TRAILBEAR’S FACILITIES SURVEY – John Wayne Pioneer Trail Access from Rattlesnake Lake to Easton

8.12.2010

Start on Interstate 90 in Seattle or thereabouts and head east for Snoqualmie Pass. Here are the trailheads and access points in order, west to east for the bits that folks actually ride. (Ridership east of Easton does drop off.) The information is based on the TrailBear actually going to these places by van with camera and GPS in hand. Paste the GPS coordinates into Google Earth to see where things are located.


EXIT 32, RATTLESNAKE LAKE RECREATION AREA, IRON HORSE STATE PARK, 47.432299 -121.766859

Take Exit 32 onto 436th Ave SE and head uphill to the Rattlesnake Lake Recreation Area. The lake is situated in a pass in the mountains where three ridges meet. It’s also where three rail lines meet. Coming down from the pass is the old Milwaukee Road, now the John Wayne Pioneer Trail in Iron Horse State Park. The Road splits at the lake. One branch – the Snoqualmie Valley Trail - goes north and downhill into the Snoqualmie Valley and (with one gap) continues up to Duvall.

The other branch goes southwest down the valley of the Cedar River to Renton on Lake Washington. This branch is not developed into a trail at the upper end. You have to go down to Landsburg Rd. trailhead, some 11+ miles away to reach the upper end of the Cedar River Trail.

When you enter the rec area the right hand road leads down to the lake – where the kids are partying. You take the left turn and climb uphill to the trailhead at the Iron Horse State Park.
It’s a nice trailhead – paved parking, two deluxe vault toilets, information kiosks, tables, benches and the ends of both the Snoqualmie Valley Trail and the John Wayne Pioneer Trail. Get on the trail and start climbing towards the tunnel (closed).


EXIT 38, OLLALIE TRAILHEAD, 47.441651 -121.671788

In about 600’ after you exit onto Homestead Valley Rd., (Ollalie State Park), your turn on the right appears. The sign says something like: Ollalie State Park – Homestead Valley Trailhead. Not a mention of the JWT. It is the first gravel road on your right on Homestead Valley Rd. As you enter the parking area, notice the gated gravel road to the left. You take this 0.37 steeply uphill to join the JWT.

The trailhead features a vault toilet and a large gravel parking area. The exit is limited to getting off going east and getting on going west. There is another partial exit at the upper end of Ollalie State Park.


EXIT 38, THE GARCIA GATES ACCESS PARKING, 47.424089 -121.621227

Instead of a steep uphill hike or pedal, why not just drive up to the trail? Exit as for the Ollalie Trailhead. Drive up Homestead Valley Rd. past the park. Where it turns to the freeway on-ramp, there is a gravel road to the right: 9020. In one mile, with some steep pitches, it will cross the JWT at the Garcia Gates Crossing. There is access parking for six or more cars on either side.

The other half of Exit 38 is up the road at the eastern end of Ollalie State Park. You can get on I-90 east bound and off I-90 west bound from here.


EXIT 42 TINKHAM RD, McCELLAN BUTTE TRAILHEAD, 47.411999 -121.588650

Take Exit 42, Tinkham Rd. toward the Tinkham Campground. Shortly after you pass the WSDOT facility and the fancy creekside home on the curve, the next gravel road to the right is yours. No trailhead sign there. Head uphill to the McCellan Butte Trailhead. You can hike the bike up the trail to reach the JWT, but who would wish to? TrailBear, he would be parked at Garcia Gates and avoid the hike.


EXIT 47, DENNY CREEK CAMPGROUND, ANNETTE LAKE TRAILHEAD, 47.392554 -121.474514

Exit the freeway and turn right to head for the Annette Lake Trailhead, etc. The road Ts into the Tinkham Rd. Turn left. On 0.4 miles there is a large blacktopped parking lot with one of those obso chocolate brown (inside and out – like a cave) vault toilets. You can take your bike 0.8 miles uphill to the JWT, but no further up the Annette Lake Trail. This trailhead gets you close to the West Portal, the exemplar snow shed and the Hansen Creek Trestle.


