I’ve been itching to take my bike on a bikepacking trip and I had a bit of time off at the end of May, so I decided to fly out to Seattle and for a quick trip with Siyang. The loose plan was to start from the city, get on the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail (an old railroad that’s been converted to a gravel bike trail), and kind of wing it from there. We ended up in Yakima after three days of a nice mix of road and gravel riding.
(The original plan was to drive up to Squamish, British Columbia, which is apparently a biking haven, but I realized on my way to the airport that I had forgotten my passport 🤦♂️. But this local alternative ended up being great!)
Day 0 — Arriving in Seattle
I packed up my bike and flew with it to Seattle. It was surprisingly easy! I was fortunately able to borrow a bag that made packing the bike easy, and checking it at the airport went seamlessly. I didn’t even have to pay an oversize baggage fee!
Day 1 — Seattle to North Bend
Day 1 stats:
Distance: 42.6 miles
Strava
Ok, maybe traveling with the bike didn’t go completely seamlessly. One of my tires (set up tubeless) came unseated during transit so I had to stop by a bike shop to get it reseated with an air compressor. That, combined with some other last-minute prep, pushed our start a little later than we’d hoped for.
But then we were off! The ride through and out of the city was pretty nice. Our route took us across Lake Washington into Bellevue and then southeast towards Issaquah. I was impressed with the bike infrastructure in the area, as we were on separated bike paths almost the whole way. It was only intermittently scenic, though—we spent a lot of the afternoon riding right next to I-90.
We stocked up on food for the next few days at a grocery store in Issaquah and then continued along our way. Shortly after that quick stop we finally left the highway behind and followed a nice gravel trail for a while.
But pretty quickly, and without warning, our nice gravel trail turned into super steep singletrack. Basically a mountain biking trail. All of a sudden we found ourselves riding (and walking—no shame in that!) up tight switchbacks and over rocks and roots. The trail kicked our butts. I was pretty underbiked on my gravel bike and Siyang was hopeless on his road bike. I now understand why mountain bikes have such low gears—my smallest 30/34 gear ratio wasn’t cutting it on the steepest parts.
Finally we reached the top, huffing and puffing, and emerged… onto a suburban playground with kids running around. Not at all what we expected, but at least it was nice to be back on pavement for a while.
By this point it was getting late in the day thanks to our late start and the unexpectedly steep terrain. We had originally planned to camp along the Palouse to Cascades trail, but instead we stopped a little short and stayed at a motel in North Bend.
Day 2 — North Bend to Ponderosa Campground
Day 2 stats:
Distance: 72.7 miles
Cumulative distance: 115.3 miles
Strava
Well, it was definitely shoulder season in Washington. Yesterday we had some nice sunny summer weather, but today started out cold and cloudy and it stayed that way. Oh well.
We started around 9 and reached the official start of the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail within an hour or so. We had originally planned to stop partway through the day and do a day hike up Granite Mountain, but we ended up skipping it because we wouldn’t have gotten any views with the clouds and intermittent rain. (And it turns out the bike trail didn’t intersect with the trailhead anyway, despite what it looked like on the map.)
But that was OK because the bike trail was great despite the less-than-perfect weather. We chugged along, only stopping once for lunch, filtering water, and pulling out our rain jackets as a little bit of rain rolled in. The whole morning was a gradual uphill ride through a nice forest. We occasionally got views of the valley and mountains to our left, and there were some cool remnants of the old railroad that used to be there as well.
The coolest railroad remnant was the Snoqualmie Tunnel. It’s a little over 2 miles long and it goes under Snoqualmie Pass. It’s so long that it’s almost completely pitch black inside—you can just see a little pinprick of light at either end when you’re in the middle. It was a little spooky, especially because I didn’t bring a very powerful light. We saw a few people biking and walking through the tunnel in the opposite direction.
On the other side of the tunnel (and Snoqualmie Pass) we began a long, easy section of the trail. That was to be expected—it should be all downhill on the other side of the pass, after all. We had some nice views across a lake right after the tunnel (looking at the map, it must have been Keechelus Lake). The wind started to really pick up in the afternoon, but fortunately it was mostly at our backs.
We stopped into Easton, the first town we encountered, to restock on food but we disappointed to find how deserted it was. Weird place, basically a ghost town. The store at the gas station wasn’t open the day we were there, so we continued to Cle Elum where we were happy to find a little more civilization.
After restocking, we continued down the trail to Ponderosa Campground. It was a nice little spot right off the trail and next to the Yakima River. We had the whole place to ourselves. When we arrived it was very windy—the type of wind that you can hear coming before it smacks you in the face—but otherwise the clouds had cleared up it was a beautiful evening. I picked the site that seemed most protected from the wind and pitched my tent there. Siyang opted to forgo his tarp setup that he’d packed to sleep under the stars instead.
Day 3 — Ponderosa Campground to Yakima
Day 3 stats:
Distance: 62.1 miles
Cumulative distance: 177.4 miles
Strava
The wind did not die down overnight. If anything it was even windier in the morning. But fortunately it was still blowing in the same direction that we would be biking today.
We hopped back on the trail and started cruising. And I mean cruising. We had 20+ mph winds at our backs and a mostly straight, moderately downhill trail for about 20 miles. The only thing that slowed us down a little bit was the gravel, which was getting looser and chunkier as we got farther east. I suspect this part of the trail is not quite as well traveled as the section west of Snoqualmie that we did yesterday.
