June 2, 2023
Yin and Yang, Ups and Downs
Quote of the day:
It never always gets worse. Ian Walker.
Yin and Yang. I never could figure out which is good and which is bad, which is positive and which is negative. Or maybe they are both positive and negative, depending on your outlook. See, this trip is already paying off. I have become enlightened. Thank you Mr Buddha.
So today I woke at 4:45 Pacific time and couldn’t go back to sleep. My warm showers host was not yet awake and needing groceries I snuck out of the house to fetch them at the local GFC, owned I guess by Kroger. They opened at 5! I got there a little after six and bought several tuna pouches, a package of tortillas, dried Asian noodles teriyaki, peanut butter, and honey. I also got a chicken salad sandwich for breakfast along with chocolate milk. I guess that’s the yin part, maybe the Yang, I don’t know. What I do know is that it made me happy that I was stocked with food in case I needed it. The other side of the coin is that when I arrived at my campsite this evening I added water to the noodles to hydrate them, and set up a couple packets of tuna to add later. Unfortunately, when I got back from the showers, a small red squirrel had eaten one of the packets of tuna and stolen all of the tortillas. He returned several times to torment me. So to keep him away from my campsite, I spread a handful of crackers and snacks throughout the woods away from where I was staying. Let’s hope it works. I have heard horror stories of squirrels chew through tents to get to food.
So the other Yin Yang story for today is that it took me six hours to go 26 miles climbing 2500 feet on a gravel rail trail. At the top was the Snoqualmie tunnel and an incredible view of the surrounding snow covered peaks and the valley below. Before entering the cold tunnel, I ate lunch and let the sweat on my clothes dry. This tunnel must be at least a mile and a half long and is a constant 45° inside. It’s a pretty spooky place especially when you don’t have a super bright headlight. The walls are dripping with water and stained by the minerals percolating through the concrete. In the dim light, I could swear there was zombies coming out of the concrete walls. I sang my anti-zombie song, and it seem to work. I don’t think they appreciate poor singing.
So the trip up to the tunnel was tough even though the incline was no greater than three or 4% most times. It was the fact that it went on for 26 miles that killed my legs and willpower. The other part of that story is that once through the tunnel, it was all downhill to the next town where I was camping. Easton Washington is pretty small and I don’t know that I would even call it a town. It is surrounded on one side by the Yakima river and the other side by I 90. As I type this, I can hear the constant roar of the highway traffic. In fact I could hear it almost the entire trip as this route follows I 90 or vice versa. Beautiful mountains and forest ruined by the sound of high speed highway traffic. See, there’s another yin yang.
So the state park campground is pretty nice. Shaded with beautiful trees, ferns and Trillium. In Washington state state parks that have campgrounds have to take hikers and bikers even if they don’t have any campsites left. Fortunately, both the designated hiker biker sites were not being used. Of course they were just barely big enough for my tent and bike. But that’s OK. What’s not OK is that the bathrooms are a fair hike and the toilets aren’t working. The next bathroom is another even further hike away. Additionally, the showers are filthy. Today is Friday and I’m sure there were very few campers here all week. Typically these places fill up for the weekend and empty out on Sunday evening. Why someone couldn’t clean the showers anticipating the arrival of the weekend crowd I don’t know. But either way the hot shower felt good.
So tomorrow I’ll try to make it to Ellensburg which is a little over 50 miles, or the next state park campground, or the Columbia river which is a little over 60 miles. It should be all downhill and hopefully there will be a tail wind. Speaking of tails, mine is sore. I may need to take a day off just to let my bum heal. I’m sure you’re all interested so I’ll let you know and keep you up-to-date. In the meantime, I’m going to try to go to sleep. Even though it’s 8:22 in the evening. I still have Jetlag so it’s 1122 for me. See you tomorrow.
P S : I keep forgetting I’m supposed to add pictures, so here’s some pictures.
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Many old railroad trestle, span the streams and waterfalls that flow into the reservoirs.
there are hundreds of waterfalls feeding the reservoir. There’s at least one every quarter mile or so on the way up to the tunnel.
Can you see the climber?
One of several reservoirs that feed the city of Seattle
Today's ride: 47 miles (76 km)
Total: 95 miles (153 km)
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