Author: Mike Hassur
Westside Road, which is located
0.9 of a mile inside of Mt. Rainier’s Nisqually Entrance, was originally
intended to be a portion of a road system that connected the Nisqually and
Carbon River/Mowich Lake areas of Mt. Rainier. Political squabbles
between Pierce County, Washington State, and the federal government derailed
the original project after completion of the Westside Road in the early
1930’s. Westside Road, as it now stands, is a gravel road that extends
approximately 13 miles up over Round Pass, down the other side and then climbs
again up to Klapatche Point (Klapatche Point Map ). Typically, you drive the first 3 miles of the road
to the point where it is blocked to automobiles due to washouts and rock falls
– time to get out the bikes. The former parking area for vehicles, which
was just a couple of hundred yards further up the road, was closed in May of 2014 due to a boulder bouncing down the mountain and crushing an unoccupied
truck (see
this short article and accompanying photo ). |
| 2014 Photo: Les, boulder, and "crater"... |
 |
| 2015 photo of same area: no "craters" and boulders moved to side of road... |
Les Becker and I scouted out this ride in October of
2014. At that time, we found huge
boulders that had tumbled down a boulder field, gone airborne, and hit the road
with such impact that they left “craters”.
It was awesome (and a little bit terrifying). Based on that experience, I used the
following description “a rough, gravel road with the occasional boulder” when
describing the route for this year’s (2015) ride. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The “craters” were gone, the boulders had
been moved to the side of the road (or removed entirely), and the entire route
had been “smoothed” so that it was much less “rough”. This was perplexing, because most of the
route is closed to motor vehicles anyway – one of the guys on yesterday’s ride
suggested that maybe it was done due to the political power and savvy of The
Puyallup Cyclopaths. This hypothesis was
rejected by the rest of us.
Yesterday’s edition of “The Westside Road Ride”
turned out to be a great success! Our
group (Les Becker, John Winter, Scott Larson, Leon Matz, Kurt Maute, Martin
Katzberg, Conor Collins, David Garate, and myself) enjoyed the benefits of
ideal weather (sunny, no rain, and temperatures starting in the low 50’s and
ending in the 70’s), beautiful scenery, and a greatly improved road surface to
produce one of the most enjoyable rides that we’ve had since last year’s “West
Side Of Mt. St. Helens Ride”.
 |
| Getting ready to go... |
Our group convened at the starting point and were
on our bikes heading up the road by a little after 9:00 AM. It was a little chilly at the start (low 50’s);
but it was tolerable. Before we knew it,
the temperature was in the high 50’s and we were nice and comfy. We passed through the boulder field
immediately after leaving the cars. I
love this area – a steep, huge boulder field to the left of the road and these
amazing large boulders strewn around the road (although it is now less impressive
because the National Park Service has filled in the “craters” and moved the
boulders to the side of the road).
After leaving the boulder field, we came to a
stream and had a decision to make – walk across the “log bridge” with our bike
or ride across the stream. Most of us
chose the former of the two options, but Scott Larson, Conor Collins, and maybe
another one of our group chose to ride through the stream. This option was fraught with peril; because,
if you fell, you probably were done for the ride. The temperature was still cool enough that it
would not be possible to do the ride if you were completely wet from falling
into the stream! Fortunately, all of the
intrepid members of our group who opted for the “stream option” made it
successfully; and we were on our way.
 |
| That sign is supposed to read "Round Pass"... |
We were busy riding and visiting, so the ride
up to Round Pass was finished before we knew it. From Round Pass, there is a 2-3 mile descent
before you start climbing again. This
descent is northerly facing, so we encountered patches of snow on the road on
the way down. We were not going very
fast, but riding through the snow (which was probably 6-8 inches deep in
places) was disconcerting (at least, at first).
After awhile, we got used to the feel of our wheels sort of “swooshing”
back and forth in the snow. We still
weren’t going particularly fast; as our confidence grew, we were able to begin
to enjoy the snowy patches of road. Pretty
soon, if only one lane was snowy and the other was not; some of us were seeking
out the snowy portion. It was really
fun, because it was so different from what we are used to.
About 2/3 of the way down this descent, we
encountered one of the two beautiful “rustic” bridges on this ride. We stopped, took photos, ate and drank and
resumed our journey.
 |
| This road must be very difficult/expensive to maintain (mud slides, tree fall, and flooding)... |
Finally, we began climbing again and would find
ourselves climbing for the remainder of the outward bound portion of the
ride. We passed the second of the two “rustic”
bridges, continued to climb, and – eventually – found ourselves at Klapatche
Point which marks the end of Westside Road.
We took a couple of group photos, took a few minutes to eat and drink,
and were soon headed back.
 |
| Group photos at Klapatche Point... |
Short video coming off Klapatche Pass
The first descent on the return portion of our
trip seemed to pass quickly, and we were soon climbing the portion of the road with
snowy patches that led back up to Round Pass.
Most of us had never had much experience riding uphill on a snowy,
gravel road, and we were “uncertain” how it would turn out (i.e. whether we
would be walking or not). Once we got
the hang of it (which didn’t take long), it turned out to be just as much (if
not more) fun than going downhill through the snowy patches.
We cruised up to Round Pass where we visited a
memorial that commemorates the crash of a WWII military transport plane (it
crashed into Mt. Rainier) which killed the pilots and 32 Marines: Marine Memorial Information .
From Round Pass, we headed down hill. Eventually, not far from reaching our cars;
we were – once again – at the stream facing the dilemma: Log Bridge or Ride Through the stream. The following very short video will answer
the aforementioned question:
After the stream, it was back through the boulder
field and to our cars (after, approximately, 3.25 hours). We all had a smile on our face. This had been such a “different” sort of ride
for us, and everyone thought that it was great.
For the perfect "apres ride activity", most of us met at the Subway Sandwich Shop in Eatonville and ate our fill of subs - awesome.
To see all of the photos associated with this ride, click on the following link:
Photos: Westside Road Ride
Photos: Westside Road Ride
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