For, for some of us. Dan took of this morning heading back towards Seattle so he has some rough gravel and steep grass ahead of him today.
Steve and Bob are shopping for provisions in the most upscale grocery store Vantage has to offer.
I’m ‘guarding’ the bikes.
Update 1: there may be a bigger selection than expected because they’ve been in there a while now.
Update 2: the pick’ns were slim.
59.6 miles today, 171 miles total
It was a long day today. The scenery changed dramatically and the trail surface deteriorated, substantially!
After a cold, but dry start, we rode alongside the Yakima River. Wildflowers were blooming.
But soon the walls of trees that provided beautiful shade, gave waway to walls of rock.
Or, great open spaces.
(this suited Dan, because the solar panel strapped to his bike eventually started working).
We crossed I-90 on the Renslow Trestle (an obvious landmark for anyone who has driven that road).
However, our excitement was soon tempered by the miserable condition of the trail, and we turned back (Bob may have stopped to kiss the asphalt, but if so, we were too giddy with our newfound traction to notice).
This disappointment was, eventually, rewarded with miles of downhill grade where we coasted at over 30 mph (a literal order of magnitude more than we were making on the trail when we turned back).
As our shadows grew longer, we watched elk running between wind turbines.
We arrived in Vantage at 7:50 where we procured a 6 pack of the best beer EVER, but had to wait another 30 mins before we could drink it at the campsite.
What a day!
When we arrived at the campground we were greeted by a ranger who had seen us on the road on her way home, and then come back to check us in! Awesome! She had seen us earlier on Vantage Highway and surmised we had nowhere else to go, so she was expecting us. Washington State Park staff are great.
Clearly one of the great moments of the day was sharing thoughts with my favorite bovine in Ellensburg, WA.
Great lunch at Turtle Fiesta Bar and Grill. Colin and Dan had burritos that were larger than some newborns. Bob and I had great tacos. Fuel enough to finish the day.
48.8 miles today, 111.1 miles overall
Although it stopped raining fairly early in the morning, it took us a while to get fired up as all our gear was wet. So we set off bright and early at, ahem, 9:15.
8 miles into today’s ride we bid farewell to western Washington (in the background of this picture)
And entered the Snoqualmie Tunnel. We met another group of cyclists and one of them kindly took this photo.
Even better, when we met them on the other side they offered us cookies!
After the tunnel the trail was mostly flat, or slightly downhill but our elevation at today’s campsite is about the same as yesterday’s. The trail looked mostly like this…
… which is to say, pretty darned lovely.
Colin, Steve and Dan met at 8 am at the West end of the 520 bridge. Steve did some last minute adjustments…
… then we were off
Michelle, the official start photographer, joined us for the bridge crossing.
It was nice to meet the good Dr Jarsky on route.
28 miles after the Seattle start, we found Bob in a coffee shop in Snoqualmie Falls where we all enjoyed a great lunch.
We got going again and rode to the end of the Snoqualmie Valley Trail where we joined the Palouse to Cascades Trail.
The weather was good, until we reached the campsite when the heavens opened. So we set up in the rain, made and ate some sandwiches, then retreated to our tents (insisting that we were still having fun).
My first mechanical failure of the day, and all I did was pump up the tire before rolling. The valve core came out with the pump nozzle, just like Steve warned me my screw-on pump would do. I made it to the rendezvous spot in Snoqualmie, WA with a finger-tight valve and a low tire. The bike shop ahead in North Bend has new valves, and I get to buy one more tool.
