Leg 1

Rattlesnake Lake to Lake Easton

• This is the first leg of our epic adventure

  • It starts with a mild upward grade - not hard, but you will feel it

  • The second half has a light downhill grade - an nice boost to camp

• Starting at Rattlesnake Lake, Ending at Lake Easton- 38 miles

• Starting at Olallie State Park, Ending at Lake Easton - 34 miles

• Starting at Rattlesnake Lake, Ending at Hyak - 21 miles

• Starting at Olallie State Park, Ending at Hyak - 17 miles

• We opted to start just beyond Rattlesnake Lake at the Homestead Valley Trailhead for several reasons

  • One Adult was starting out with a questionable knee (canceled night before)

  • Rattlesnake lake is busy in the summer and loading and unloading a trailer would be a little difficult

  • It seemed best to shorten the ride a bit for this group - seemed like the right call

• The trek up to Hyak was a challenge to some of the scouts

  • The group wasn't working cohesively yet

  • Scouts were not pacing themselves and and pushing it a bit hard

• Scouts ate breakfast at home and brought a lunch

  • Few snack available at rest point at Hyak

Camp 

• Primary - Lake Easton

• Alternate - Cold Creek Campground (Park at Hyak)

• Backup - Roaring Creek Campground

• Backup - Thorp School

Sites

• Ragnar - Remnants of Railroad Depot

• Change Creek Trestle

• Hall Creek Trestle

• Mine Creek Trestle

• Garcia Station Sign

• Hansen Creek Trestle

• Avalanche Shed

• Snoqualmie Tunnel - 2.3 miles

• Keechelus Lake

• Keechelus Lake Avalanche Shed Remnants

• Tunnel 49 / Whittier Tunnel

• Yakima River Bridge

• Modern replacement of original Milwaukee bridge

• Tunnel 48 / Easton tunnel

• Easton

  • Burgers and groceries at gas station

Issues

• Olallie State Park

  • May not allow for trailer turn around

    • If used, may need to unload bikes on road prior to trailhead

    • Consider driving to trailhead with trailer if:

      • Excellent trailer skills and not going on a busy day

      • Can disconnect trailer, move it with Scouts and turn it around

• Tunnels

  • You MUST have headlamps

• There are 2 ways to get into camp at Lake Easton

  • East Approach

    • Take trail north before you hit Lake Easton

    • Find Trail 1 mile after Cabin Creek Bridge

      • Look for small sign on the left

      • There is a smaller horse trail the drops down to the northeast

      • If you reach an odd bridge that curves over  the Yakima River and a railroad track - you wen to far

    • This takes you first to the North Camp - we are NOT camping here

    • Follow road to other camp

  • West Approach

    • Pass Lake Easton

    • Trail will join with Cabin Creek Road 

    • Follow road to the Post Office and ride through town NW on Railroad Street

    • This is a little over a half mile longer than the other approach

      • It's about the same length if you find the trail to camp on railroad Street just past the bridge

        • The trail is there and a great way to access or leave camp

    • Maybe you want to check out town - maybe stop for a burger?

      • Burger place and gas station were closed

Leg 2

Lake Easton to Kittitas

• Day 2 includes a gradual downslope to Ellensburg

  • Ellensburg is not a bad place to stop, and group can tour around the college campus

  • It's not that far to ride to camp if camping in Kittitas

• Starting at Lake Easton, Ending at Kittitas - 45 miles

• Starting at Lake Easton, Ending at Ellensburg (Kiwanis Park) - 38 miles

• Starting at Lake Easton, Ending at Thorp - 30 miles

• We decided on Kittitas as the end point based on a few points

  • Thorp seem too short to end the day's riding

  • Pickup at Ellensburg would only shorten the ride by 7 miles and would require a lot of effort 

  • I should be quicker to just ride the last 7 miles to camp 

    • This turned out to me not true as the day got hotter and hotter and scouts requested more and more breaks

• We were in a bit of a rush to beat the heat wave at 2 PM

  • Wake up at 6am

  • Had quick pancake breakfast

  • Had a breakfast burritos delivered in Cle Elum 

  • There was a lot of loose gravel in sections of the trail and one scout was very uncomfortable riding on this - resulting in a much longer ride and long exposure to the sun

  • We had a nice break in Thorp - but spend a little too much time there considering the impending increase in temperature

  • We had a nice break at the park in Ellensburg where the trail ends

  • There was minimal traffic in Ellensburg when we rode through it and passing cars passed us using the opposite lane