The first 20ish miles were nice. It’s less mountainous as you head east but the landscape is still pretty. The trail followed the Yakima River for a while and then opened up into some nice prairies and farmland with rolling hills (and lots of wind turbines) in the distance. All in all, a very pleasant ride, if not quite as dramatic as some of the landscapes in other parts of the state.
We reached Ellensburg by midday and got off the Palouse to Cascades trail there. This was the end of our loosely planned route when we started a couple days ago, but we still had most of the day left so we decided to continue farther. We noticed a winding road through Yakima River Canyon (aptly named Canyon Road) on the map that looked like it would make for a good ride, so we headed in that direction.
Canyon Road did indeed make for a good ride, but we’ll get to that in a minute. First:
Wine tasting interlude!
Shortly after entering the canyon we passed a “Wine Tasting” sign, and it only took a little effort to convince Siyang that we should do it. We lugged our heavy bikes up the long, steep driveway to Ellensburg Canyon Winery.
We each sampled a flight of wines and had a nice chat with the owner. We learned a lot of fun facts about winemaking and the local area. The Yakima River Canyon is well suited to growing cold-weather white grapes, especially the Riesling variety, so that’s primarily what they grow. The winery is also home to five or six dogs, and we met three of them: Hank, Maybelle, and Charlie.
After our fun and unexpected stop, we each bought a bottle of wine and continued on our way. I definitely recommend stopping by Ellensburg Canyon Winery if you’re in the area! (Unfortunately, it looks like the winery closed in early 2025.)
Back to the bike ride!
We learned from the owner of the winery that Canyon Road was the state’s first scenic byway (officially designated the Yakima River Canyon Scenic Byway in 1967). I’d say it’s deserving of that designation. The road follows the river and weaves through the valley, providing nice vistas around every bend of the 20ish miles through the canyon. We had a few decent climbs, but it was net downhill and we bombed down some long, fun descents. My only complaint was that the shoulder was a little narrow at times, but there wasn’t too much car traffic so it wasn’t really an issue.
Overall, our Yakima River Canyon diversion was awesome. One of the highlights of the trip.
It was also the last highlight of the trip. After leaving the canyon, the rest of the ride to Yakima was nothing special. A few bike paths, a few hostile roads, and some run-of-the-mill city riding.
By this point we were too far from Seattle to make all the way back on our bikes by the end of the weekend, so we decided to rent a car in Yakima and drive back. I had a free rental day with Enterprise, but unfortunately I learned two things: (1) you can’t use free days at airport locations and (2) apparently the Enterprise in Yakima is an airport location. Oh well. Otherwise everything went smoothly and we had an easy drive back, mostly tracing back the route that we’d biked over the past three days.
And that’s a wrap! It was a good trip. I’d definitely check out the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail again, and maybe check out some of the day hikes along the trail next time.
Bonus: mountain biking!
The day after we got back to Seattle we drove out to Issaquah and did some mountain biking at Duthie Hill Mountain Bike Park. Siyang brought his mountain bike and I used my gravel bike, which did pretty well! We mostly stuck to the easier cross country trails and avoided the stuff that looked too difficult, technical, or scary. It was a fun way to spend a few hours!
Gear thoughts
- Bike: Great! My Soma Double Cross was the perfect bike for this trip with a mix of road and gravel. Confident and comfortable the whole way.
- On-bike storage:
- Banjo Brothers panniers: Very good. I borrowed these from the Chicago Tool Library. Panniers are definitely the most convenient way to carry a lot of stuff. These ones were good, although it was a little difficult to get the bungee tension right and they fell off my rack a couple times.
- Banjo Brothers saddle bag: Just OK. Another one I borrowed from the tool library. I don’t think I’m a fan of these big saddle bags. It doesn’t have a ton of capacity and doesn’t attach very securely. (Siyang used this, and he strapped it to his rear rack rather than attaching it to the saddle.)
- Saddle pack: Great! These small wedge packs are more my speed. Makes it easy to always carry tools and small stuff, and keeps your rear rack accessible.
- Revelate Designs half frame bag: Good. I’d probably prefer a larger wedge or full frame bag, but this is what I was able to find on craigslist. The advantage to the half frame design is that I can still fit two water bottles in the main triangle.
- Handlebar bag: Very good. I like this style of bag. Good capacity and mine feels pretty secure. (Siyang used this.)
- Top tube bag: Good. It’s nice to have easy access to snacks and stuff, but it gets in the way whenever I stop because I don’t have much standover room. I would have used the handlebar bag instead if Siyang hadn’t needed it.
- Cargo cages: Great! My friend Ben 3D printed these for me and they worked perfectly (I can’t believe how much people pay for name brand cargo cages). I used one on each side of my fork to carry my sleeping pad and a bag o’ stuff.
- Voile straps: Great. Not the cheapest option, but popular for a reason. These made it really easy to strap stuff to my cargo cages and rear rack. (Pro tip: the “voilemfg” seller on eBay
- Tent: Just OK. I used my ~10-year-old REI Quarter Dome 1-person tent. It’s a good enough backpacking tent, but just OK for bikepacking. It would be nice to have something a little more compact. In particular, the poles just barely fit into my frame bag which made it a pain to pack up.
Nice trip report! Sounds like it was a good adventure.