2021-08-28 & 29: "Bike Packing" Weekend (Dwaine & Adam)

Author:  Dwaine Trummert

When the planning started for our bike packing to trip to Easton Washington, we were not targeting the most grand adventure. As rookies, our goal was a simple and enjoyable trip where we tested our gear in a low stress environment. We aimed to find out what worked, what didn't, and what was going to break.

We wanted to keep the route simple. An out and back along the Palouse to Cascades trail fit the bill. We wanted to keep the logistics simple. Lake Easton Campground with access to a local burger joint and convenience store was chosen as our destination.

We departed North Bend under sunny skies. We were familiar with the route and quickly fell into conversation about work and family. Adam shared his son's recent soccer success. I shared my latest bicycle road racing lessons. Before we knew it we were making our only turn.

After seven miles we took a minute to check gear and make adjustments. At 38 pounds fully loaded my Ibis Hakka MX was no lightweight.

The Nisqually Valley Trail ends where the Palouse to Cascades Trail begins. We stopped to utilize the facilities and assess our progress. We were moving nicely despite our bikes' heft. We agreed our bikes felt sluggish but nothing we couldn't adjust to.

My Ibis Hakka and Adam's Norco Search XR hang out atop one of the many gravel surfaced train trestles.

We pressed forward onto the climb. It was long. 19 miles. But it was shallow. Less than 2% average gradient. Nobody tipped over. Nothing fell off. Nothing broke. We were having fun, and the miles came easily. We arrived at the tunnel in good spirits.

Adam geared up for the cool temperatures of the tunnel with this fancy flannel cycling jersey.

We were about to cycle into the dark.

The darkness of the tunnel parted for us and our estimated 2000 lumens of handlebar lights. The 2.5 miles was completed without incident, and we were soon enjoying the scenery of Eastern Washington.

I stopped for this photo just as we were about to emerge from the tunnel into Eastern Washington.

Riding along the shores of Lake Keechelus was beautiful. We took note that the water level was down compared to our last visit. We kept an eye out for Helicopter Rock but must have missed it. We also kept an eye out for other bikepackers. We saw evidence of a bar bag here and a frame bag there. But none looked stuffed enough to contain gear for camping.

Lake Keechelus was beautiful on this day with spectacularly reflective water.

In addition to the 2.5 mile tunnel at Hyak we passed through a tunnel near Martin. This tunnel was short enough to easily see the exit as we entered. I hesitated to turn on my head light but was glad I did when it illuminated a hole in the right side of the trail. Adam was able to dodge a matching hole on the left side of the trail. Later, we realized that stopping to fill the holes would have been the kindly thing to do. We committed to this action on the next day's return trip.

We arrived at the Lake Easton Campground well before the 2:30 check in time. Neither first-come-first-serve hiker/biker campsite was claimed. We parked our bikes, completed the registration process, and breathed a sigh of relief that we knew for sure where we would be bedding down.

We set our tiny tents at the tiny hiker/biker campsite. A second hiker/biker campsite remained unused.

It seemed wise to get a few camp chores out of the way, and we started with tent assembly. Adam had little practice with his recently acquired one man tent, but it went up quickly. My tent assembly practice seemed fruitless as my tent went up slowly. Once completed, we decided to reward ourselves with lunch and some light-bike exploring in and around Easton.

We found few options for lunch but the one we chose was a good one. A local burger place called Mountain High Burgers served giant burgers. We took refuge on a shaded picnic table behind the restaurant and replenished the calories previously depleted.

With full bellies, we took the remainder of our exploration at a friendly pace. Our last stop was the Hitching Post convenience store. I checked in on their pizza service which was available till six p.m. Adam checked out with a cold six pack of Dru Bru Hazy Session IPA.

Once back at the campground we had six cans and a few hours to kill. The cold IPA was perfect after the many hours of pedaling. We goofed off around the campsite till the dinner hour.

We hung out at the Hitching Post. We watched the world go by. We were not in a hurry. It was perfect.