  • One scout in particular was hot and tired after Ellensburg and needed multiple breaks 

    • He didn't want an early extraction and kept on trucking

    • This extended our ride considerably 

  • We shortened the last bit of route and rode directly into town to the school using the Kittitas Highway

  • We ended before 2PM

  • This ride considering the heat was a bit too long for at least one of our Scouts

    • Increased breaks for one scout resulted in long exposures to hotter and hotter temperatures

    • Pulling a struggling scout may have been the best option for the group under these conditions

    • We did make it just in time before it got really hot - but we used up any safety margin we planned for

Camp

• Primary - Kittitas

• Alternate - Camp Wanapum

• Backup - Lake Easton

• Backup - Ellensburg KOA

Sites

• Easton

  • Small town

• Yakima River at confluence with Cle Elum River

• Cle Elum - Train station

  • Full out town 2 miles to the north

  • Interpretative trail 

• Tunnel 47 / Thorp Tunnel

• Tunnel 46 / Thorp tunnel

• Thorp

  • Fruit and Antiques

  • Icee at gas station

• Trestle over Yakima River

• Trestle over Hwy 10 and BNSF RR

• Ellensburg - University

• Ellensburg - Recycle Bike Shop

• Historic Kittitas Depot 

Issues

• In Easton, trail joins road

  • Don't miss trail as road turns to the north

• Tunnels

  • You should have headlamps that work

• Few Road Crossings on way to Ellensburg

  • Don't forget how to cross streets

• Ellensburg to Kittitas

  • Missing trail through Ellensburg

  • If you go past Central University - you will need to ride on roads

    • Ride through Ellensburg to the Rodeo Grounds on the east end of town

Leg 3

Kittitas to Camp Wanapum

• This is the most challenging section of the trail

  • We travel through a remote section and through a military base

  • First part of trail through Army Base can be soft and has an uphill grade

  • Group should stock up on extra water and hit the trail early in the day to beat the midday sun

• Starting at Kittitas, Ending at Camp Wanapum - 32 miles (not including possible 4 mile shortcut)

• Starting at Prater Road, Ending at Camp Wanapum - 29 miles 

• Starting at Kittitas, Ending at Beverly (other side of Columbia River) - 30 miles  

• Starting at Prater Road, Ending at Beverly - 27 miles 

• We were under a heat advisory and wanted to end this ride prior to 12PM with a goal of 10PM end time

  • We had a significant safety brief the night prior and Scouts were allowed to opt out

  • Wake up at 3AM

  • Departure around 4AM

  • Arrived at Renslow Trailhead for breakfast burritos at sunrise

    • Headlights were obviously needed

  • At the beginning of the Yakima Training Center - there was the infamous "4 Miles of Hell"

    • Soft sand was churred up by horses

    • Moutnain bikes with 2.5 inch and greated tires rode slow but did fine

    • Gravel bikes plowed through sand and needed to be aired down (all but one was tubeless)

      • Those on Gravel Bikes really struggled

        • Used by experienced Adults and experienced Scout Lead

      • In any future trip - we would make it mandatory to have 2" or wider tires for this section

        • Narrower tires will result in epic fail if used by most Scouts

  • After the "4 Miles of Hell" we reached the tunnel bypass

    • Rough and sharp rocks on a two track path up and over the tunnel

    • Ride down was steep enough to allow for too much speed and risk injury - it was a blast!

  • After we reached the other side of the tunnel, the trail became a consistend downhill grade

    • It started out with loose sand, but was not noticed since we could pick up speed

    • You can easily go way faster than you need to

    • Many parts of this section has cliff-like edges on both sides

    • Rock cuts were fun to ride through, but were littered with sharp rocks - resulting in many flats

      • Tubeless tires helped a lot and we plugged one

        • The overpriced Dynaplug Micro Pro didn't seem overpriced anymore

      • The one gravel bike (loner) with tubes required multiple flat repairs and delayed travel significantly 

    • There is a Bathroom a bit past the tunnel and another by Doris

      • Bathroom at Doris has double spigots outside of bathroom - they spray cool water sideways at high pressure

        • Fill up water bottles and soak your head in cool water as soon as you arrive

        • Hard to miss the Doris rest stop since there is a giant red and white checkered silo next to it

    • There is a shortcut on Doris road shortly after you get back on the trail

      • There is a very steep road down to gate - this is a dangerous incline for the wrong bike or inexperienced rider

        • Our adult rider on the loaner bike with gravel tires that kept getting flats slid all the way down with a locked rear wheel

