JWPT Take 2! - Day 3

After spending a lovely night in Thorp by the Yakima River, being able to clean up in the river and dry out our gear we had a conversation about how far we wanted to continue down the trail or not. Nick felt he had experienced the trail and knew that farther down the trail it was not going to get any smoother or easier.  We decided to ride a short distance to Ellensburg and would then turn around to head home.

The day was cool and grey with off and on sprinkling, mistiness that eventually became constant rain. After Ellensburg we turned around and headed back towards home, but the trail and weather was kicking our butts. We took a brief break and ate at Smokey's BBQ which was delicious! Back on the trail, as we left the canyon leading back towards Cle Elum, we decided to divert up onto the road and ride the road for a ways to give our bodies a break. The road was quite challenging, but we managed to make it to Lake Easton where we set-up camp in one of the small bike camp sites. Whether you are headed West or East, this is a great campground to stop at! Bike campsites can be directly ridden to after registering at the ranger station and there are lovely hot showers that you can purchase tokens for.  We definitely took advantage of this as we were frozen and soaked when we reached Lake Easton.

Trail riding notes: to reach Lake Easton's campground from the trail (not road riding like we did!) watch for a brown trail sign off to the left (if you are heading East)/right (if you are heading West) indicating a very small trail that leads you through the forest [if you reach the large trestle over the Yakima River in-flow to Lake Easton you've gone too far (heading East); short trail is very shortly past trestle on the right (heading West)]; the trail takes a sharp left hand turn after 0.3 miles and continues on for another 0.4 miles where it will make a right hand turn onto old US Hwy 10. You'll travel on this road for 1.5 miles, then turn left onto Lake Easton State Park Rd to register at the ranger station. They will provide you with a map to the bike campsites and shower tokens are available for purchase.  Whether you are heading East or West the next day simply follow these directions in reverse to return to the JWPT.

Memorable moments: Wind, rain, fog = freezing! Rode the road a bit which felt so good on our derrieres. Met 2 ladies walking a section of the trail. Met a guy riding since July 10 from Newport to Plummer to Tekoa to Issaquah and home again due to an article he read about the trail closing. HOT SHOWERS at Lake Easton!! Lovely Smokey's BBQ where we ate a delicious meal. Decided not to ride through Ellensburg, turned back at the trail sign.

Wildlife sightings: Hairy woodpecker, 2 HUGE turkey vultures in a snag, 5 bear scat, 1 ground squirrel, Cedar Waxwings eating Saskatoon berries, 8 deer (1 was a buck), Quail coveys, Bald eagle flew over our camp in the morning

Vital stats:

35 trestles

16 gates

2 tunnels

41.83 miles

ATM = 5:41:27

MXS = 21.6 mph

AVS = 7.3 mph

Nick's GPS:

43.1 miles

Camp to Ellensburg = 5.26 miles one way

Ellensburg to Lake Easton = 37.8 miles

ATM = 7:44:19

AVS = 5.57 mph

600 feet elevation gain

269 feet elevation loss

JWPT Take 2 - Day 3