New Ways to Boise

So much snow! So, so much snow. I’ve had to revise the start of the journey because the awesome Palouse to Cascades Trail is covered in mile after mile of snow. The Snoqualmie Tunnel, which you have to use to cross the Pass on the trail, is closed. I connected with a cyclist who lives at the Summit at Snoqualmie and he said the only way would be to ride I-90 from North Bend or Exit 38 to the Summit where the best camping spot would be in a parking lot or an underpass only to wake up and bike along I 90 until the trail cleared. That’s not fun and not safe so I’ve had to make a new plan.

The New Plan

I’ll start with my own personal STP (Seattle to Portland ride). I’ll take the more direct way to Tacoma which goes through … Vashon! I’ll go through Olympia and along the I 5 corridor trying to keep away from I 5 itself. I hope to connect with friends in PDX then it is on through the Columbia Gorge to Hood River. There’s 10 miles of bikng on the Interstate which isn’t great, but the Portland Bureau of Transportation advertises the route. They wouldn’t do that if it was dangerous, right? Right?

(biking uphill on this loose gravel is suprisingly hard. These folks are going the right way, down)

From Hood River the route cuts SE eventually ending up in Vale, Oregon, a mere 70 miles from Boise. One option is to travel part of the Oregon Outback bikepacking route to Antelope then turning east. The pictures I’ve seen look amazing, but there's a lot of loose gravel on the northern part and I'd be going uphill not down the way most folks go. Lots of the routes follow rivers like the John Day and its fossil beds. The other option is to go through Maupin from Hood River. Eventually, I’ll hit US 26. It’s the main way through and the least likely to have snow. There are ways through the hills that avoid 26 but its all about the snow. Over all it looks very cool. 

On the map, the route through Maupin is the one in red. Options are in blue. My original route is in purple.

I am super excited and anxious with pre-departure butterflies. My eyes pop open at 2am with pluses and minuses of different routes. I’ll probably just vacillate until the last minute. Such is life.

Here is my last training ride and what happens when the tracker app freezes. Isn’t that a nice way to cross Lake Washington! 



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