      • Gate may be inpassable due to tumbleweeds

        • We send down one adult with a radio to check - we could barely hear him on the radio and ended up talking to him on a cell phone

        • You can roll your bike under the gate after you get off

        • There is a special opening in the fence made to fit a bike and rider to get on the main trail

    • We stopped at the cove and rested a bit before riding the 2 miles uphill to the camp

    • We ended early with a shortcut, but is was starting to get dangerously hot due to heat wave

    • We arrived at 9:30

Camp 

• Primary - Camp Wanapum

• Alternate - Sand Hollow Campground

• Backup - Beverly Dunes

Sites

• Historic Kittitas Depot 

• Renslow Trestle

• Site of historic Boylston Depot

• Boylston Tunnel

• Cheviot

• Rye Station Sign

• Rock Cut

• Doris

• "New Doris" - 2 faucet water pump

• Cohassett Station Sign

• The Cove Park

Issues

• Yakima Training Center

  • NO Vehicle Access!!!

  • Plan to ride early

  • Full Water capacity

  • Plan for NO Cell Service

  • Sandy trail with nasty rocks

• Boylston Tunnel

  • Closed due to rockfalls and tumbleweeds 

  • Take bypass over tunnel

Leg 4

Camp Wanapum to Othello 

• This section starts on gravel trails and transitions to road

  • Road is used in second part of ride as parts of trail have puncture vines and rest trail is unmaintained or is still used by rail road

  • Road starts off as gravel and transitions to paved in Smyrna 

  • Can stop pretty much anywhere along this path (30-50 miles)

  • There is a nice overlook of valley at 37 miles mark

• Starting at Camp Wanapum, Ending at Othello - 46 miles 

  • This was never a real option

• Starting at Beverly , Ending at Othello - 39 miles 

• Starting at Camp Wanapum, Ending at 46.8025, -119.3298 - 37 miles 

  • Nice High Point and view of valley

  • Primary plan

• Starting at Beverly , Ending at 46.8025, -119.3298 - 31 miles 

• We had long discussions about what end point to use

  • Parking point where railroad crossed Lower Crab Creek Road

    • 46.8397, -119.5966

    • 23 miles - just too short for a High Adventure Ride

  • Historical Corfu School location

    • 46.8153, -119.4552

    • 30 miles - seemed like a reasonable end point

  • High point at top of hill

    • 46.8025, -119.3298

    • 37 miles

    • Our Youth Lead and 18-21 Year old Riders opted to try for this 

      • This is what the group leaderhsip tried for

      • Plan was to make a call at the Second SAG Wagon stop based on how group was doing

• It was another Head Advisory Day

  • Goal was to end ride before 12AM with goal of 10AM

  • 3AM wake up (2 AM for adult cooks)

  • 4AM departure in the dark

• We crossed the Beverly Bridge and stopped at Nunnally Lake Public Access

  • We encountered some sand drifts along the way

    • This did slow down one scout

  • We could see the SAG Wagon lights from far away and smell breakfast as we got closer

  • Short break with Breakfast Burritos 

  • Further along the trail near Smyra is are "Goat's Head" Puncture Vines

    • These are know to cause flats on bikes

    • It is best to detour around Smyrna

    • We opted to detour at Nunnally Lake Public Access and get on Crab Creek Road

• Crab Creek Road

  • Starts out paved at Nunnally Lake Public Access

  • Becomes gravel with finer gravel 

  • It is paved for part of Smyrna and becomes gravel again at the "Y" after Smyrna 

  • There are light ups and downs along the road

• We had a SAG Wagon break where Crab Creek Road Crosses the trail in Smyrna 

• We had another SAG Wagon break at Corfu

• We continued east and got on Service Road 26 for a short bit and headed south up the top for a pickup

  • 46.8025, -119.3298

  • Brutal hill for most requiring dismount at the very end

  • It was starting to get hot and we poured water over everyone's heads and rested a bit under popup shade before loading up

• We finished before 10AM

Camp 

• Primary - Lind-Ritzville Middle School 

• Alternate - Lind Park 

• Alternate - Ritzville Wheat Land Communities’ Fairgrounds

• Backup - Othello Fairgrounds

• Backup - Ralston - simple and free (509-659-0893)

Sites

• Beverly Junction

• Columbia River 

• Beverly Bridge

• Beverly

  • Nothing here

  • A quarter mile south is Schwana with a gas station and food

  • About 2 miles east of river is parking for Nunnally Lake with a vault toilet

• Crab Creek Bridges

  • NOTE: bridge is out on Google Satellite Images

• Milwaukee Road Taunton Substation 46.8032, -119.3452

  • maps.app.goo.gl/QMJbTJn4B5qWiV8H8 

• High point overlook of valley 46.8019, -119.3279

  • Take pictures and get picked up

  • It's another 9 miles if you want to ride into Othello with a little bit of elevation gain

Issues:

• Area around Smyrna has Goat Heads!!!

