Issaquah Tunnel

 I've been eyeing the John Wayne Trail for the last several years but it is gravel and my road bike is not the best choice for riding it.  I fixed that by bringing my mtn bike on this trip to Seattle.

At 253 miles long, it is the longest rails to trails conversion in the United States.  Today my friend Julie and I would be riding the most popular section, the 21 mile section from Cedar Falls to Hyak, including a ride through the pitch black 2.3 mile Issaquah Tunnel.

Neither Julie nor I have been biking many miles this year, but I've been riding more than Julie.  Despite the gentle grades of this Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, also known as the Milwaukee Road,  rails to trails conversion, she'd have her hands full.

It didn't help that we didn't start until noon, and she'd have to pedal harder than she's accustomed to.

We started off from Rattlesnake Lake.

There were Mountain Thrushes, Northern Flickers, finches and wrens all around.  The fall woods reminded me of times with my dad many years ago. Today we'd not be hunting for deer or elk, instead we'd just keep pedaling along.

 

 

Despite the gentle grade, Julie was not having fun. She soldiered on but with noticeable grumbling.

We came across some people who were climbing a significantly steeper grade than we were.

By the time we had traveled 12 miles, near Carter Creek, Julie had enough and turned around.  Never having seen Issaquah Tunnel, I continued on.  I reached an area prone to avalanches.

An Avalanche Chute up close

Before too long I reached the tunnel.

I mounted my headlight and started into the darkness.

About half way through I doused the light, just to see how dark it was.

It was dark!

I finally reached the other end, Hyak.  I pedaled around a bit.  The parking lot was huge, evidently part of a ski resort. I thought that there had to be some services there, even in the off season, but I did not see any.

I played tourist for a bit.

Knowing that Julie was probably waiting at Cedar Falls for me, I decided that I should get going.

I got back on the path, turned on the headlight, and pedaled back through the blackness.  I put the pedals spinning and was making good time.  More downhill than up helped.

I got back to the avalanche zone again soon.

It took me less than 70 minutes to cover the 21 miles back to Cedar Falls.

It was a good ride, and really nice to see the countryside and tunnel.  The mountain bike was an interesting mode of transportation.  Faster turning than my road bike, the full suspension smoothed out the bumps, and the 2" wide slicks smoothed the ride out even more.  It felt like riding on pillows. Fun!


.......Road bike........Rollers.......MTB.......Lifecycle....Total
Today........0...............0..............43..............0..............43
Jan..........765.............0..............0..............0.............765
Feb..........248............0..............0..............0..............248
March......183...........0...............0.............0...............183
April........228...........0...............0.............0...............228
May.........200............0..............0.............0...............200
June.........199...........0...............26...........0...............225
July..........246...........0...............0.............0...............246
August.....502...........0...............0.............0...............502
Sept..........391...........0..............43............0...............434
Total........2962.........0...............69............0..............3031