[BudhaGoodha]

Just read about the John Wayne pioneer trail that goes down Snoqualmie pass. Sounds cool.

It goes through a 2.5 long tunnel and then takes you on a 23 mile downhill ride.

Has anyone ever done this?

Is it any fun or is it Grandma material?

23 miles of downhill has to be fun any way you cut it right?

I've heard it's just basically a logging road that goes slightly downhill. If that's true then I don't think I'll be riding it. Too boring.

Maybe if the scenery is nice I'll take a pleasure cruise, but other than that I'm looking to have fun and 23 miles of DH seems tempting.

 

[JRA]

Railtrail

The John Wayne Trail is cool to ride but it isn't a DH trail. Its a railtrail (basically a railroad grade w/ the rails and ties taken off) that slopes down at a max 2% grade. Good scenery, a cool long RR tunnel and the knowledge that you're riding dirt instead of pavement are its main attractions. You can ride from North Bend all the way down to the Columbia River near Vantage on the John Wayne Trail. Further east across the Columbia River, you could ride the Milwakee RR grade all the way over to Idaho. That's pretty darn cool in my book.

 

[borregokid]

Its probably a grandma or a family ride. The State of Washington and various trail groups spent a lot of money rebuilding the trail including building a whole new bridge. I think a local bike shop tried running cruiser rides during the summer a couple of years ago. It should be a pretty easy pedal down hill. I think it ends near Rattlesnake Lake outside North Bend. If you wanted something a bit more challenging you could start in North Bend and finish in Cle Elum for about a 50 mile easy cross country ride.

 

[GRFSR]

Way easy rails to trails route. My wife and I did it on our tandem from Bothell to Vantage. Very scenic, but nothing at all challenging. The Snoqualmie tunnel is kinda cool, but even the "descent" back to North Bend is so slight you still have to pedal or risk coasting to a stop. Wished we could have kept going all the way to Idaho instead of turning around, but the East half of the route requires pre-planning and permits.

 

[turdburgle]

I worked on a couple construction projects on this trail. The company I worked for built 2 of the new bridges. The one at easton, and the one at exit 38 (i think thats the rigth exit) and we did some misc upgrades ona couple of other bridges. Beautiful area. But not a killer mtb ride. It'd be a good trail for an epic endurance type of ride. Lots of people climbing rocks up there. If I lived closer I'd probably do some rides on that trail instead of my long as road rides just for a change of scenery.

 

[CraigH]

Found this thread in the archives.

Was considering riding this trail this summer with my wife, brother & his wife.

We've done the BC equivalent trail, the Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) a bunch of times.

Anyone else ride this trail? Any info?

Are there any trail books or web sites on this trail?

 

[gpsser]

Found this thread in the archives.
Was considering riding this trail this summer with my wife, brother & his wife.
We've done the BC equivalent trail, the Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) a bunch of times.
Anyone else ride this trail? Any info?
Are there any trail books or web sites on this trail?

Hey Craig, I have done 2 short rides on the East side of the Cascades on it this year.

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=82210
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=88903

The trail runs from North Bend, just off of I90 East of Seattle, about 120 miles east to the Columbia river south of the town of Vantage. Try looking up the Washington State Parks. I think it would be a great family ride. I am going to be doing some of the same this summer, and have been knocking around the idea with some other SS'ers to do the whole thing fixed over two days or so.

some links:
http://www.parks.wa.gov/parkpage.asp?selectedpark=Iron Horse&pageno=1
http://www.mrha.com/index.cfm (Historical Info)

 

[CraigH]

Thanks for both the info & pics!

We were thinking of something around a week long, probably Idaho to Washington (might as well ride down hill, rather than up)

Did you see Weaver's post on the SS board?
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=91095

 

[gpsser]

Thanks for both the info & pics!

We were thinking of something around a week long, probably Idaho to Washington (might as well ride down hill, rather than up)

Did you see Weaver's post on the SS board?
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=91095

Looks good, I amended my other post with some more info.

 

[CraigH]

A little more info here:
http://www.parks.wa.gov/trails.asp

John Wayne Pioneer Trail
The John Wayne Pioneer Trail follows the former roadbed of the Chicago-Milwaukee-St. Paul-Pacific Railroad two-thirds of the way across Washington, from the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains to the border with Idaho. The 100-mile portion from Cedar Falls (near North Bend) to the Columbia River near Vantage is managed as Iron Horse State Park. It is open to hikers, bikers, equestrians and horse-drawn wagons in summer, and to snowmobiles, dog sleds and cross-country skiers in winter.