  • Between 46.8389, -119.6966 and 46.8396, -119.6534

  • Avoid!!!

  • There appears to be a trail that exits at 46.8385, -119.7033 that will get you on the road

    • This is your last chance to get off the trial 

    • 11 miles from Bridge 17.5 miles from Camp

    • Get on Lower Crab Creek Road and just stay on it until it turn to North

      • Road is gravel and transitions to paved in Smyrna 

  • You can also just hop on the Lower Crab Creek Road at Lenice Lake Public Access or earlier

    • Lenice Lake Public Access 46.8339, -119.8335

      • maps.app.goo.gl/smdczgDU1m2BRxA86 

      • Vault Toilet to the north of trail if you need one

    • Nunnally Lake Public Access is also fine

• Trail ends

  • Trail ends around 30 miles east of bridge

  • There is still an active railroad to Warden

  • You'll need to ride Lower Crab Creek Road

Leg 5

Lind to Marengo 

• This section enters scablands

  • Trail section is pretty remote with limited camping opportunities

  • Goal is to get most out of this section and end at a reasonable spot

• Starting at Lind, Ending at Marengo - 25 miles (Silos)

• Starting at Lind, Ending at Benge-Ritzville Rd (around Carlmar) - 30 Miles (nothing here)

• Starting at Lind, Ending at Ewan - 50 Miles

• Can start in Ralston (16 miles east of Lind) if camping there

• Can start in Warden (32 miles west of Lind)

• There are a handful of gravel roads you can get picked up on or take to a paved road

• It wasn't going to get as hot and we were expecting yellow conditions at 12PM

  • One parent requested that we start a bit earlier

  • We opted for a 4AM wakeup and 5AM departure

  • Headlamps were only needed for a short period into the ride

• It is important to mention that a barking dog and the train in Lind kept most of the group up the night prior

• We stopped at Pizarro for SAG Wagon Break

  • 46.9493, -118.4500

  • One scout was sick and we sent him back to camp with one of our adult riders for "2-deep YP"

• Our SAG Wagon didn't show up at Ralston since it was now back at camp

  • We asked how people were doing with water and rode on after visiting Ralston

    • This was a mistake - we should have waited for water or got some at the park

• The Cow Creek Trestle is out and there is a bypass through private property

  • The entrance is well marked

  • The 2 track trail through the property is NOT well mark

  • NO tire tracks were seen anywhere on the trail, just cow tracks in soft sand

  • We used a Bike Computer with GPS to guide us

    • At the beginning of the bypass, the GPS would NOT snap bypass and said we were still on the Palouse trail for a bit

    • It eventually snapped back to the bypass

  • If you are NOT using a GPS, it is possible to take a wrong turn and get lost

  • The trail was soft sand with ups and downs

    • It was fun to ride through

  • The exit was confusing and the Palouse to Cascades trail was fenced off north and south of the bypass

    • You need to unwind a little barbed wire to open the fence to get through

• NOTE: several scouts ran out of water before exiting the Cow Creek Bypass

  • Our adult riders and Scout lead had several liters of extra water and used them to fill up bottles

  • Highly recommend that you fill up in Ralston before proceeding to the bypass

• The Marango pickup point is a short distance after the bypass

  • Easy to see silos in distance

  • Farmer came out and said property south of trail was private 

    • We moved all vehicle to behind silo loaded up before anyone else could complain

Camp

• Primary - Rosalia City Park

  • This was the preferred site due to location, but was unavailable

• Primary - Malden City Park

  • Because they allowed us to stay in the air conditioned Community Center, this was hard to beat

• Backup - Saint John Fairgrounds or Park

• Backup - Camp at Tekoa

Sites

• Lind Trestle - Missing Trestle west of Lind

  • Ride there to see it if you like

• Tunnels under SR 395

• Ralston

  • Tiny town with park you can camp at

  • Water and WiFi

• Cow Creek Crossing

  • Bridge is out with cliff on both sides

• Railroad crossing

• Marengo 47.0230, -118.1953

  • Silos at Marengo Road crossing

  • Scablands with exposed bedrock

• CPT and PTCT intersection (we don't plan to ride this far)

