4B Day 10-Colockum Pass Continues to Deliver

Last night I did a new route over Colockum Pass (since we weren’t going the way it was originally planned). I figured we still had about 5 miles to the summit, but it wasn’t going to be as bad as the part we’ve already done. 

We took off at about 8:45. I was determined to ride as the road surface wasn’t too bad. Bob and Janet were walking. 

Not too bad!

Looking back. Bob and Janet are somewhere back there. 

I had to walk in some spots where the rocks were just too big to go over while going uphill. 

A little tired…

Overall, though, I rode more than I walked. I finally got to the summit at 10:40. 

The summit (no sign, unfortunately)

I sat down to wait for Bob and Janet. I had a snack, did some stretching, read my book, still no Bob and Janet. I wasn’t really surprised because I figured they were doing a lot more walking than I had to. 

It was windy and pretty chilly, even with the sun. After an hour, I was starting to get cold. I decided to start going down. There was a guy with a camp trailer sitting in a lawn chair. I told him there were two more coming, and if he saw them to tell them I waited an hour, and was cold.

I started the descent with my puffy jacket on. It was still pretty rocky, and everything was bouncing around pretty good. I let more air out of the tires, but it was still a wild ride. It was, however, much more fun going down than up. 

Still pretty rocky. 

Some fun downhill!

This was even more fun!

I came out to pavement still going downhill. I really didn’t have any idea where I was in relation to Ellensburg. I just followed the route. At one point, I was supposed to turn onto a gravel road that went along a canal. Even though the gate was open, it said no trespassing. Since there was an easy way around, I decided (for once) to heed the no trespassing. 

I stopped to see how close I would be coming to the University. Pretty close! When I got to Alder, I knew where I was, so I headed to the Music Building to take a photo for my son, Nolan. He graduated from CWU in Cello Performance. 

I sent it to Nolan. 

I was pretty hungry, and there was a Subway nearby, but it was closed. I rode through campus (the route took me that way). I popped out onto Business 90. I knew there was the Red Horse Diner on 90. When I pulled up, and went to go in, the door wouldn’t open. But, turns out it was just sticky. Yay! I’ve messaged Bob to tell him the cafe he wanted to go to (Yellow Church Cafe) is permanently closed, but they’d be going right by the Red Horse. 

Red Horse Diner. 

Now, I’ll continue to the KOA. It’s not far…