Northern Tier, Section 1 2024 intermittent fire closure

[artzarko]

Highway 20 has been closed a couple times due to the easy pass fire about 17 miles west of Mazama. It is currently open, but at risk of closing again. I am about to head from Seattle to connect to the Northern Tier and would love any suggestions on route alternatives that are not so close to active fire. I'm not seeing any good alternative...

[John Nettles]

Sorry to hear about the fire.  My AK to Mexico trip got cancelled in BC last summer due to its widespread fires.  Smoke was a major PIA. 

Anyway, as you are aware, there really is not a close paved alternative.  If you decide to go for it, you may just have to wait a couple of days for the highway to reopen.  Perhaps call a busy local business (like a convenience store) on both sides of the closure and see what they say.

If you decide to do an alternate route, here are a few suggestions (you don't say if you do gravel but I have included that option):
1) Take the Palouse to Casades State Park Trail to the Sierra Cascade (SC) route then north to the NT route.  NOTE:  The trail is gravel and may not be suitable for narrow tires.  I have not ridden the trail so can not give valid knowledge of it.

2) Ride south to the Washington Parks Route and take it to the NT Route. There seems to be bike paths/routes for the first 45 miles or so and then popular county roads to WPR.

3) Take a train/rental car down to Portland and do the Lewis & Clark Route to the Sierra Cascade Route then north back to the NT. 

3) From Portland, take the L&C to Missoula then work your way up to the NT via the Great Parks North. 

4) Take a train from Seattle to Spokane ride north to NT.

None of these are great but all are better than ending the trip.  Hope you do indeed have a great tour! 

Tailwinds, John

[jamawani]

US 2 in central Washington is quite nice, although hot in midsummer.
US 2 west of the Cascades is quite challenging.

If you are interested, I can give you more details.
Starts in Mukilteo at the lighthouse park.
Snohomish River Road has light>moderate traffic.
Snohomish-Monroe Rd. has significant commuters during rush hours.
Use caution on Wallace River Bridge on US 2 E. of Startup.
Reiter Rd. and Index are sweet - with some great views.
(Avoids some very dangerous bridges on US 2)
US 2 narrow with guardrails and a short tunnel to Skykomish.
One more tricky bridge on US 2 E. of Sky .
Then a great stretch of the Old Cascade Hwy.
After that you can continue climbing on a rougher stretch -
Or take a wide, but busy US 2 over Stevens Pass.

(BTW - US 2 has twice as much traffic on weekends - all of Seattle)
(Worst time heading east - Fri. afternoon, Sat. morning)

Once you get on the east side US 2 has fair shoulder and less traffic.
Swing over to camp (?) on Lake Wenatchee.
Then back roads almost all the way to Wenatchee.
Some of the early apples and pears should be coming in - - yum!

Nice bike trail along the Columbia River.
Then a hefty, but gradual climb on US 2 to the Columbia Plateau and Waterville.
By now, US 2 has fairly light traffic and shoulders, too.
Camping on the lake at Coulee City.
Definitely worth the 2 miles south on Hwy 17 to Dry Falls overlook - esp. in late in the day.

Continuing on US 2 - light traffic - the old Almira Hotel, and the collapsing Govan schoolhouse.
Stock up in Wilbur, last good sized town for a while. Grocery store on west side of town.
Miles Creston Rd. to Fort Spokane, light traffic, roller coasters, but more down than up.
Hwy 25, light traffic, continues north along the Columbia to Kettle Falls and the NT.

Jama

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47806339





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[artzarko]

Thanks so much for these options! I think I am going to head on the route Jama suggested. It seems like the lowest risk given there are also fires nearish L&C.

I did take one of the best sections of the Palouse to Cascades on my way here and it was rough. One stretch was closed due to a fire and the only way around was a very large gravel road for around 10 miles. From reading other people's accounts, the trail is very difficult to ride even on a gravel bike and has many, many detours to roads of various qualities. I would advise against taking this trail if one has not planned for it in advance

[jamawani]

Hey Art -

I'd like to hear from you.
You're new at the website and I don't know your experience level.
US 2 is west of the Cascades is very challenging, but doable for an experienced touring cyclist.

You need to be willing to stop at narrow locations - bridges, the tunnel - and wait for a gap in traffic.
You need to be willing to go off the road if someone - esp. a truck - isn't giving you room.
You need to pick the best possible time of day for riding.
You need to have a mirror.
You need to turn the music off.

I have complained loudly to Washington State DOT.
They spend millions for roundabouts, but the road is inadequate for cyclists.
And Washington likes to think of itself as so bike-friendly.
Nearly all of the bridges on the west side date to the late 1930s or early 1940s.

So, I would appreciate some confirmation from you that you are aware of the challenges.
And - most definitely - that you will use extra caution.

Thanks - Jama

PS - And you will still be cursing me, regardless.

[jamawani]

Updated map with Caution points -

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47806339

[artzarko]

I am over 4,000 miles into this tour. I started from Chicago and went south to catch the Transam in Carbondale. Went east into KY to rock climb and then started back west through cities to connect to underground railroad. Went a bit north to take the Katy trail across MO and then the Eastern Express to get back to the Transam until Missoula. In Missoula I made the mistake of buying into the idea that it is reasonable to bike straight across MT, ID & WA on a good amount of bike infrastructure and ended up doing at least 100 miles of I90 including a couple narrow bridges along with a number of narrow shoulderless roads across WA. In the past, I have done 4 shorter tours, around 800 miles each, all originating and ending in Chicago. Cycling is also my main form of transportation, so I regularly ride throughout northern IL to get places. This is my first time using ACA routes, hence posts being recent.

WA has easily been the least bikable state I've been through. I wish they would stop advertising it as being oh so bike friendly because it definitely influenced my choice to bike through the state instead of taking L&C on the way in.

I understand the need to wait for gaps at pinch points and have gotten off the road my fair share of times.

Does route 2 continue to be high stress riding all the way through?  Up to say 120 miles of high stress riding sounds like a reasonable option, but if the full 300+ stays high traffic no shoulder I think that would be more than I want to head into.

[John Nettles]

Does route 2 continue to be high stress riding all the way through?  Up to say 120 miles of high stress riding sounds like a reasonable option, but if the full 300+ stays high traffic no shoulder I think that would be more than I want to head into.

One man's high stress may be 100 cars while another's 100k.  You might check out Washington's traffic volume map along with Google's streetview to see if YOU feel comfortable with US-2 or other roads. 

I personally generally prefer <2k on 2-lane roads without a shoulder and 6k with a 4-lane road since there is plenty of room for cars to pass.  For shoulders, I add 1k to 5k to the base number depending on the width of the shoulder for shoulders >1' wide. I usually only apply these counts where speeds are 50mph or more since speeds less than 50 typically are on the outskirts or in a town where traffic volume is just going to be higher. 

Washington's AADT Map: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?layers=754cdad74f5d4497b182eec711bd514a&layerId=0

Hope this helps, John

[jamawani]

Does route 2 continue to be high stress riding all the way through?  Up to say 120 miles of high stress riding sounds like a reasonable option, but if the full 300+ stays high traffic no shoulder I think that would be more than I want to head into.

Sounds like you will be fine.
Just don't want a newbie out there.

US 2 is great once you get to Stevens Pass and over to the east side.
From Lake Wenatchee south, there are mostly back road options.
They avoid some busy and gnarly stretches.
East of the Columbia River, US 2 is a cakewalk - -
but the short loops thru Almira and Govan offer nice breaks and add about 2 miles.

J