Yesterday was a very long day in the "saddle." I left Othello at around 08:00am and eventually arrived at my Motel in Ellensburg at around 10:00pm, a full 14 hours of mostly cycling. In the end I completed 80 miles, much longer than planned, but circumstances required it.
I planned about 42 miles, up to Beverly on the Columbia River for the day. If progress were good, I would add about 27 miles to take me through the Army's Yakima Military Training Grounds (22 miles) and then 5 miles to Kittitas. There was a lot of afternoon and overnight rain forecast and I did not want to camp.
I delayed booking a hotel, as I did not know how long the section through the
Base would take. When I eventually reached Yakima West, the Trailhead on the other side of the military area, I found that all hotels were booked out because of events in Ellensburg. I ended up taking a room at a 2-star Motel 6 for US$300 plus Tax. So, I ended up doing 80 miles today, with the additional miles to the Motel done after dark and in the rain. I am just so happy that the roads are almost empty of traffic and I reached the Motel uneventfully.
I left Othello and took a photo of Rita's Fruitiletas and Ice-cream where I had a milkshake late yesterday - that was after the ice-cream. Another great place to stop where the ice-cream is many and the servers are friendly. :):):):)
From Othello to Beverly, the railroad is live, requiring a detour on the road of about 42 miles. There is a short section where you could cycle along the rail trail, but I did not bother. The track and the road are running in parallel most of the way.
Is this where your next steak or hamburger patty will come from? I also like my meat, but if I drive past one of these feeding farms, I always wonder. Are we doing the right thing?
The detour went through a Wildlife Preserve and I liked the sign in the background, "Primitive Road." It was actually of better quality than some of the "more recently made" gravel roads we cycled on.
The road remained close to the rail line. Here the track is high up against the side of the valley and it would make for some beautiful views. There are also some interesting colors in the cut above the rail line.
These mountains run east-west and have some interesting features. Here there is quite a lot of ancient sand remaining and covering the underlying basalt lavas. I must research more. I recall a snippet mentioning that this dune field was so huge that the Columbia River had run along another course before cutting the current one.
After a while the road dropped to the floor of the Lower Crab Creek valley. This river collects water from east of Othello and runs into the Columbia at Beverly.
The rail line continued above the road.
The Trail detour continued
past this trestle.
The road veered around a little hill and through some lovely trees in full bloom.
The sandy soil against the mountain also began to give way to the underlying basalts.
I promise you I saw a Rattlesnake in the road here. I turned around and stopped close by for a photo, but the snake disappeared into the grass next to the road before I could take it.
The mountains remained beautiful and in the distance you can begin to see where the current course of the Columbia cuts through them.
The Lower Crab Creek is also a more substantial river here. Maybe change the name to "River?"
The rail trail detour ends about two miles from Beverly. I was making good time and decided to continue on the gravel road.
There are some honey bee small farmers. I am certain the honey must be good -tasting, as all the flowers are indigenous in this area.
Another good picture back in the direction I cycled from. The gravel road now had a good layer of loose stones and the cycling was slow.
Add some washboard (corrugations) to the mix and you will understand why I was happy to reach the short section of paved road just before Beverly.
Just east of Beverly is a very popular small dune area czlled Beverly Dunes. This is on BLM-land. I saw plenty of off-road vehicles here.
There are also tracks up to the top of the mountain and the views over the Columbia are quite something (checked these on the Bevely Dunes website).
A spectacular view over the Burkett Lake Recreation Area.
I stopped at the Beverly gas station and realised the price of gas went through the roof. Don't worry, Christine. I filled up with Gatorade and water, all cheaper by the gallon. :):):)
The Columbia River looking downstream.
I made very good time from Othello to Beverly, finishing the about 42 miles before 2:00pm. After a good rest, I decided to also do the 22 miles through the Yakima Military Area on the western side of the Columbia.
This is a photo of the Beverly rail Bridge looking west over the Columbia and to the mountains in the Yakima Military Area.
The Beverly Rail bridge was opened early April 2022 for pedestrians and cyclists. Before you had to take a detour via the I-90 bridge upstream of here. This is a fabulous crossing and there were many people that stopped for the walk across the Columbia - thank you State of Washington and the local communities for funding such an iconic infrastructure Project. The State budgeted US$4.1 million and the anticipated local funding would be over US$400,000.00.
What a lovely walk and ride.
A view upstream to the Wannapum Dam.
As many angles, so many beautiful shots of the bridge.
The uphill climb out of the Columbia River Valley begins at the bridge and will continue for about 16 miles to the top of the Boylston Tunnel.
Strangely enough, I met two older cyclists at the bridge on much better bikes than mine. The one just complained about the sandiness of the track and the other is a paved road person wanting to cycle along the rail trails to the East Coast, basically the opposite of what Christine and I did. The second cyclist took the Vantage Highway, a paved road from Ellensburg to Vantage, rather than the rail trail, because the cycle shop in Ellensburg advised him that conditions along the trail were difficult.
