The pedestrian bridge at NE 80th St in Kirkland has been closed indefinitely because of recently discovered damage. Four permanents are affected. Rerouting is fairly easy using NE 85th St or NE 70th Pl–NE 72nd Pl–NE 68th St. NE 85th St is not recommended due to construction.
Thanks to fantastic work by government agencies and independent organizations a bypass trail around the large slide that closed the trail between Rattlesnake Lake and Olallie State Park officially opens on June 5. Additionally the damaged sections at Carter Creek and west of Lake Easton have been repaired. All permanents using the trail will be rideable starting June 5. Several permanents that start at Olallie State Park and Hyak are already rideable. (All pending reactivation by RUSA).
The bypass trail is narrow. Washington State Parks asks that you walk your bike on the bypass.
There are reports of loose gravel in the Whittier Tunnel, aka tunnel 49, west of Lake Easton.
3653 Iron Horse Trail 4180 Wet Side-Dry Side 4882 Snoqualmie Valley, Middle Fork, Snoqualmie Tunnel 5081 Iron Horse & Middle Fork 5115 Three Lakes and a Tunnel 5175 The Real Northern Exposure 5789 The Shortened Real Northern Exposure 5790 Homestead Valley-Easton on the Iron Horse Trail
Thanks to Dave Harper for alerting me to this news.
Comments Off on Palouse to Cascades Trail reopens early
On June 1 King County will close the ELST through the end of the year for the George Davis Creek culvert replacement project. The location is midway between NE Inglewood Hill Rd and Louis Thompson Rd NE.
The trail will be completely severed during construction. Riders will have to detour to the adjacent East Lake Sammammish Parkway, if it too is not closed. A large number of permanent routes are affected.
According to King County, there will not be a bicycle detour. Typically this means no accommodation will be made for bikes on the road, such as a coned-off lane or wayfinding detour signs.
The culvert under East Lake Sammammish Parkway will also be replaced. The status of the Parkway during construction is unclear. Official messaging has been inconsistent. The latest verbal information an SIR member obtained from the City of Sammammish is that the road will remain open. Likely there will be delays at the construction zone.
Presuming the Parkway remains open, riders can detour on the Parkway. We do not know exactly where the north and south ends of the closure will be, so right now cannot recommend where to exit to the Parkway and later return to the trail. Keep in mind property owners adjacent to the trail are jealous of their private roads and driveways.
In the event the Parkway is entirely closed, riders will have to climb and descend Louis Thompson and Inglewood Hill Rds along with detoured car traffic. In this case, routes not using the ELST will be more attractive.
Update 5/2/26: The closure east of Hyak is still in place.
Update 5/1/26: The closure east of Hyak has been lifted.
For us on the west side of the Cascades, riding season on the Palouse to Casades Trail traditionally starts with the Snoqualmie Tunnel opening on May 1. But randonneuring season the trail will be delayed this year. The P2C trail suffered impassable damage in several places during the ’25-’26 winter. Initially the outlook was dismal; significant repairs were not expected to be possible this year. Fortunately major work is underway. The full trail should be rideable later in summer.
Rattlesnake Lake to Snoqualmie Tunnel
A widely-reported landslide in December 2025 severed the trail between Rattlesnake Lake and the Mt Washington trailhead in Olallie State Park. Initially repair was not anticipated this year. But thanks to Washington State Parks, the Washington State Parks Foundation, Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, and King County a temporary bypass is being constructed. The bypass is anticipated to open after June 15.
Additional damage farther up the trail caused a second closure beginning near Carter Creek Campground and extending to the tunnel. Repairs to this section are paused because crews and equipment were diverted for higher-priority repair of severe damage near Lake Easton. A reopening date for the Carter Creek closure is unknown presently.
Until these repairs are finished, riding any permanents that use the trail between Rattlesnake Lake and the tunnel is either impossible or requires unattractive detours on I-90.
04882 – Snoqualmie Valley, Middle Fork, Snoqualmie Tunnel is unrideable because the control at the tunnel cannot be reached.
All other routes on the trail can bypass the closures by riding on I-90. Why a person would want to trade quiet forest and easy railroad grades for miles of proximity to roaring freeway traffic with steep climbing eludes me, but here are considerations if you want to do this: Bypassing the Olallie closure on the freeway shortens routes about 7.5 miles each way. Riders would have to free-route another 15 miles on the out-and-back routes to ride the required distances. National Forest Roads below the freeway bypass the damaged area near Carter Creek. However, a portion of the detour would be on Road 58 which is one-way uphill only. Riding westbound you would have to descend on I-90.
