Find the top rated trails in West Richland, whether you're looking an easy walking path or a long bike trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
As of late 2011 the Columbia Plateau Trail State Park has developed 38 miles in two segments between Fish Lake near Cheney and Martin Road near Sprague, and between Ice Harbor Dam near the Tri-Cities...
The Keene Road Trail is a 12-foot-wide asphalt path occupying the old Union Pacific right-of-way adjacent to Keene Road. The trail runs between Bellerive Drive and S. Highlands Boulevard.
The Columbia River Heritage Trail parallels the scenic waterway in the rural community of Boardman in northeastern Oregon. The trail's 3-mile off-road portion is described here, though trail-goers can...
From Columbia Point Marina Park at the south end to USS Triton Submarine Memorial Park in the north, the Richland Riverfront Trail offers seven miles of scenic paved trail immediately adjacent to the...
The ByPass Shelterbelt runs along the west side of Richland from Wellsian Way and Aaron Streets on the south end to Spengler Street on the north end. Although it parallels the Bypass Highway, the...
The Sacagawea Heritage Trail is a scenic river trek along the Columbia River through the Tri-Cities of Richland, Kennewick and Pasco in southeastern Washington. The trail is a 23-mile blacktop loop...
The Lower Yakima Valley Pathway offers trail users the opportunity to experience great wines (produced from grapes grown in the area's rich volcanic-ash soil), interesting shops, and local hospitality...
The ByPass Shelterbelt runs along the west side of Richland from Wellsian Way and Aaron Streets on the south end to Spengler Street on the north end. Although it parallels the Bypass Highway, the...
This segment of the historic Lewis and Clark Trail traverses cliffs perched above the Columbia River in the Oregon desert. The fairly flat trail, steep and sandy in sections, gathers the rural...
As of late 2011 the Columbia Plateau Trail State Park has developed 38 miles in two segments between Fish Lake near Cheney and Martin Road near Sprague, and between Ice Harbor Dam near the Tri-Cities...
Spanning just shy of 224 miles, the John Wayne Pioneer Trail is one of the longest rail-trail conversions in the United States. The trail passes through remote and sparsely populated areas of...
The Columbia River Heritage Trail parallels the scenic waterway in the rural community of Boardman in northeastern Oregon. The trail's 3-mile off-road portion is described here, though trail-goers can...
The Keene Road Trail is a 12-foot-wide asphalt path occupying the old Union Pacific right-of-way adjacent to Keene Road. The trail runs between Bellerive Drive and S. Highlands Boulevard.
From Columbia Point Marina Park at the south end to USS Triton Submarine Memorial Park in the north, the Richland Riverfront Trail offers seven miles of scenic paved trail immediately adjacent to the...
The Sacagawea Heritage Trail is a scenic river trek along the Columbia River through the Tri-Cities of Richland, Kennewick and Pasco in southeastern Washington. The trail is a 23-mile blacktop loop...
The Lower Yakima Valley Pathway offers trail users the opportunity to experience great wines (produced from grapes grown in the area's rich volcanic-ash soil), interesting shops, and local hospitality...
From Columbia Point Marina Park at the south end to USS Triton Submarine Memorial Park in the north, the Richland Riverfront Trail offers seven miles of scenic paved trail immediately adjacent to the...
The Keene Road Trail is a 12-foot-wide asphalt path occupying the old Union Pacific right-of-way adjacent to Keene Road. The trail runs between Bellerive Drive and S. Highlands Boulevard.
This segment of the historic Lewis and Clark Trail traverses cliffs perched above the Columbia River in the Oregon desert. The fairly flat trail, steep and sandy in sections, gathers the rural...
The Columbia River Heritage Trail parallels the scenic waterway in the rural community of Boardman in northeastern Oregon. The trail's 3-mile off-road portion is described here, though trail-goers can...
The Lower Yakima Valley Pathway offers trail users the opportunity to experience great wines (produced from grapes grown in the area's rich volcanic-ash soil), interesting shops, and local hospitality...
