Day 9: Ellensburg, WA

Day 9: Ellensburg

We stayed up last night watching an episode of “Supergirl,” before turning in for the night. As is our habit, we woke up around 6:30, but didn’t want to wake up our roommates, so we walked down to the diner for some breakfast. We each ordered an omelet, and French toast and biscuits and gravy as sides. The portions were huge, and we were going to need to convert that food into energy to climb 20 miles up Blewitt Pass.

The sun was shining, and we all packed up and got ready to go together. It was fun riding as a group of four, but soon enough, Matt and I pulled back a little and Kevin and Ellie pulled ahead. I’m still coughing a lot, which slows me down, and my leg is still bothering me, but Matt took pretty much all the weight from my bike today to try to give my leg a little rest.

The climb up to Blewett Pass was gentle but steady, for twenty miles. We started on the shoulder of US 97, but took the cutoff for the old pass about 5 miles from the top. (For future cyclists, Old Belwett Rd is clearly marked, not the unmarked road closed sign that we pedaled a bit up first) Old Belwett Road was perfect: no cars, quiet, nicely graded, additionally the pavement is in surprisingly good condition. We almost got to the top before we needed to eat lunch, so we paused on a lookout and enjoyed the perfect quiet of the pine forest.

Then it was a steady climb up to the top of the pass, around 4,000 feet. We spotted a sign at the top that said the area was scheduled for controlled burns, which was good, because as we were enjoying the brisk downhill, we rode past said burns and generally smelled a campfire sort of smoke smell. It’s pretty cool how they do it, and the forest definitely seems happy with how the forest service is managing it.

Alas, our private road had to come to an end, but once we rejoined US 97, it was still a nice downhill ride with a wide shoulder to the Liberty turn off, and then one last climb up to several massive wind turbines before downhill the rest of the way into Ellensburg. We spotted Ellie and Kevin climbing the hill ahead of us, but we don’t think they saw us, and we never could catch up. Ah, well. I’m sure we’ll run into them further down the road.

After the pine forests filling most of the day the dry grass land made the afternoon seem very desoltate and we pushed against the standard afternoon headwinds, which made even traveling downhill take more energy than normal, so by the time we made it into town, we had a decision to make. The RV park website proudly advertised no showers and only porta-potties. Or, we could find a cheap hotel for the night and get rested up for tomorrow.

We got checked into the Days Inn (great customer service!) and showered, wandered over to the local restaurant, and enjoyed the daily special which was 2 bacon-cheeseburgers with bottomless fries for $13. Finally, we started to feel like complete humans again. Here’s to hoping for a restful night’s sleep.

ACA Correction: it is no longer left turn to stay on highway 97, it is a right exit from the 2.

Distance: 53.13

Average: 9.4

Max: 26.4 darn wind

Climb: 3713ft

Time: 5:35:49

Kevin & Ellie pedaling off ahead of us

The views for most of our climb today, a creek next to the road.

A bit of information about Blewett

Old Blewett Road, still in good condition, and very quiet

An HDR to try to capture the day

It is fall here

Pam near the top of Old Blewett Pass

Controlled burns by the forest department

Pam climbing for the last time

Certainly are amazing to see them towring over the landscape.