In the theme of keeping the trip simple, we ordered a sausage and peperoni pizza from the Hitching Post for dinner. As we waited outside at the picnic tables for the pizza to bake, we watched a parade of people and vehicles come and go.

A pair of four wheel drive off road buggies stopped for a while, and I chatted with one driver. Plenty of car campers stopped for fuel. One gentleman walked back and forth a number of times, and we took him for the owner. He seemed plenty busy. He even checked in that his leaf blower wasn't a nuisance. It wasn't until our final interaction that I even noticed he was packing heat. This came as no surprise as we had already read the store's politically conservative reader board message.

Yeah! Pizza! Was this the best pizza ever? Probably not. Did we devour it anyway? Yep.

The pizza was well received and we paired it with a shared 22 oz bottle of dark beer.

My camera caught Adam's phone documenting our campsite.

The theme of 'goofing off' continued when we returned to the campsite. Photos were taken. More beer was consumed. Sunset came too early as did bedtime.

My bicycle water bottles adopted the local beer's labels. This photo shared only to demonstrate we had too much time on our hands.

Small tent and tall rider.

Finding some semblance of comfort while sleeping during a bike packing trip was always going to be a challenge. My night started rough. I brought extra layers for warmth but found it difficult to add them inside my one person tent. The effects of extra beer and car noise from nearby I90 challenged my normal sleep pattern. Halfway through the night, I found the right number of layers and some restful hours of sleep.

I snapped a selfie on Sunday morning. Our faces made clear that Adam was one coffee ahead of me at that moment.

In the morning, we tested our cooking systems. Knowing that a coffee shop was just five minutes of pedaling away gave us confidence that our coffee and breakfast needs would be met regardless of our cook systems' performance.

I chose a nearly all DIY cooking solution. A DIY soda can alcohol stove surrounded by a DIY wind break heated a cook pot I made from a stainless water bottle bottom. This was sufficient to prepare both my coffee and a serving of oatmeal.

The alcohol flame is tough to see but my stove was in action for this photo. Just minutes later, I poured my first cup of bike packing coffee into my recycled paper cup. It was good enough.

As we tidied the campsite, a single unopened beer was found. Fearing it go to waste Adam found room for it. On his waist.

Over the next two hours, we slowly broke down camp. Just after ten a.m., we were pedaling West. We settled into a gentler pace than our previous day.

We entered the short tunnel cautiously only to find evidence that a good samaritan had already filled the holes.

Further West, we found the lighting along Lake Keechelus was beautiful. We visually searched the shore but - again - could not locate Helicoptor Rock. It seemed so easy to find last year, but that's likely because the helicoptor was sitting on it. We also took a short detour down onto the dry lake bed at the Northwest end. The lake bed looked smooth from up on the trail but not so much once we got there.

Miles of smooth gravel, mountains all around, and a sky full of sunshine. This snap was taken as we approached the Hyak parking lot.

After filling bottles at the Hyak parking lot, we tackled the long tunnel one more time. We had to work against a headwind, and it seemed much colder this time.

We passed tens if not hundreds of pedestrians and cyclists as we finished out the miles. We slowed and waved as we passed. Most seemed to be having fun. Only one swerved into our path giving us a chance to test our bike handling skills. We waved to that rider as well.

During the final miles, we talked about our impressions from our first bike packing trip. We committed to doing it again. Our research and preparation served us well. Adam lamented his choice of bib shorts. They provided 'one day only' comfort. I felt like the trip seemed to be ending too soon.

Smiles of success as we climbed off our bikes at the end of the trail. Both riders and both bikes completed the trip with near perfect scorecards.

By two p.m., we were loading our heavy bikes into the pickup in North Bend. The trip was completed and judged to be a complete success. The majority of our gear worked well with the only breakage occurring in my sleep schedule. Although not an adventure of epic proportions, our modest bike packing trip gave us the confidence to step up our game for the next one.