Back to the Dry Side

A bit of rain overnight and the roads were still a bit wet this morning.  Low hanging clouds, mist and chilly temps - classic mountain weather..........  Seems everyone learned their lesson yesterday and warm clothing was abundantly displayed this morning.  In spite of the limited distant views this morning, it was a really pretty ride.  By day's end we were in dramatically different scenery than yesterday.  Yesterday was all about rain forest - big tall trees, moss covering everything, a thick undergrowth of ferns and greeeeeeeen everywhere.  By the end of today's ride we were back on the east side of the mountains and into almost desert-like landscapes.

The first 19 miles today was pretty much uphill - to White Pass.  Sometimes gentle and sometimes a little steeper, but nothing annoyingly steep.  No distant views, but great close-up views of deep gorges, raging creeks and tree-covered slopes.  We were verrry close to Mt. Rainier (highest peak in the Cascade Range at 14,122').  Just as yesterday when we were very close to Mt. St. Helen's, we really would have had no clue if not for the signage.  Also saw some evidence of recent snow at higher elevations - probably yesterday.

A construction delay on the way up, but the lady manning the stop sign gave us a heads up on a viewpoint to lovely Clear Creek waterfalls with Rimrock Lake (reservoir) in the distance.

Long downhill after White Pass - in fact it seemed that most of the next 50 miles was downhill, largely with the wind; so nice!  In no time we were down to lake level, the dam and a short tunnel.  Already we can see the change in scenery.  In several places today I saw these examples of columnar basalt (created by ancient lava flows) similar to Devil's Postpile along the John Muir Trail.

Stopped for soup at Rimrock Retreat at mile 40 (and finally started to get some warmer and clearer weather), and then continued down until we headed off the main highway (US 12) at mile 53 and onto the lovely Old Naches Highway.  The change in scenery was remarkable.  Suddenly there were orchards everywhere - mostly cherries and apples by the looks of it.  Below is a picture of orchards with barren hills in the background.  Irrigation, perhaps?  Such a nice road to travel to get in to Yakima.  Once inside the city limits, though, we came through industrial and pretty down-trodden areas to reach our tired but adequate hotel.  Don't think anyone will be putting this city on their "must visit again" list.

A beautiful ride today, and a reminder of the beauty of this type of tour.  Such scenic variety!

Stats for the day:
119 km / 74 miles from Packwood WA to Yakima WA
4504 feet up
4190 feet down
Weather:  a bit of everything.  Cool and misty to start.  7C to 8C until well down the other side of the pass.  Once we lost some elevation and the sun came out the temps finally went up into the high 20sC by mid-afternoon.