Seattle Forrest

On Saturday, I went up to Steven's Pass, and rode to Lake Wenatchee and back. I posted some of the photos from that ride yesterday. Well, on Sunday, I went out to the Teanaway country and did a lot more riding. The Teanaway watershed is a gorgeous place; it isn't as jaw-dropping as Lake Wenatchee, but it's very idyllic.

I parked in 'downtown' Cle Elum, and rode out. The ride started on a highway, one lane in each direction, but a 60 mph limit, and the cars going in the same direction weren't an issue. But, every now and then, somebody coming toward me would pass the car in front of them ... that pulled me out of my thoughts every time! From there, I might have seen half a dozen cars over the next few hours. I flagged a guy in a pickup truck down to take my picture, and, after doing that, he told me where to find the best scenery.

There wasn't too much altitude (enough to go from wishing I'd left my jacket behind, to being surrounded with snow!) on this ride, but it was a lot longer than I had planned. I kept looking at the trip odometer and thinking I should turn back soon ... but the scenery just kept getting better. I'm glad I stuck it out; reaching the end of the road was an accomplishment.

Here are the pics. They get better as you scroll down.







There were an awful lot of ranches.





This is Mount Stuart in the distance. Mt Stuart is a bad ass. This is the highest mountain between Rainier and Glacier Peak, towering over Central Washington.







My side of the Cascades is dominated by Douglas fir, a thick tree that grows in thick forest and chokes out the sunlight. It was really nice to see airy ponderosa pine forests. And meadows. I'm so used to dark, dense woods ... in case you're wondering why this next one is in here.

Seattle Forrest

ahsposo 

Nice! Thanks for sharing your ride.

Street Pedaler

I don't know if you've noticed this but I think that black bike is photo bombing you. It keeps showing up in a lot of your pics.

As always, awesome. Beautiful country and great photos.

Seattle Forrest

Would you follow the dirt road? The pavement just ends, there, at the 29 Pines campground, and the Wenatchee National Forest border. The signs say no ... but I don't think they count this late in the season. I mean, it says "snowmobiles only" and that's clearly not going on, at least at this point on the road.

The whole series would probably be more impressive if I didn't show that last picture (so it looks like the end of the road isn't passable), and if I had stopped and got one of the sign a few miles earlier about "no winter maintenance - proceed at your own risk."

eippo1

Sweet pics. You should hit that road in the summertime. Dirt roads are a ton of fun.

Pain

You did not have to take Highway 970. There is a parallel road that goes just North of the highway that is very quiet called Airport Road. At some point it changes name to Masterson Road and Red Bridge Road.

Your going to have to go back and finish the rest with a cyclocross bike this summer because the part after it changes to dirt is even more scenic.