EXIT 54, HYAK TRAILHEAD, 47.391396 -121.392360

Take Exit 54 on the eastern side of the Snoqualmie Summit ski area. Turn right onto Rt. 906 for a short distance, then left onto Hyak Dr. E. / Rd. 2219 and head towards the WSDOT facility gate. The road turns right here. Do so, then take the next right toward the ski slope. Shortly you will be in a large paved parking area with picnic tables around the edges and a very nice restroom in the center.

The restroom features six cabin style loos with power and two of them have showers. In summer no fee is charged at this trailhead. Come winter it is a Sno Park and you pay, but you can ski the JWT.


EXIT 54, LAKE KEECHELUS TRAILHEAD, 47.384386 -121.389856

If you want to pay a day use fee, or have a Golden Age or other accepted passport, you can try the USFS Lake Keechelus Trailhead. Rewind to where you turned at the WSDOT gate. Where you turned right to Hyak, now carry on ahead down 2219. The trailhead is about 0.7 miles further on. There is a vault toilet, info kiosk, picnic table and paved parking. If you take the road to the end, you wind up at the Lake Keechelus Boat Launch – which works better when the water level is up in the lake.


EXIT 71, EASTON TRAILHEAD, 47.230746 -121.171445

Take Exit 71 into Easton. Turn right at the bottom of the off ramp and onto Cabin Creek Rd. Follow it across Railroad St., across the active RR tracks, thence to where it crosses the JWPT. Turn left onto the JWPT and go 0.3 miles to a large graveled parking lot adjacent to the trail.

This is the Easton Trailhead. It has tables, water, vault toilets, info kiosks and lots of parking. There were directional signs to the trailhead back in 2008. They may still be there. Note: the trailhead is NOT in Lake Easton State Park – up the road a bit. Camping is there.


Ride on!

TrailBear
Looking for just the right trailhead

TRAILBEAR FINDS THREE TRESTLES IN THREE MILES – John Wayne Trail from Twin Falls to Alice Creek

8.12.2010

TrailBear is scouting how to visit the best parts of the John Wayne Pioneer Trail and leave the miles and miles of woods for those who want to ride miles and miles of wood. He figures he has done enough miles of woods to declare: BTDT and where can I buy the T shirt? He wants to pare things down so he just gets the goodies. Forget the broccoli; he wants the ice cream!

There is ice cream up this trail. There are three trestles within a range of three miles from the Twin Falls Trailhead. That is a very good miles-to-attractions ratio. Trestle #4, Hansen Creek, is miles further on. Ride three miles out and play tourist at 75% of the trestles on the west side of the pass? Sounds like a deal. Begin the ride at…


TWIN FALLS TRAILHEAD, 0.0 MILES, N47.44176 W121.67197

Now here is a handy trailhead just off Exit 38 (SE Homestead Valley Rd., Twin Falls State Park) on I-90. As you exit the freeway from Seattle and cross the river, it is the first gravel road to the right. The sign says something like: Ollalie State Park – Homestead Valley Trailhead.

Thursday morning the place was empty, then a few cars by lunch. On Friday morning, while Der Bear was alone, having breakfast in the sunshine, comes a Leviathan class bus. Out pour the tots and their wranglers. Climbing summer camp. Plan on the place being a zoo on good summer weekends.

Tucked on a slope above the bottom of the park is a large gravel parking lot with a vault toilet and info kiosk. Not much info on the JWT. There is a better map down in the picnic area.
As you enter the parking area, note the gated gravel road to the left. You take it uphill 0.37 steep miles to the…


TRAIL JUNCTION, 0.37 MI, N47.44198 W121.67633

You are now on the John Wayne Pioneer Trail in the Iron Horse State Park. Go right to the big trailhead at Rattlesnake Lake. Go left to the closed tunnel at Snoqualmie Pass and points in between. Bear goes left to the …


DECEPTION CRAGS CLIMBING AREA, MI, N47.43773 W121.66378

Washington is rather lacking in good and accessible rock climbing areas. The Milwaukee Road had to blow the cliffs to hang the road bed on a ledge in this section. Someone got a Bright Idea and used the cliffs as a practice rock climbing area. That works. The rock looks decent.

