We start with hearty breakfast at Ken's and head for Rattlesnake lake from North Bend where we stayed at the Edgewick Inn. I accidentally ran over a slug at the lake (sorry slug) on route to the 'Iron Horse. The old rail road grade is a steady 2-3% on varying sizes of gravel. In some places it's small, packed and easy to ride on, in other sections in and around Cle Elum it was medium, deep, and loose.
The short bridges were covered in a larger gauge that was slightly difficult to ride on. The larger brides were sturdy steel beauties covered with oxide and in great condition. Thank you AT&T, the service of your lines along the trail actually help keep it rideable.
We are almost upon the Snoqualmie Tunnel and have not seen any obvious detours. We know the tunnel is closed thanks to the Park Service Ranger who works at the Seattle REI. As we get nearer to the tunnel, we encounter caution tape blocking a 35 foot washout in the trail with running water through it.
We've come nearly 20 miles at a steady 2%. At nearly ~1700 feet of climbing over gravel, we were not going to turn around. Aus somehow manages to get his rig across in a one piece, Seth and I, unload and reload, crossing with our gear in pieces.
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