More Rails-to-Trails Corridors
Two other former railroad routes are gradually being transformed into recreational trails by Washington State Parks. The Willapa Hills Trail stretches 56 miles from Chehalis to South Bend, rambling through pastoral valleys to tidewater Willapa Bay. The Columbia Plateau Trail travels 130 miles from East Pasco to Fish Lake (near Spokane), through the channeled scablands and pine forests of eastern Washington. Only certain sections of these trails are currently paved or graveled. Future phased-development plans call for additional surface improvements and the addition of primitive campsites.

 

[CraigH]

Links:
https://seattlepi.nwsource.com/getaways/216078_hike17.html
https://www.traillink.com/mt_active_pages/Mlt/b-right.asp?Action=Detail&ID=47
https://www.americantrails.org/nationalrecreationtrails/stateNRT/WAnrt.html
https://www.theslowlane.com/01tripg/ironcamp.html

Books:
Mountain Bike America: Washington
by Amy & Mark Poffenbarger (The Globe Pequot Press)

Rails-To-Trails: Washington & Oregon
by Mia Barbera (The Globe Pequot Press)

Mountain Bike! Washington
by Bennett & Leman (Menasha Ridge Press)

Roads to Trails Northwest Washington
by Washington Trails Association (The Mountaineers Books)

 

[JRA]

John Wayne Trail

Craig - I don't know that I'd consider doing the whole trail during the summer months. Water is few and far between and it gets dang hot out there. I've ridden the trail from Cle Elum to North Bend as part of a cross state trip I did back in 1998 (Kennewick to Bremerton). Definately read the Mountain Bike Washington book and the Rails To Trails book. I've also ridden 66 miles of the Columbia Plateau Trail ... the vast majority of it on railroad cobbles.

Definately an adventure. Hows the KVT after the fire a couple years ago? I've been toying w/ riding parts of that w/ my wife.

 

[formica]

The plan is to hook the JW and the Columbia Plateau trails up with the completed Trail of the Couer D'Alenes and Hiawatha trail that cross the Idaho Panhandle. Some day.....

formica

 

[CraigH]

For time frame we were thinking of June.

I have the Mountain Bike Washington book (was looking at it last night), and I think my brother is ordering the Rails to Trail book.

~~~~~~~~~

I haven't ridden the KVR since the fire, but apparenty there is a bypass trail in now. They are also hard at work rebuilding the bridges.

Trail updates are posted here:
http://www.planet.eon.net/~dan/

If you are riding the KVR, you need the latest version of Dan's book.

 

[Weaver]

nice, glad you dug this up. only part that's a bit vague to me, is what exactly needs to be done when you get to vantage to keep on going to idaho? permissions? planning? i should've known it wouldn't quite be as easy as simply following a trail

is that section more involved then a couple phone calls and biking a few miles out of my way to reconnect with another trail?

 

[JRA]

nice, glad you dug this up. only part that's a bit vague to me, is what exactly needs to be done when you get to vantage to keep on going to idaho? permissions? planning? i should've known it wouldn't quite be as easy as simply following a trail

is that section more involved then a couple phone calls and biking a few miles out of my way to reconnect with another trail?

You need to get a $25 permit to ride the Milwaukee Grade portion (everything east of the Columbia). I highly recommend reading the book "Mountain Bike America: Washington" for bypasses you'll need to take and also getting the permit.

 

[capn cowbell]

I've started in Vantage and rode west to Ellensburg. I'm planning on taking a weekend and riding to the pass and see how far back I can make it in the 2 days. SS only. Running a 42x19 works well.

Hey Craig, I have done 2 short rides on the East side of the Cascades on it this year.

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=82210
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=88903

The trail runs from North Bend, just off of I90 East of Seattle, about 120 miles east to the Columbia river south of the town of Vantage. Try looking up the Washington State Parks. I think it would be a great family ride. I am going to be doing some of the same this summer, and have been knocking around the idea with some other SS'ers to do the whole thing fixed over two days or so.

some links:
http://www.parks.wa.gov/parkpage.asp?selectedpark=Iron Horse&pageno=1
http://www.mrha.com/index.cfm (Historical Info)

 

[formica]

nice, glad you dug this up. only part that's a bit vague to me, is what exactly needs to be done when you get to vantage to keep on going to idaho? permissions? planning? i should've known it wouldn't quite be as easy as simply following a trail

is that section more involved then a couple phone calls and biking a few miles out of my way to reconnect with another trail?

The Columbia Plateau trail is incomplete.

 

[CraigH]

Anyone have any more updates for this year?

Riding it next week

 

[CraigH]

The plan is to hook the JW and the Columbia Plateau trails up with the completed Trail of the Couer D'Alenes and Hiawatha trail that cross the Idaho Panhandle. Some day.....

formica

We'll probably be ridding the Hiawatha as well.
http://www.skilookout.com/bike_home_page.html