My Adventure Buddy, Jana, and I planned our second annual Memorial Day Bikepacking Trip, this time, up the Columbia River Gorge to Lyle, and the Klickitat Trail. We tried to get others to come with us, and Stephanie will be joining us tomorrow night, but no one else was available for some potentially Type 2 fun.
I found a route on Bikepacking.com called the Klickitat Overnighter. But, at 46 miles, it wasn’t really long enough. It also didn’t include the Swale Canyon part of the Trail. So, I took part of OMTM’s Swale 80 Route, and the Klickitat Overnighter, and mashed them together to make a 70 mile figure 8 route, with camping in the middle of the figure 8.
Jana and I drove from Olympia this morning, leaving at 10:30. It was 3:00 by the time we arrived at the Trailhead in Lyle. We did stop to check out the view at Cape Horn.
Very nice view from Cape Horn.
It took another hour or so to get the bikes all loaded and ready to go.
Billy is ready.
Jana is almost ready.
The Klickitat River at the trailhead.
After a couple of issues we were on our way.
Very briefly paved, then gravel.
Here we go!
The Klickitat Trail is an old rail bed. It has been improved and maintained as a recreational trail. Some parts are better than others with double track. Other parts are more of a rocky singletrack. But both Jana and I decided it wasn’t too technical for our loaded hardtails.
Amazing Gorge down below.
The Fisher Bridge over the gorge.
Singletrack.
We were riding through open range, so we saw numerous cows and claves on the trail. We asked nicely for them to moooove. One cow and two calves decided to guide us up the trail. They finally decided we could navigate on our own.
Can we come through please?
It was 15 miles to Ice House CG (a free campground on the Klickitat River). The old Ice House building is still there. It used to produce dry ice from CO2 extracted from a mineral spring that is not far from here. We had a tailwind the entire way.
We weren’t sure if there would be space since it is Memorial Day weekend, but there was plenty.
Our campsite. We will stay here both nights. That means we get to ride unloaded tomorrow through Swale Canyon. Stephanie will meet us here tomorrow night (she will ride from Lyle like we did today).
We filtered water from the river, cooked our dinners, and now I’m listening to the crickets and the river from my tent. Tomorrow the adventure continues. Oh, and there is poison oak everywhere. Must be careful!
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