• Revere - Silos and then the Revere Wildlife Area

Issues

• Cow Creek Trestle burned down

  • Take Detour

  • Must have map and route inputted into GPS

Leg 6

Malden to Idaho

• This is the final stretch to Idaho

  • Last bit of trail has a few mud holes that you should walk around

  • Depending on how the group is doing, and where we camp, this last day can be as long or short as desired or needed

  • The Tekoa Trestle should not be skipped, unless you have a phobia

• Starting at Malden, Ending at Idaho Boarder - 35 Miles (can be shortened to 30 if you take PCM Road)

• Starting at Rosalia, Ending at Idaho Boarder - 25 Miles

• Starting at Tekoa, Ending at Idaho Boarder - 6 Miles

• We shortened the final leg of this journey to 25 miles for several reasons

  • Scouts were exhausted the day prior, most likely due to lack of sleep the night before

    • Parents thought they should get 9 hours of sleep

    • Scouts were quiet and did seem to pass out early

  • Parents were pooped and wanted to sleep in so they could make the long ride home the following day

• We started with a wake up at 6am

• We packed up all the gear in vehicles

• Bikes and rider we trans ported to Steptoe Battlefield State Park Heritage Site in Rosalia

  • There is a restroom there - which is always needed, even after a very short bike ride

• There were a few hills were bridges were out and the trail dipped down to a road or dry creek and then but up to the trail on the other side

• SAG Wagon Stop at Pine Creek Bridge #1 on Summer Road

  • Bridge Bypass

  • 47.2395, -117.2711

  • Mile 7

• Road to Seabury Bridge

  • NO Railing on sides

  • Gaps between board are large enough to catch bike wheel

  • Notable winds

  • Bikes should be walked across bridge

  • Scouts should stay away from sides of bridge

  • Some units may consider to bypass bridge entirely

  • 47.1997, -117.2064

  • Great place for photos!

• SAG Wagon break at Lone Pine

  • 47.2212, -117.1522

  • Allow support vehicles enough time to get to vantage point to take picture of riders crossing Tekoa Bridge

• Tekoa Trestle 

  • 47.2259, -117.0812

  • Get photo of riders as they cross the bridge

• Short short break at Tekoa

  • 47.2288, -117.0756

  • Parents showed up and wouldn't leave

• Last 6 miles to Idaho

  • 2+ seasonally impassible mud holes

    • These were dried up and hard as concrete

  • Trail lined by Ponderosa Pine

    • Nice shade and smell

• Photos at finish line

  • Easy finish

  • Scout had LOTS of energy and could easily go faster

    • Twice the speed in many places compared to prior days

• Head into town 

  • Lunch at park

    • 47.2259, -117.0737

  • Ice cream and coffee at Trestle Coffee

• LONG ride home

  • Plan to stop every 2 hours for Scouting America required break

• Arrived back at curch just before 8PM

Sites

• Malden 

  • Almost completely destroyed by the Babb Fire in 2020

• Rosalia - cute town

  • Grocery and restaurants

  • State Park with restrooms - planned SAG Wagon stop

  • Pool and Camping in past (closed 2025)

• Rosalia concrete arch bridges

• Seabury Bridge

• Tekoa Trestle

  • Long trestle - there is an even longer bypass of you need to take it

• Tekoa - small town

  • Restaurants, a grocery and a hardware store

• Washington-Idaho state line

  • The trail intersects with dirt road and curve of paved road

  • There is a Sign that says "END OF WA DNR MILWAUKEE ROAD CORRIDOR"

    • Not much of a sign, but that's where we are at

    • If you blink, you'll miss it - ride a few meters back down trail from intersection and look to the NW side of trail

  • Take many group photos and head home!

Issues

• Rosalia: 

  • Steep hill from hill down into Rosalia

  • Riders generally go into town - see below

• Pandora (Pine Creek Bridge): 

  • Missing Trestle 5 miles east of Rosalia

    • Bypass onto Pandora Road then downhill to Wilhelm Road and then back to trail through private property

    • Steep with 10% grade and not marked

• Missing trestles: 

  • Missing trestles at Engel Road, Fox Road and the Fairbanks-Seabury Road

    • Steep descents and climbs greater than 8%

    • Watch for traffic!

• Tekoa: 

  • East end of trestle has a post that you need to pass around on a corner - Watch out

• Tekoa to Idaho state line: 

  • Can be muddy in spots

  • Seasonally impassable