I was interested in some climbing and i love the mountains, Nadine is signed up a charity ride with three mountain passes so she needed some training. The North Cascades is a stunningly gorgeous area in the big mountains. It's a bit of a challenge to keep track of the snow clearing operation on the highway and time it so you get out there when the road is clear of snow and rock (and snowplows!), but the gate hasn't opened yet. This year was more compelling than usual because, sadly, they plan to replace the nice smooth pavement with chipseal in the next few months. In the end we decided it was just too far: close to four hours in the car each way! But Nadine had the brilliant idea to try to ride BOTH Blewett Passes, new and old!
New Blewett Pass, actually Swauk Pass, but what everyone calls Blewett Pass, is a 2 lane highway (US highway 97), a busy north south connector east of the crest of the Cascade Mountains; i've cycled it several times. Old Blewett Pass is a lightly maintained, paved, but rarely used pass that the highway crossed decades ago. It's semi legendary in the cycling community and i had never been on it. Both are nice mountain passes, not nearly as far from Seattle. And they're not a high as the North Cascades -- better on our legs early in the year.
They are considerably closer to Seattle, but it's still a bit of a drive up there, i was thankful to Nadine for driving. After a lunch in Cle Eleum we parked near the bottom of the pass and prepared for our ride.
The climb on the highway was not bad. The shoulders were wide and although the traffic was heavy, there was construction behind us with a flagger, so the cars and trucks came in waves, with quiet periods between. While the cars could be scary, we found the trucks to be very professional and courteous... except for one Washington Department of Transportation dump truck which decided that bicyclists on the shoulder was an opportunity to try to nick some elbows.
We took frequent short breaks at slow vehicle pull-outs. At our first rest, Linda showed off her water bottle shaped iPod speaker system.
It was dry at first and i started out in shorts, but about halfway up the rain started. When it cooled down i put bike tights on. The rain was not unpleasant except for the spray when a big RV passed us.
It's a short climb, only 6 miles, and we did it pretty quickly. Our new cyclist Karen proved to be a very strong climber (we weren't surprised!). I got a photo of her topping the pass.
Then followed the obligatory top of the pass photos:
The rain got considerably heavier on our long, five mile descent. The scenery was beautiful, and i do love the rain, but i have to say, this was a very challenging descent. The speed, the rain, the heavy car traffic, the spray from the cars, the debris on the road required extreme focus for 10 or 15 minutes. We were all a bit frazzled after that. And those without fenders had pretty good mud stripes up their backs!
Instead of riding the 18 miles down the mountain to Leavenworth, we turned on Scotty Creek Road, almost a U turn, and suddenly found ourselves in a beautiful river valley. The rain stopped pretty much right after we turned. An old beat up pickup with a camper on the back turned on to the road right in front of us. After 10 minutes it came back passed us as it returned the highway -- i guess they decided this wasn't the road for them. That was the last car we saw for the rest of the day!!
This old road would take us back to where we parked, but Dennis and Linda couldn't quite decide which way we should go! (Either way meant going up and over the mountain!) Climbing on this peaceful, pretty mountain road was glorious. I really enjoyed it.
The road was easily passable, but it was not well maintained. Descending this would have been quite a challenge, and i was a little worried about when we headed down the other side, but climbing it was fine. The rockfalls just added to the fun.
Partway up the mountain, Linda's saddle broke! The plastic in the seat cracked which meant the saddle wouldn't stay flat, so she was sliding off the side of it. Well, we make do with what we have, so i devised a fancy road fix for her. We had rocks. Lots of them. I stuck a rock between the seat rail and the plastic shell of the saddle. It took a few tries to find the ideal sized rock, but once we did, the fix worked! It held the rest of the day perfectly. I was excited.
The road cut sometimes went sharply through the side of the mountain. I was fascinated by this tree root searching, searching, searching for some soil, for some water.
And there were several places where rocks had long ago fallen. The hole left by the boulder that dropped out of this spot dwarfs Dennis!
About halfway up we came across a fairly major rockfall.
The climbing was very pleasant. Further up the mountain there was a tree across the road -- clearly cars had passed through, so it wasn't a problem, but it sure was fun to climb right through the tree!!
I dropped back a bit when i stopped to take my tights off -- the sun had come out and my UW surplus bike-cop shorts were all i needed. Looking up through the switchbacks i caught a glimpse of Linda and Karen pushing up towards the top of the pass.
Twice during the ride up we saw very large Elk in the woods, one of the we startled and then she startled us as she ran away. I'm pretty quick with the camera, it stays in my jersey pocket and i can grab a quick snap. Needless to say i wasn't quick enough for the Elk!
At the top of the valley we started seeing a few cabins, and what looked like a camp or resort. It's a beautiful spot.
Linda reaches the top of her second pass of the day!
The road down was clear and smooth, wide curves and no cars. A really fun descent. Nadine and i stopped at one of the bigger switchbacks to get a view of highway 97, where her car was, below.
A smooth, fast descent and we were back at the car and ready for the drive back home. It was a great ride, not very long, only 25 miles, and not very hard, i was much more tired two days earlier after riding the 8 person pedal powered truck 7 miles! Here are the maps:
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