Mountain bike ride (28.5 miles) & More at the Klickitat trail. (9-10 April 2011)
It was an overnigher mountain biking trip
sponsored by a Peninsular
Wilderness Club (PWC) member & PWC
webmaster, Jay Thompson. I signed up Jay's trip because I've always enjoyed his
sponsored trips, sounds very
interesting (never heard of the trail), and will
be both good exercise
and fun. We mountain-biked the whole Klickitat
trail one way from one
end to the other end (12.5 miles Swale Canyon
and 16 miles along the Klickitat river). Slightly downhill, 1500 ft elevation
loss in 29 miles !
Lyle, WA is about 240
miles south from Bremerton, WA., just above the
Columbia River and 45 miles East of Portland, OR. It was about 4.5
hours
driving. Three PWC members participated the
event: Paul D, Jay, & Isaac. Kevin K was in the area hiking various trails
in the Gorge. All of us stayed at the Timberlake Campground. Luckily, Kevin was
able to ride our transportation back to the Lyle trailhead site where we will
be finishing the one way ride.
Its location and trail description are
beautifully stated as below in
its website: http://www.klickitat-trail.org/index.htm
"Located in southern Washington State,
in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge, the Klickitat Trail follows the
first 31 miles of an old
railroad corridor linking the towns of Lyle and
Goldendale. It is
unique among rail trails. Nowhere else is there
a rail trail that starts
in a remote, beautiful tributary canyon, winds
along a nationally
designated Wild & Scenic River, and finishes
in one of the nation's only
National Scenic Areas. The 31-mile gently-graded Trail starts in the
breathtaking, remote Swale
Canyon and passes through the small town of
Klickitat before following
all 10.5 miles of the beautiful Wild and Scenic
Klickitat River, ending
at the trailhead near Lyle, Washington, at the
confluence of the
Klickitat and Columbia Rivers. The Trail's
spectacular scenery includes
carved gorges, interesting geologic formations,
abundant wildflowers,
rolling oak and ponderosa pine forests, and
great birding opportunities,
including winter habitat for bald eagles near
the Lyle trailhead."
Here is our fun day summary:
On Saturday: Left Paul's house at 1145. Arrived
at the Coyote Wall trailhead and met up with Kevin K. We hiked about 4 miles
with 800 ft gain. It was a good warmup for the next day. The hike was very
unique and different compare to other hikes I have done in Olympics. Located
approximately 4.5 miles East of Hood River on the Washington side, Coyote Wall rises high
above the river and offers spectacular views of the Gorge from its rim.
The best thing was that we had some sunshine and
did a short hike. Then, we spent a few hours around the camp fire. No heavy
boos, just some wine and beer.
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On Sunday: 0600 reveille for me, the others got
up around 0700-0730. 0845 left the campground. Rained pretty much half the
night from 0200 till 0600. As we drove toward Harms Road trailhead, rain has stopped.
During our biking, some drizzle and overcast but, in overall, it was a pleasant
weather. Temp was at 50-60s. Started biking at 1045. One Way mountain bike ride
(Total 28.5 miles)- Mostly downhill from Harms Road to Lyle Trailhead. Arrived at
the Lyle Trailhead at 1515.
a. Harms Road Trailhead to Wahkiacus trailhead:
12.5 miles --- Swale Canyon
b. Wahkiacus Trailhed to Klickitat trailhead: 3
miles --- Klickitat River
c. Klickitat trailhead to Pitt Trailhead: 3
miles --- Klickitat River
d. Pitt Trailhead to Lyle Trailhead: 10 miles
--- Klickitat River
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What a pleasant trip we had while the weather was drizzling and raining in Kitsap County. It was a tough mountain biking due to rugged trail. Thanks Jay for sponsoring the trip and Paul for going together. Thanks Kevin for taking our transportation back.