This is part of a billboard at the Yakima East Trailhead, providing more detailed information on the next section of the Palouse to Cascades Trail. Interestingly, the Milwaukee road was built in three years over is distance of about 2100 miles from 1906 to 1909. Just imagine how long a similar project will take today.
I found the trail surface acceptable. It was a bit sandy and wider tires would have been better. I was able to continue at about 5-6 miles per hour.
However, compared to the climb out of Cumberland WV to reach the Eastern Continental Divide, where Christine and I easily maintained 9-11 miles per hour, this trail is much slower.
A last view of the Wannapum Dam.
If you zoom in, you will see the I-90 bridge crossing the Columbia at Vantage in the distance.
Still going up and up.
This area is really remote (what you should expect of a military training ground). The rail line has many hign embankments and
many cuts in Basaltic rock. The one straight section had about 6-7 cuts, the one following the other.
It is beautiful when you come out of these cuts. There were quite a lot of different flowers. Please enjoy.
(Christine knew I was making good time, but needed lots of encouragement up the hill. So she sent these bunches of yellow flowers to brighten me up along the way. :):):))
I particularly liked these orange-colored and
dark blue (purplish??) colored ones.
At this point Christine sent many bunches of yellow flowers. :):))
A last look over the Columbia River Valley in the direction of Moses Lake WA. The green fields is irrigation farming way beyond the river.
Back to the cuttings. There are these beautiful "organ pipes" and
rocks and
round boulders. These are all basalts but their cooling characteristics were slightly different. 
The cuts have additional commonalities. Their road surfaces are terrible and in some places you have to walk your bike over the fallen rocks.
It is relatively easy to correct this by amending maintenance practices. Just before the John Wayne Horses came through, a motor grader came through here to push the fallen roacks aside. This action loosened many rocks already embedded in the surface and created more holes and rough spots.
Suggestions that I will share with the local Wildlife Officers, are the following;
1. Remove the already fallen rocks and re-establish the side drains. This will allow space for newly fallen rocks to fall into the side drain and not on the trail surface.
2. Leave the current trail surface and do not use large equipment to remove fallen rocks. If required use a small Bobcat type loader to pick up such rocks and dump these outside the cuttings.
3. If required, add a layer of the same "sand" used on the rest of the trail and compact to improve riding.
A look back showed how much height have I gained already.
I was so happy that the rain held up until the evening. It made the ride so much more pleasant.
Almost on top. Here the cuts collect water and it is good to keep the sidedrains open for the water to run off.
Look at the willows.
And the lush vegetation in the now-filled sidedrains. The trail surface is quite wet in some spots.
Almost at the top, the detour route for the Boylston Tunnel turns off to the right.
The detour is rough and I pushed my bike some of the way. But this is an easy detour with a somewhat rough surface.
The eastern tunnel portal.
On top of the hill and looking back to the Columbia River for the last time on this trip. I like it but also, do not like it. There was so much we enjoyed and I certainly do not want this to end.
Looking towards the western Portal. I was now worried about dusk falling and did not have time to go and have a look. Seems to me that there are cyclists going through the tunnel despite the warnings.
This section of trail is very rough because of horses using the entire surface width. This makes for a very bumpy ride. Another suggestion to the trail managers would be to put up signs asking the horse riders to use one half of the trail and the cyclists the other half.
The two-times-a-year John Wayne procession should be seen as an exception and should be allowed to continue in future. I would propose that the maintenance team should do a round of compaction after the horses and carriages have passed rather than smoothing out the surface before they arrive.
Anyway, the flowers were beautiful and I stopped to enjoy these Lupins and others.
I soon saw the Renslow Trestle in the distance. It was also recently repaired as part of opening up the trail to more users.
The view over the I-90 as it crosses under the trestle.
The trestle as you come out of the cutting on the eastern side.
A photo of one of the last trains that used the trestle before the Company closed the line in 1979.
From the Renslow Trestle the trail is in excellent condition. I left the trail just before Kittitas to get to my Motel as quickly as possible.
I enjoyed my rest day in Ellensburg as well. I had time to clean both the bicycle and trailer and do a little bit of shopping.
I found these Poppies and Cornfowers against an embankment near the Motel. The poppies made me think of Dad, Christine's Dad who served in the Second World War and the blue Cornflowers of our wedding and the very happy years we had together.
As part of the bicycle cleanup, I cleaned the chain with White Lightning as well. This is one of the best items to have on your bicycle maintenance shelf. It properly ceans the chain and sprockets and makes the drivetrain run smoothly. It made Christine and my trip across the USA so much more pleasurable.
And I put a new layer of Ductape on my saddle. It is slowly disintegrating and I do not want to replace this until after the trip. It is such a good, wide saddle, comfortable and great to sit on for long periods of time.
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