When I write that date I remember that it’s my maternal grandfather’s birthday. Don’t quiz me on how old he’d be as I have no idea. He passed away when I was 14 or 15 (probably about 1967) and I think he was probably in his early- or mid-60s. Here’s a photo of him with me from September 1952.
I started packing after I showered and was pretty much done in time to have breakfast with my mom. We had fruit bowls and oatmeal. It was drizzling out side but just a bit. I got the bike loaded and we did our goodbyes and off I went. For the upper body, I zipped my rain liner into my jacket and worn long sleeve shirt and a sweat shirt. Lower body was Levis, riding pants, and rain pants. My cold weather gloves were in order. I felt pretty good.
The drizzle turned to rain a ways down the road and then got heavy before Bremerton. No big deal as I am VERY experienced riding in the rain after the last 2 years of adventures. I stopped for gas in Bremerton. It lightened up after that and the next adventure was the Tacoma Narrows bridge. I had $20 ready to go in my tank bag and the transaction to give me change for the $5.50 toll didn’t take long. I pulled over to the side and got my tank bag’s rain cover back in place before continuing on.
I stopped in Federal Way to use the rest area and then dove back into the traffic.
I continued south and only got the occasional sprinkle. I finally got on Hwy 410 that would take me through Mount Rainier National Park and over Chinook Pass. The traffic was from very light to non-existent. The temperature dropped to 50 as I went over the pass. With the cloud cover I never saw Rainier so just kept riding but did stop on the way down from the pass for a photo or two.
Some video of this part of the ride:
Once I went over the pass, the atmosphere changed dramatically: smoke and lots of it. I saw signs indicating that there were many closures due to the fire in the area. My eyes burned and my throat felt raspy.
I stopped along the way to look at a list of closure in the area, posted on a fire road. I didn’t see my campground listed.
However, every campground I passed was closed and when I arrived at mine, Sawmill Flat, it was closed as well. I pulled in to the Mather Highway interpretive exhibit across the way and took a break.
No problem. My backup plan was to ride to Yakima and go up Yakima Canyon and camp where I did on the way out here. Once out of the mountains, the speed went up into the low-60s and I just cruised through the big sweepers along the river.
In Yakima I stopped for gas and that was a pain. The first station appeared to be abandoned and taken over by the unhoused. The next one seemed OK but I couldn’t get it to dispense fuel. It had one of those vapor recovery nozzles and even though I drew it back, it wouldn’t deliver unless I inserted it flush to the tank. However, by then the nozzle was in the fuel already in the tank and it shut off. I gave up and went down 1st Street a ways and found a station without those nozzles and all went well.
Now it was just a matter of riding up Yakima Canyon to the Umatanum Recreation Area and choosing a site.
There are only two other campers here and I chose site #5, paid my $7.50 and got the tent set up and the bike unloaded.
It was a hot and dusty trail and I’d brought along a nice IPA I picked up in Sequim to wash that dirt down while I wrote this blog entry.
It was a 257 mile day and about 7 hours.
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