Washington has a few long distance paved or gravel routes and we rode almost all of the Olympic Discovery Trail over the summer. This time we rode a section of the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail. The full trail is a 212-mile trail that goes from Cedar Falls in the .Cascade Mountains to the Columbia River in central Washington. This unique trail follows the path of the old Chicago-Milwaukee-St. Paul-Pacific Railroad, also known as the Milwaukee Road.
Starting from Lake Easton State Park we rode out and back on the trail. The beauty is you can make a ride on the trail as short or long as you want and there are several trailheads to start from. The trail features bridges, trestles, tunnels and lakes to keep it interesting. This is easy riding both technically and aerobically as it’s largely flat, though the wind can kick up as it funnels down the pass. We went across a bridge, through two tunnels, and saw two lakes. We saw a few other folks out riding the trail and even a few bike packers that were loaded down with camping gear.
I learned something new on this ride. Along our ride we stopped to read a sign about the trains in the area. Highballing fast freight trains known as Silks transported raw Asian silk from West Coast seaports across the country for processing into garments. At the height of the trade in 1928, raw silk valued at $425,000,000 was transported across the rails.
The best part of the ride was a nice swim in Lake Easton at the end. We were surprised that on a hot day such as it was, there were only three or four other people in the water. Very pleasant day!
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