Day 7

79.25 miles, almost 3,000’ of ascent. 416 miles so far…

3 additional riders ended up staying in the same motel as us last night. Alex and Alex, who we had passed on the trail earlier in the day and Jeff, who we had run across when we got into town. Jeff is taking a rest day and will resume tomorrow. Alex and Alex were going to leave a little later than us and maybe leap frog during the day. 

Cam has joined us; he’s an 11th grader at the school and I’m proud of him taking on this challenge.

We left Ellensburg just before 8am, again on the Palouse to Cascades trail.The gravel was definitely looser as we passed Kitittas and started up the grade before it drops to the Columbia River.

Right after crossing over Interstate 90 on an impressive railroad trellis, it got really sandy and pedaling became an effort every stroke. We are now also in the dry air and warmer temps, a definite contrast from the first five days. We chugged along, talked to a few bike packers that were going the other way, and finally made it to the Boylson Tunnel (which was closed) and hit our high point. Then it was a long descent down- the road went through sections being sandy and firm; in all the road cut sections through the hills, the rail-bed has just been scraped to clear all the larger rocks that had eroded on to it; instead of dodging big rocks we were on a really hard and rough surface that put the loaded mountain bikes to the test.

After crossing the beautiful Beverly bridge over the Columbia River, we met a pack of dogs on the way down to the gas station south of Beverly. About six of them and sprayed them off with water.

Ate a ton at the 76 station, then started the long slog toward Othello. Lots of bugs along Crab Creek, so stopping was at the minimum. 

We started looking for a campsite about 15 miles from town, but nothing looked good, so we ended up pedaling into town about sunset. Not having planned on getting this far, I decided to go the fire station to ask if there was a place we could set up tents for a few hours. 

We met Gary and his wife Tiffany at the back of the station. In a short conversation, Jeff found out they had a lot of friends in common. In fact, the younger brother of a friend from high school works for Gary, who is the fire chief at the station! They invited us to set up tents in their yard, pulled out an extension cord, water bottles, lawn chairs, use of the bathroom…like we were long time friends. And Troy, the younger brother who knows Jeff shows up. We sat around the front yard until 10:30 chatting and connecting, especially Jeff and Troy.

Cam did amazing! Just a hair under 80 miles is by far the longest distance he has ridden in a day. We can do this!