got the gate codes for the only three locked gates on the entire 350+ mile trail. the trail ballast is especially chunky and deep after ralston. it feels like your just swimming upstream. oh and the dang heat! oh, well we survived eh?

the trail was running alongside the road, so we opted to give ourselves a break and cruise the pavement instead. great choice - they were smooth and calm. had some great descents too! before we ventured to the road we ran into a lady walking across the US trying to spell love. she told us of another lone rider with a flat tire but no tire lever. we kept an eye out for her, but didn't see her til' our lunch stop in lind. she told she managed to pry off the tire with another tool. we gave her one of our levers just in case it happened again. she was off, and we figured we may run into her again but she must have been ridin quick! we had lunch in lind and we took off again.

the ralston grange set up an oasis for cyclists. a great grassy shaded spot with a hose for potable water. we hung out for about an hour and half to let the heat pass. as we were leaving, one of the grange folks came over and said hi and offered us to use the showers inside the grange building. hospitable folks! if it weren't for the time and fact we rinsed under the hose, we would have taken him up on his offer.

unloading, hopping gate, re loading, riding, unloading, hopping gate...

another google maps blunder. though we'd stop at breeden falls as it intersects with the trail (on paper). we never saw the falls, and figured it was down the hillside somewhere. we did see a baby rattle snake on the trail, and maybe it was for the best we didnt go to the falls since they may be also lingering there. spent another night on the side of the trail. we fell asleep quickly after that long day.

as usual, this map doesnt quite reflect what we did. we slept at the corner of the john wayne trail and revere road. the following morning we climbed revere road into lamont, wa. we were going to hop on the columbia plateau trail, but it was looking like torture so we altered the route on the go. below is a strava recording to cross reference.

i went to bed cranky about not finding the falls, but this morning ride cured it all. that lighting was hitting hard.

we made a stop at the lamont grange and refilled on water at ate some snacks. as we tried to find the columbia plateau trail, we saw a lone cyclist cruising in the distance which gave us our queue to where it was. we cycled over and saw he was on a mountain bike with much thicker tires than us, which let him cut through the trail balast just fine. he was on a solo trip from moscow idaho, and we were the first people he'd encountered over the last couple days. after wishing him well on his trip, we decided to avoid the balast and stick to the gravel country roads. a much better choice for us all after mentally battling through the balast the day before.

taneum said once you see the pines, you know your close to spokane. to celebrate i made em all take a swig of the jim beam i'd been carrying around and sipping on lonely.

after 6 days of riding dirt trails and country roads, we found ourselves descending paved urban trails to burritos n beer.

we rode across town and stumbled into "pig out in the park" as we crossed the spokane river. we kept moving and found ourselves glugging margaritas and beer at a quiet bar til the sun went down. taneum's friend met us up at the bar and graciously took out bags to taneums parents house so could head up north with (relative) ease. the spokane hospitality didnt end there. we got wine, fresh baked bread and scones, a quick nap, and a 3 am ride to the only train back to seattle out of spokane. which one of your friends parents would do that for you?

to date, that was the longest and toughest tour i've done. one of those things youre glad you've done and don't see the need to do again. the highlight for me was waking up early at lenice lake and riding that amazing section of lower crab creek road. it was was also incidentally part of one of my favroite takeaways from the trip - how easy and freeing it feels to wild camp by bike. Anyways, that was a long one, and if your still reading, thanks! more of these trips to come...