Day 3 (Sunday, 10-23-2011): Snoqualmie Tunnel to Ellensburg, WA

Keechulus Lake

 Day 3 I finally figured I would make it out to Ellensburg and meet up with Mel, the host. I woke up around daybreak, packed up my gear (my tent didn't dry out in the tunnel which ended up being too damp) and hit the trail around 9. Things went well, and the weather was excellent – sunny and temperatures in the mid to high 50s. I passed some more spectacular views of the Cascades before having to make a detour onto the I-90 shoulder with 75mph traffic whizzing by to bypass some 'dangerous' railroad tunnels on the JWT.

After a short stretch, I pulled exited on an offramp when I saw a JWT detour sign. However, at the end of the ramp I didn't see anything except a call box that said 'Bicycle Pickup'. Instead, I headed down this five mile gravel road until it dead ended at a river. Doh! I guess this was not the detour that I had read about on the JWT website! Back I went and I used the call box. A construction worker came and picked me up and drove me about 15 miles past some construction that had traffic reduced to just one lane. However, the other lane and the shoulder were perfectly clear (they had been finished in the last week or so) so it would have been possible to bike it had I known of the conditions beforehand.

Cle Elum train station

Once dropped off at the other end of the construction, I only had a short jaunt on the JWT until I got to Cle Elum where I proceeded to get a puncture flat. Shortly after patching it, I flatted the rear when the tube finally proceeded to push through the gash in the tire covered by a candy bar wrapper and two patches (I guess you were right Nick!).

View from Rte 10 showing the JWT

After that, I biked down a really scenic, low-traffic highway that paralleled the JWT on the other side of a river which provided some spectacular views. I was stopping so often to take photos I didn't arrive in the outskirts of Ellensberg until well after dark.

It my first time staying as a guest in a Warmshowers household and it was Mel's first time hosting a tourist. When I arrived he had some chile that his wife had made (she was in Japan while I was there) warming on the stove. I took a shower, ate a delicious dinner while discussing our cycling and touring experiences, hung my damp sleeping bag up to dry next to the fireplace, and got a good night's sleep in their spare bedroom.