![\"Rattlenake](\"http:\/\/static.flickr.com\/75\/207232348_e6ad2174c3_m.jpg\" "\\"Rattlenake")
<\/a>We met at Rattlesnake Lake to park the first car. Sarah and Mike were just pulling in to the parking lot as I arrived. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Whaddaya say we eat lunch?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Sarah said, so we picnicked on the grass next to the lake. We watched the boats slide across the water while little girls splashed around at the beach. Fueled up for the ride, we tossed my bike and gear in to Mike\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pickup and headed up to the Hyak trailhead.<\/p>\nThe tunnel, which is one of the big draws for this ride, is just past the Hyak trailhead. We strapped on our lights and plunged into the darkness. Water was falling from the ceiling. There was a pinpoint of light in the far distance, the crunch of gravel under the tires, and a weird echo when I rang my bell. Mike disappeared ahead, but we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d see him every now and then when my light hit something reflective. The lamps picked up wires on the walls and six feet of trail, beyond that, there was only blackness and the tiny light at the other side of the tunnel.<\/p>\n
The rest of the trail is hard packed gravel, easy riding on fat tires. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bumpy and today my hands are a bit sore from the rattling, but my legs aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t complaining at all. The trail is about 21 miles, we did it in 3.5 hours. You could ride it a lot faster, but we kept stopping to look at things on the way \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the view from the trestles, an immaculate and oh so pretty backcountry campsite, a stream gauge, the highway, some rock climbers who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d wandered up from a trailhead below\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no water on the trail, but there are plenty of lovely spots to stop for a snack and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the luxury of outhouses at various places on the way. You ride past boulder fields, clearcuts that have turned in to meadows, through maple and birch forest. The trail smells of water, of clean earth, of pine and spruce.<\/p>\n If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to do the one way, like we did, you need two cars. One of them needs to carry all the bikes. You need lights for the tunnel \u00e2\u20ac\u201c don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t screw around with this, you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see a damn thing in there. You want gloves because the gravel trail is hard on your hands and if you fall, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be rough. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good to have a jacket for the tunnel, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really cold in there. Take plenty of water and some snackage. Fat tires are good because the trail is rough \u00e2\u20ac\u201c think dirt road. Pack a spare, a repair kit, and your tools, this is no place to blow out a tire \u00e2\u20ac\u201c five miles on a hiking trail dragging your bike can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be much fun.<\/p>\n Riding the John Wayne Iron Horse trail might be my new favorite thing to do outside the city. Get your bike out of the basement, round up your gear, and head on up to Hyak. The ride is easy enough that you can do it even if you haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been on your bike in ages. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be tired when it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s over, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no reason to think you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do it. And give me a call. You need two cars, after all, and I can hardly wait to do it again.<\/p>\n The rest of the pics from the ride are here<\/a>. If those aren’t enough for you, Sarah’s pics are here<\/a>. That’s me<\/a> in the call box. Sometimes, when you head for the great outdoors, nothing goes right. Your body is a bit sluggish, maybe from not enough breakfast or not enough sleep. You never quite warm up. You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the right clothes and you end up always feeling a little chilled around the edges. Your sandwich gets squished at the … <\/p>\n![\"Snoqualamie](\"http:\/\/static.flickr.com\/92\/207231802_1b59b99b13_m.jpg\" "\\"Snoqualamie")
<\/a>The tunnel is just over two miles long and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cold in there. We rolled out blinking on the other side, instantly rewarmed by the sunshine.<\/p>\n![\"Shade\"](\"http:\/\/static.flickr.com\/92\/207231990_a57b1c5366_m.jpg\" "\\"Shade\\"")
<\/a>This is a remarkable ride. The 2.2 percent downhill grade makes it very easy to go the distance. You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t coast the entire way \u00e2\u20ac\u201c though you can do it as a leisurely spin. If you want you can gear down and hammer on the pedals until you get going quite fast \u00e2\u20ac\u201c there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no traffic, no stoplights, and, when we were there, not many other people. The reverse direction, from Rattlesnake Lake to Hyak, must be quite a slow burn as you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re always going uphill. We took the easy route, though ambitious cyclists could absolutely do it as a round trip from Rattlesnake Lake.<\/p>\n![\"Scotty's](\"http:\/\/static.flickr.com\/62\/207232307_02706b5393_m.jpg\" "\\"Scotty's")
<\/a>Rattlesnake Lake is a terrific spot to leave one friend with the bikes while two others make the shuttle run back to Hyak to get the other car. But here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an idea. Pack a cooler and all the stuff in the Rattlesnake Lake car. Set up your friend in the park with all the fixin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s for your dinner. By the time you get back with both cars, your friend has got the coals going and is grilling your gardenburger just the way you like it. Or, hey, you can do what we did and head in to North Bend for fried carbs and sugar<\/strike> burgers and shakes at the Dairy Freeze. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing like fried carbs and sugar after a good ride.<\/p>\n
\n[tags] rail trails, John Wayne Iron Horse Trail, biking, outdoors[\/tags]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"