Prior to learning about the second closure and the damage east of the tunnel, two routes starting at Olallie State Park were created, but are moot until all repairs are finished:
05790 – Homestead Valley-Easton on the Iron Horse Trail
05789 – The Shortened Real Northern Exposure
Information about the current condition of this part of the trail is available at the WA State Parks P2C West page.
East of Snoqualmie Tunnel
Update 5/3/26: The P2C Central page has been updated to state the trail is still closed from Monahan Rd to Stampede Pass Rd. This is a shorter section than indicated on the map below, but still means you cannot ride from Hyak to Lake Easton.
Update 5/1/26: The closure between Hyak and Lake Easton has been lifted. The state of the trail surface is unknown. Loose gravel has been reported in the Whittier Tunnel.
04509 Cle Elum-Hyak-Cle Elum should be rideable now.
04162 Hyak-Stampede & Tacoma Passes-Lake Easton will be rideable once the high country melts out
The section below is now out of date still relevant.
A landslide on March 23, 2026, east of Hyak damaged the trail, the railroad, and power lines west of Lake Easton. The trail is closed at the west from the Whittier Tunnel (aka Tunnel 49), to the east at Monahan Rd. The only detour is 7 miles on I-90, including a construction zone with skinny shoulders. Repairs in this area are anticipated to be complete around the beginning of June. Recent reports are that the construction zone is rideable, but you should check with the P2C Central office whether the trail is open during work hours.
High river flow during the storms in December 2025 scoured and destabilized the embankment that carries the Cedar River Trail about three miles from the trail’s eastern end at Landsburg. The embankment and trail surface have eroded significantly in the last month. The trail will likely collapse soon. Crossing the closed section of the trail is far too dangerous, despite local residents continuing to walk and bike across it.
Most people were probably unaware the trail was so close to the river here.
Google Street View
King County has furnished no information about repairs. Given that the embankment is not a levee protecting a flood zone, repairing the trail probably has low priority. Fortunately the damaged section can be bypassed on residential streets:
RWGPS Cycle map
Four permanents have been rerouted. The routes are slightly shorter and lost some gravel credit, but gained a 15% surprise.
0401 Leschi-Auburn-Leschi
0848 Mercer Island-Selleck
1076 Southern Exposure
5709 Cedar River Wilderness Run
Comments Off on Rerouting near the east end of the Cedar River Trail
The last mile or so of the Snoqualmie Valley Trail is closed to bicycles and pedestrians very close to Rattlesnake Lake. The trail is being used for vehicle access to residences on Edgewick Rd while Edgewick is being repaired. Edgewick is not a detour option. The SVT should reopen in early April according to King County.
Detour options are not good. The route beginning with 136th Ave SE at I-90 is strongly discouraged due to extreme grades, poor sightlines, and fast drivers. A safer option is to follow permanent 4078 Snakebit backwards from North Bend. This is a substantially more difficult route than the SVT’s nice railroad grade. The best option is probably to choose other routes while the SVT is closed.
Note that permanents continuing up the Palouse to Cascades Trail (Iron Horse) past Rattlesnake Lake are deactivated due to the serious washout that occurred in December. The rideability of most of those routes is moot anyway while the Snoqualmie Tunnel is closed for winter.
Comments Off on Snoqualmie Valley Trail Closure near Rattlesnake Lake
You will encounter “Bike Detour” signs at several locations on the route. Ignore all of them. They appear to be for the questionable benefit of unfortunate cyclists riding on I-90, directing them around the construction zones and back to I-90. Ignore all BIKE DETOUR signs.
The Route
From Pioneer Coffee the route reaches the Palouse to Cascades Trail in about 1.4 miles. From there it follows the trail directly to Hyak almost entirely on gravel. This part of the P2C is more exposed than the trail on the west side of the Snoqualmie Tunnel. Be prepared for sunny conditions.
Do not be dismayed if your speed seems impaired. Gravel is slow, the route climbs almost the entire way at a railroad grade, much of it too shallow for a GPS to detect, and you may be heading into the Snoqualmie Scirocco. (Cliff Maas explains the wind.) Enjoy the often quiet setting, the absence of cars, the open fields, the forests, the river views, and your fellow riders. Carry more water than you think you should need. Keep in mind the gravel time allowance gives you an hour and a half more time than the same distance entirely on pavement. Think about the return trip: How often do our routes finish downhill with a tailwind?
There are two tunnels on the way to Hyak. Both are short enough that lights are not needed. In fact, you will exit them before your eyes can adjust. The surface in the tunnels is rougher than the trail out in the open. There are no serious potholes but be prepared to absorb surprise roller coaster bumps and dips.
At several bridges the bridge deck sits an inch or two above the dirt trail. Be careful at these transitions not to flat or dent a rim.
No services are available on the way to Hyak. There are a few pit toilets at irregular intervals.