It’s about a mile walk from the trailhead (which is freeway close) and most of the routes have permanent hardware and anchors. There are porta potties here and there. Could use a few picnic tables or benches. Benches would be nice – facing the rock so you can watch the show. There are nice views up and down the pass from here.

It must be a nice place to practice. TB wonders: Where was this when he was at the U-W, ages ago? Probably the Road was still active and hostile to people on the track.

The trailbed thus far is homogeneous hardpack and gravel. No large rocks in evidence; give it a B rating.


CHANGE CREEK TRESTLE, 1.09 MI, N47.43733 W121.66349

Pedal along under the cliffs for a short distance and here is the Change Creek Trestle. Not a bad looking job. It’s a classic Milwaukee Road steel trestle. You can see a lot of these on the Route of the Hiawatha over in Idaho. That is one fun ride. Take the family. Buy the shuttle ticket back to the top. This one has a climbing area right at the end of the trestle. Look right and notice the anchors. There is a trail under the trestle to the bottom of this climb.

For about 600 miles on the Western Extension the Milwaukee Road was electrical powered by 3,000 volt DC current in one overhead wire. They had converter stations every X miles to convert the AC to DC. Only one of the overhead frames used to support phone wires and the power cable is still there, but the brackets below the bridge deck are intact.


HALL CREEK TRESTLE, 1.46 MI, N47.43361 W121.65832

Change Creek Trestle was rather short. This one at Hall Creek has a bit more going for it. Admire but stay tuned for the best of the lot …


MINE CREEK TRESTLE, 2.78 MI, N47.42552 W121.63546

Now this is a trestle! Long, curving, about 0.1 miles long and it looks like it has a full set of overhead power frames. TB counts seven frames and still has fingers left. Three of the timber bolt-on phone wire arms still remain.

This is rather close to what you would have seen when the Road was operational. They had a Cleverness for the bridge decking: prefab concrete trays. Place edge to edge on the girders. Secure. Fill with ballast and add cross ties and rails. Your bridge deck was one long pan filled with gravel. Worked just fine.

TrailBear planned to turn around here: “Three Miles – Three Trestles”. A nice little ride; rather uphill, but that makes for rather downhill later. But no! TB always wonders what is around the next bend. The park map showed an Alice Creek Camp not too far ahead. Or, not too far as you figure on a map covering 70 miles. The Details get a bit lost. TrailLink could add another outhouse to the map. Onward! Alice Creek or Bust!


GARCIA, 3.34 MI, N47.42397 W121.62164

OK, Garcia what? Here is the sign out in the tullies. TB does not see enough room for a siding. What was Garcia and what did they do there? This will take some research.
At the library, working up the field notes, TB’s topo map shows a siding uphill of the trail and a bit further on. Does that make it Garcia Siding? Take a look for the exit points off the roadbed.


ACCESS PARKING - THE GARCIA GATES, 3.60 MI, N47.42397 W121.62164

Here is access parking for about a dozen cars where the trail crosses Garcia Rd. (gravel). The trail is gated and signed in both directions from here. Look to see if there is a siding up the hill. TB just rode on to the milage sign a bit further east.

Forest Rd 9020, down at the bottom of the grade and close aboard Exit 38 is the Garcia Rd. It has some steep pitches, but TB and the van were able to get up it at twilight to confirm the route. One mile from the freeway and you are parking on the trail. This tip is not in the park brochure.


TRAIL JUNCTION – McCELLAN BUTTE TRAIL, 5.50 MI, N47.41220 W121.59591

Here the trail to McCellan Butte (a death march but good views) crosses the JWT. This is another way to access the JWT. Park at the Butte trailhead and walk the bike up to there. TB thinks driving up Garcia Rd. and parking there sounds better than Hike A Bike.

Now where is that pesky campsite? Did Der Bear see a roof in the distance, under a power line, across the drainage of Alice Creek? Pedal on and see.