As of late 2011 the Columbia Plateau Trail State Park has developed 38 miles in two segments between Fish Lake near Cheney and Martin Road near Sprague, and between Ice Harbor Dam near the Tri-Cities...
Spanning just shy of 224 miles, the John Wayne Pioneer Trail is one of the longest rail-trail conversions in the United States. The trail passes through remote and sparsely populated areas of...
The ByPass Shelterbelt runs along the west side of Richland from Wellsian Way and Aaron Streets on the south end to Spengler Street on the north end. Although it parallels the Bypass Highway, the...
The Sacagawea Heritage Trail is a scenic river trek along the Columbia River through the Tri-Cities of Richland, Kennewick and Pasco in southeastern Washington. The trail is a 23-mile blacktop loop...
This is a short but scenic, out-and-back trail. We started at the south end at Columbia Point Marina Park and cycled north to the end point at the USS Triton Memorial Park. The distance was around 16 miles. The trail condition varies from being narrow at the developed marina to wider around midway. In one or two sections, you’ll need to watch for large tree roots encroaching on the trail. There is a break in the trail for a couple of blocks where you must cycle through a low-traffic neighborhood. Signs direct the way.
The trail passes through a number of parks (water, restrooms, picnic tables, etc) and generally follows the river. In some sections towards the end, the trail splits with one path designated for walkers and another path for cyclists. Easy to miss the directions for this section painted on the trail.
You can also extend your mileage as the trail connects directly to the Sacajawea Heritage Trail which continues underneath the bridge.
Overall, a nice trail which I would recommend.
We started in Cedar Falls and made it to Lake Easton State Park the first day, where we camped. Our bicycles were fully loaded, and by the time we got to the Snoqualmie Tunnel we were very tired of the uphill grind. The grade is never difficult, and you barely notice it, but after 20 miles your body is feeling it. There was a shortish patch between the tunnel and Lake Easton where the gravel was loose, which made the biking a bit difficult, but all in all it was pretty great. It was a 40-mile day, and there were lots of wilderness camping spots along the way. If we had known how long it would take us to do those 40 miles (about 8-9 hours), we might have chosen to camp at one of the wilderness spots.
At Lake Easton, we took one of the hiker-biker sites for $12.00. There are
two: #36 and #37. We were assigned #36, which is quite small. The other site (#37) is roomier.
The next day we biked 15 miles to Cle Elum, where we ended our ride. The first five miles out of the campground at Lake Easton were excruciating. It appeared that new gravel had been dumped on the trail for those five miles, and it was slow going and a bit scary for one of our friends who was clipped in. But once we got past that point, it was back to being a very pleasant ride.
My recommendation: Switch to flat pedals for this ride. You don't need to be clipped in!
Love the location! Right on the river! Along the path is a wonderful hotel with great food that makes a perfect stopping point. Also the marina park for the kids to play at makes exercising with children easy!
We rode the whole trail from the Idaho border to Cedar Falls in 2016. It is not true that "145 miles" of the trail are closed. There are some detours due to missing trestles, a section of live rail, and short sections of private land. There are no plans to close the trail through the Yakima Training Center. The JWPT is a great way to explore Washington's geography and history through areas not seen from a car. We passed through without any disruption or trespass, and with barely any notice, although we did meet some very friendly people along the trail. We only left behind money we spent in small towns along the way, including those on the detours. For more accurate information go to www.johnwaynepioneertrail.org.
There is over 145 miles of this trail that is closed. When trespassing it I is a 400.00 fine. Also you must contact the owners to cross miles of private land that is owned out right. I do know the owners and they are tried of all the trespassing. So they closed their land. Also waiting for the army to close more near the range on base.
Did this trail as part of a Bicycle Adventures supported ride with 4 others in August of 2016. The scenery is beautiful but it is a jolting tough ride. Further along it does get better and it did help that we started at the top of the mountain and rode down hill. Uphill would require some serious thigh muscles. There is a tunnel along the trail and it is very cold (50 degrees F) and very dark. We had lights on the front and back of several of our bikes and it was still disorienting. This tunnel and the whole trail is best done in a group with lots of spare tubes!
