Near Thorpe to South Cle Elum

Date: 
Sunday, July 3, 2016
Miles: 
18
Bike: 
Disc Trucker

Second day on the Iron Horse Trail.

The wind blew hard all night long and kept right on blowing in the morning. I was in no hurry but still got going fairly early. With the fierce wind in my face I could only manage 6 mph. Waited until I reached a picknick table to make my tea. There were 3 or 4 spots in this stretch, one of which had a pit toilet and 3 actual tent sites. I hope to see more of that as I continue. After a while it stated getting colder and there were dark clouds to the west. It even sprinkled a bit. 

I met a rider named Dan going the other way. He had a 29er mountain bike pulling a Bob Ibex trailer. He had come through the Snoqulamie tunnel the day before and said there were lots of people and kids. I went through 2 short tunnels today. My light did not seem super bright in the tunnel. Bright enough though. The trail continued to be well packed gravel which would have been easy riding without the wind.

There was a steep hill to climb to get to Ron and Tish's house. After a day on the rail-to-trail it was different to be back on pavement climbing hills. I really like the 2% grade.

The forecast is for rain in the mountains and on the west side for 2 days and then partly sunny on Wednesday. I'll probably stay here tomorrow and wait it out.

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Tree lined path
It was nice to be riding through the trees again. They varied a lot from pine and fir to cottonwood and aspen.

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Yakima River
Fantastic views of the Yakima River. I had no idea how big and fast flowing this river was.