ALICE CREEK TRAIL CAMP, 5.87 MI, N47.40992 W121.59165

At last! Alice Creek Camp. There is the vault toilet painted a gay orange with red trim. It anchors the camp. TB vaguely recalls these to be the Milwaukee Road colors. He should have checked to see if the siding and batten detail is wood or faux concrete. The loo is a prefab concrete unit. This is one of the deluxe models.

There are three picnic tables here and each table has three tent platforms associated with it. Water is the question, and on the way down, TB saw a side trail on the left leading down into the Alice Creek drainage. Probably that is the water access. Do filter it – or – Beaver Fever.

Alice Creek is crossed by a humongous embankment. We are told these were cheaper than trestles. They often use hydraulic jets to sluice down the fill. The railroads must have been the biggest earth movers in the county. How many thousand cubic yards of fill went into this one embankment out in the tullies?


HEADING BACK - DOWNHILL ALL THE WAY AND MOVING FASTER

This is the end of the line for the day. TB eats two bear bars, gets a glamour shot of the Gutterbunny, and then heads downhill for a change. This is nice. The altitude difference between Twin Falls and Alice Creek is 616’. This translates into: Hardly pedaling and doing 12+ mph on a high friction surface.

Just beyond the Hall Creek Trestle he spots two climbers climbing and squeals to a stop for some human interest shots. The lead is being lowered down the face. It looks like he put up a route with assorted anchors and slings. Now, with a top rope, he is free to try it again and push things a bit. The math is better than when leading: Ten feet above last anchor = twenty feet down before the belayer goes to work.

But enough of that. TrailBear is headed back for lunch, so best not get between him and his food. The descent of the road out of the trailhead to the junction is interesting. Love those hydraulic brakes. They will stop a bear. TB eases down the climb: Steep with loose gravel. He has no desire for a Yard Sale within view of the van. He survives to unfold the Sloth Chair and devour a ham & cheese.


TRIP NOTES …

This was a fun ride. Certainly an uphill grade. It felt like 3-4%. The elevation graph on the GPS showed an alarming incline at points beyond the trestles. However, the attractions are in close and well worth the short ride.

Scenery = A. Trestles, climbers, views up and down the pass. Lots to see.
Facilities = B. You are well provided with porta potty pit stops on this route. Bring water.
Trailbed = B – C-. It is a one lane gravel road. From the trailhead to the Crags it’s a B trail: Uniform small gravel. This seems to be about as good as it gets on “soft surface” (at least until they discover something called “road base” – which comes with fines and compacts right well for a smoother surface.) Beyond the three trestles you see larger rock (6” minus) in the mix: C. Beyond Garcia you have the larger rock plus unfilled potholes: C-

Hansen Creek Trestle is about 2.3 miles out of the Annette Lake trail crossing. You can stage at the Asahel Curtis Trailhead and bike uphill 0.8 miles to the junction. Turn right and you are soon on the only snow shed left. This is one they put up out of material from the demolition. But why here? Why not over on the lake where people could reach it easier?

Turn left and you can go to the tunnel. The trail notes say the trail is out 1.x miles west of the West Portal, but TB talked to a rider on 8.12.10 that had just come down from there and he reported no problem reaching the tunnel. However, the work around for him was a half hour on I-90 climbing up to the pass. Beats the Denny Creek Rd. option.

If you could get uphill to the nest of roads in the ski area, you could ride down to exit at Silver Fur, Hyak or Cold Creek. It is worth looking for a route. There is a power line right of way heading uphill for 0.4 miles and they usually have some sort of access track.

CAMPING – Tinkham CG. Four miles up the road at the Tinkham Rd. exit. Lots of choices during the week, but almost every site was booked for the weekend. Thick woods. Whoever did the sites did a fine job on the pull in design. Plenty of room and sloped correctly.

Ride on!

TrailBear

Eating his ice cream and eschewing his broccoli.

One of the best trails in the best bicycling states (Washington) is broken into pieces. The powers-that-be have closed the tunnels due to a slight chance that a rock could hit someone in the tunnels. This breaks a cross-state state park/trail into in and out pieces. What would be wrong about signs stating that there was a chance of falling rock and proceed at own risk? I would promise not to sue, and take the 1-in-a-million chance!