Row River Trail (BLM) Cottage Grove By grinton philip c. in 6/10/2004 12:00:00 AM | "You can now get onto the trail right in Cottage Grove and it connects directly to the trailhead you mention in your description. It is paved all the way, it adds 3 or 4 miles and is easier to find the trailhead in town." Iron Horse State Park Enjoyable By grinton philip c. in 6/1/2004 12:00:00 AM | "My partner and I did part of this trail in early May (2004) and enjoyed it. We went from Rattlesnake Lake on the western end up through the Snoqualmie Tunnel and back. I took a road bike and put 30mm wide tires on it and the ride was doable, a mountain bike would have been a lot better and more comfortable. Some of the longer trestles on this section have the original ballast and that was difficult riding so we walked our bikes across most of those trestles.The day we went we had a few showers but like they say: ""There is no such thing as inappropriate cycling weather only inappropriate cycling clothing"" The tunnel was fun. At 2 1/4 miles it is dark but you can just see a light at the other end but take a light. We started walking our bikes through and soon people passed us riding in the opposite direction, the rider on the front bike did not have a light but the second one did and this provided just enough light to ride. We decided to try it and it worked. The surface in the tunnel was better than the trail so riding was good. Did I mention the tunnel was long, it took almost half an hour to ride through!The second day I planned to ride from Hyak, near the east portal of the Snoqualmie Tunnel to Easton or Cle Elum. This is a good spot to talk about the importance of having up-to-date trail information. I was relying on two guide books The Official Rails-to-Trail Conservancy Guidebook for Washington and Oregon (published in 2001) and Washington’s Rail-Trails (2nd edition published 2002). Both of these books say that the bridge over the Yakima River is out and DO NOT try and cross the old bridge. Both books gave information on where to leave the trail and make your way on back roads to Easton to avoid the bridge. Each book had you leave the trail at a different spot. Well, I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer and I looked at each spot and felt that if I went off the trail on these dirt roads (the trail was a freeway compared to the detour they described) and was uncomfortable enough to get back on the trail and press on to the bridge. When I got there the trail was blocked, there is a new bridge being built and it was almost complete, to my eye anyway. I think that this bridge will be open in the very near future so find someone to ask before starting out on this section. Luckily I had a cell phone and found that I could call my partner and she met me almost back where I had started.We enjoyed the trail and look forward to going back and doing more of the eastern portion.Happy riding.-Marcia Scanlon & Phil Grinton"