There are numerous gates to go around. They are all well marked with reflective material. One gate in particular, at the site of a double railroad crossing at 12.8 miles, has some loose gravel in the path around the gate.
The first info control is at Hyak. Hyak has nice restrooms and a water station on the north side of the building. From Hyak you head back to Cle Elum.
On the way back the route turns off the P2C into Lake Easton State Park on a pleasant trail through forest. Take it easy as there may be families with small children. At the info control you can enjoy scenic views of the lake. A little farther there is a nice Park restroom and water just off the route, noted in the cues.
After the Park the route goes through the small town of Easton. You might want to grab a bite at Spur Burger (the only option for resupply that I could see).
Leaving Easton the route rejoins the P2C trail. Now downhill, and possibly with a sprightly tailwind, you should make good time back to Cle Elum. The old Cle Elum train depot heralds the turn off the trail and arrival in Cle Elum.
The Finish
The finish at Mule & Elk is in a construction disaster zone. Look for the large wooden beer mug on the right. Walk your bike over the steel plate, or whatever pathway leads across the construction zone that day, and make your way to the brewpub.
Comments Off on 2024 Summer Gravel Populaire Pre-ride Report
Starting February 1, 2024, gravel credit and timing will apply to permanents with unpaved portions! Relaxed timing should open up new terrain and gnarlier routes should become accessible to a wider variety of riders.
Gravel Timing
An extra minute is allowed to complete a route for every kilometer of gravel. The extra time allowance is computed by adding up all the gravel segments in a route, then dropping any fractional kilometer. (Ride with GPS displays the summary unpaved distance.) For example, at the minimum average speed of 15 kph, a 200 km route has a basic time allowance of 4 min/km, or 800 minutes. If the route has gravel segments of 20.6 km and 2.2 km, the sum is 22.8 km. Thus the extra time is 22 minutes. The total time limit is 822 minutes or 13 hours 42 minutes. This is the same rule that has been used for RUSA gravel brevets and populaires.
RUSA’s RwGPS routes contain the overall time limit in the final cue. Presently the time limit is based on 4 min/km. After Feb 1 the volunteers will begin updating gravel routes with the extra time allowance. It will take some time to work through all the routes. If you are unsure whether a time limit has been updated, you can check it yourself with the method described above.
RUSA’s results logger, where you enter your elapsed time, has been updated with gravel distances. It will know the correct time limit regardless of whether the time limit in the RwGPS route has been updated.
Gravel Credit
Gravel permanent kilometers will be tracked in your results and apply toward gravel awards.
Checking for Gravel
To check whether a route is a gravel route, use the Permanents Search function at rusa.org > Permanents > Search. The results will list unpaved distance. For example, searching WA routes of 100-199 km gives:
Baked Goods and Cle Elum-Hyak-Cle Elum contain unpaved distance, so you would get gravel credit and timing for riding them.
A route is a gravel route only if the RUSA database says so!
RwGPS might say a route has unpaved distance yet RUSA does not show any unpaved distance. Reasons could be:
The route was overlooked and needs to be updated as a gravel route.
The route is known to be entirely paved. RwGPS’ surface-type data is flawed and has not been corrected.
Gravel Errors
Surface-type information comes from the crowd-sourced Open Street Map project. Surface-type data is missing or incorrect for some roads, leading to errors in unpaved distance. If you notice errors when riding, such as unmapped unpaved segments, or incorrect unpaved distance, you can report errors with the form at rusa.org > Permanents > Permanent Route Update Request. (If you’re really dedicated, you can also correct OpenStreetMap yourself. Then routes created in the future will have the right surface type.)
The Interurban bike bridge over the Green River in Kent near S 256th St appears to have been damaged by a vehicle. The bridge is just south of where the Green River Trail terminates at the Interurban Trail. Hopefully the damage is light and the bridge will not be closed for long. Detouring is not difficult – plan ahead.
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A small change has been made at the start due to changing traffic patterns in North Bend. The ride now accesses the trail via Ballarat Ave. (The same change has been made to the Permanent.)
The start and finish will be run differently for this ride. Late starts will not be accommodated. The organizer intends to join the ride. The start will close whenever he gets all the start materials put away.
Proof of finishing and proof of passage will be entirely by electronic means. The finish will not be staffed. When you finish, or if you DNF, text the organizer (me) with your name. This provides the confirmation RUSA wants that you are off the course. If you do not text within a reasonable period after the time limit, I will call your emergency contact. We don’t want that, do we?
Proof of passage will be by providing a gps track in Ride with GPS. Upload your ride to RwGPS, then report the link to the ride on a Google Form that will be made available on the SIR ride page and on an informational card you will get at the start.
Comments Off on 2023 Summer Populaire — Iron Horse Trail