Here's a website describing our experience. https://sites.google.com/site/ironhorsetrailride2016/home
I Rode solo East from Rattlesnake Lake on Sept 15 headed for Cle Elum for the night. When I first entered the trail at Cedar Falls Trail head the first thing that I noticed was this was not the beginning of the line. There was trail behind me at the entry point! This would have to be explored another day. As I headed up the trail towards the Snowqualmie tunnel I observed mostly packed gravel. About every 5 miles there was a pit toilet building and a picnic table nearby. Sometimes a leveled area marked by 4x4s for a tent was included. Later I observed these amenities continued all the way to Ellensburg though the spacing seemed to be less frequent after Cle Elum. The park map would be the best source of these locations. I encountered maybe 12 people between trail head and Snowqualmie tunnel mostly hikers. Since I had traveled the tunnel from Hyak once before I knew to bring a headlamp for the darkness and warm clothes for the cold. Once through the tunnel the climate seemed different, warmer and a bit drier. Trail composition become that of looser gravel so that my hard tailed mountain bike seemed to float around as I moved forward. Some might find this unnerving but I was able to adapt by keeping my speed up. This surface condition continued all the way to Kittitas (when on the trail). I spent the night at a motel in Eastern Cle Elum. I might have stayed further west if I had known that I would have to backtrack to get back on the trail but then I would not have seen the rest of rather interesting town if I had stayed west.
On day 2 entered a beautiful canyon along Yakima river. I encountered two cattle on the trail that seemed to be lost (near turkey gulch). Next I came to the tunnel with the waiver sign but no forms in the form box. A few had written names on the box itself. I assumed that this was no longer important or there would still be forms available, right?. The next tunnel did not ask for a waiver - recently fixed? It appeared to have been worked on. I Only saw a few people on the trail from here to the detour past Kittitas. Cyclists wanting to go further east should know that while there is a detour sign at Prater road, The trail is closed all the way to the other side of the Columbia River (unless your choose to ride the 3 miles to the first closed trestle over I90 and backtrack). One might as well go from here to Vantage on the road in order to get to the next open part of the trail. My ride ended in Vantage. I was driven down to Beverly Junction just to see the trestle and check the trail conditions. What I found was a barbed wire fence between the road and the JWPT. I had read about sand on the trail so wanted to actually set foot on to check the condition. What I found was harder trail here than what I had left (I slipped thru the barbed wire). Had being unused allowed the trail to harden or was the sandy section elsewhere between here and Renslow? Some other lucky person will have to find out the answer to that question! Great ride!
My son and I have been on two segments for a total of about 60 miles from Easton toward Seattle. Scenery=A+Difficulty=EasyTrail Condition=3 on a scale from 0 to 5, 5 being new and paved. Trail tires are a big plus here. Lots of loose gravel. The tunnel near lake Kachess is a great experience. great for nature and site seeing or picnicing form hiking/biking. There were a couple of very small and rustic remote camp sires as well. highly recommend this trail. it is flat in general. A bit of a down slope headed east to west. There are no services other than the occasional pit toilet. Very family friendly.
I have ridden this trail countless times between Rattlesnake Lake and Lake Easton. The Snoqualmie Tunnel (open May-Oct every year, closed in winter) is one of our favorite places to take visiting friends/relatives.
Best route for young/inexperienced riders: when the tunnel is open, have a friend drop you off at the Hyak trailhead and ride down to Rattlesnake Lake (18 miles of downhill riding, 1-2% downhill grade). While you are riding the trail your driver can climb Rattlesnake Ledge (2 miles one-way, ~1800' of climbing) to what is becoming one of the most popular hiking trails in Washington State.
One of these days my son and I will ride across the entire state on this trail- rideacrosswashington.com
I am from Seattle, but I walked this trail back in July when we visited the Tri-cities, and remember how awesome the interpretive environmental educational signs are! I am now doing a project for my Urban Ecology Master's class and am basing it partly on these signs and the information and activities for kids and families that they provide.
One downfall about the trail, however, was that it seemed to disappear at one point and we were walking along the street. This didn't seem very safe to me. Other than that, the trail was beautiful.
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