While hiking in central Washington State we ventured out to mountain bike a section of the John Wayne Pioneer Trail.  This route is a rails-to-trails recreationalal corridor that follows the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific Railway bed for 430 km across Washington State from the western slopes of the Cascades to the Idaho border.  We rode was the eastern end of Iron Horse State Park at Wapunum Lake.  We parked at the gate at the lower end and climbed the gravel railbed into the hills overlooking the Wanapum Dam.

This section of the bike trail is sometimes called Army East since it passes through the U.S. Army Yakima Training Center lands.   The area is treeless, part of the arid channeled scablands, desert-like except for a few spring wildflowers along the way.

primrose

locoweed

We rode up for about 10 km into the Saddle Mountains/ Boylston Hills before turning around for an easier descent back to Lake Wanapum.

Most of the area to our east was in the basalt lava flows that cover much of the central part of Washington State and the trail passed through railcuts in the rocks, providing a little shade on a warm day.   Basalt cliffs and talus slopes overlook the dammed reservoir back at the lower end.

If we had continued to ride for 17 km more to the high point, we would have come to the Boylston Tunnel, 600 m long in the dark, with a slight curve to along the distance.  If we had started at the upper end (Army West), the tunnel is found only about 7 km along the track.

We picked this bike ride because it was close to where we had chosen to camp,  at Wanapum State Park, a good base for hiking Ginko Petrified Forest State Park, the Quilomene and Whiskey Dick Wilderness Areas, and other trails on both sides of the Columbia River.   The campsite on Wanapum Reservoir is a beautiful (but windy) spot.

After hiking the scenic coulees we found this route to be a little barren, hot and featureless, except at the start, but it was a good alternative for us after several days of hiking on weary legs.