The Columbia Plateau Trail runs 130 miles between Cheney, Washington, and Pasco, Washington, on an abandoned rail bed. I have been unable to find a good map of the entire trail, so I’m not sure exactly where the Pasco end of the trail starts/ends. There is a rough map on the Washington State Bicycling Map. There are also directions to a few trailheads in the Cheney area from this web site on Accessible Trails, and someone (see comments) sent a GPX track of the Cheney end of the trail, so that end is probably accurate.
Categories: Flat & Gravel & Over 50 Miles & Rural & Solitude
Last Modified: May 30, 2008
(4 votes, average: 2 out of 5)
Loading ...If the map has markers, click them for extra information. You can also double-click anywhere on the map to get driving directions to that point. Note:Trail routes shown are approximate! If you have a GPS trace of this trail, leave a comment below with your email address (which will not be published), and I'll contact you. Thanks!
Elevation profile of route: feet above sea level vs. distance traveled (approximate). Green marker on map above shows which end is designated as start of route.
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Hi Jennifer-
Saw this site on Google and wanted to talk to someone that had some info on the Columbia Plateau Trail. I’ve been fascinated with the idea of riding it since I heard about it a few years ago. Contact me at the above email address…thanks, Bill Kent
That is all the info I have right now… I hope you or someone else can provide a ride report soon!
Hello Jennifer:
I rode this trail from Cheney to the Martin Rd trail head 5/5/2007 (23 mls), and have recorded a GPS track - Garmin .gpx file. Most of the trail is crushed compacted rock,in some places rather soft, fat tires definitely an asset. In general, prevailing winds are from the east in the morning and from the west in the afternoon. I rode it west in the morning and had a stiff head wind! Mostly flat and straight. Passes through Turnbull Wildlife Refuge. Could not find trail continuation beyond Martin Rd.
I’ve finally imported Mark’s GPS track! So the first part of the trail should be fairly accurate.
Mark is corect in that anything south of the Martin Rd trail head is pretty much impassable on wheels, as told to me by the parks Dept. that manages a section of it. they are working on it. This trail also goes into spokane, but neither the parks, county or city can tell me who has jurisdiction. the piece from Spokane south looks like someone has worked on it. There are a couple of new bridges at the beginning from south of I-90. As I researched it, this trail connects with the John Wayne trail. Jennifer, you can share my address with Mark and bill
I tried to ride the Columbia Plateau Trail south from its intersection with the Milwaukee Road (John Wayne Pioneer Trail) ten days ago. The first few trestles I came to were fenced off because they were unimproved (no railings, heavy ballast as trailbed near them, etc.). Number 4, I believe it was, was missing in its entirety, and the DNR tells me that other trestles are missing, too. Judging from depth and width of the valleys that the CPT must cross, replacing them will be expensive, and no estimated completion date is known.
Cheers,
Felix.
The 1992 edition of the book Washington’s Rail-Trails by Fred Wert has a map of this route that differs from the one on this page.
Starting from the Pasco end, the route follows the west bank of the Snake River northeast up to Lower Monumental Dam. From there in parallels Devils Canyon Road towards Kahlotus. From Kahlotus to Cheney the book’s map pretty much matches the one on this page.
The newer edition of the book (2001) only includes a map for the section of trail near Cheney, from Fish Lake to Martin Road. But the text in both editions describes the entire route between Cheny and Pasco.
I’m planning to explore as much of the route as possible in mid-May, so I’ll try to post an update after that.
I’m also wondering if anyone can tell me how to find the start of the portion from Spokane, which Brian mentioned in comment #5? I’ll be starting from Spokane.
Thanks,
–Matt
Matt — I am guessing the book may be more correct than this page… as I mentioned above, I had to do some guessing, since I couldn’t find a map of the trail.
Keep us posted, and if you make a GPS trace, especially of the Pasco end of the trail, I’d love to import it to improve this map.
–Jennifer
I noticed that the trail is shown on the Washington State Bicycle Map, which is available as a PDF online:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/bike/bikemap.htm
–Matt
Ah. I’ll have to check that out, thanks!
Jennifer
I rode most of this trail last week, riding from from Spokane to Pasco. I’ve written up some notes about cycling the CPT which can be found at http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/cpt
I’m in the process of typing up a journal of my trip, which I will probaby link to from the above page once I am done.
Pretty much all of the trail from Martin Road to Snake River Junction is railroad ballast, and would be challenging to ride on a normal bike. I rode a Surly Puglsey, which has nearly 4″ wide tires, and it worked pretty well.
I didn’t find any missing trestles, and only 2 trestles were blocked between Fish Lake and the Snake River. There is a few mile section along the Snake River where there are 4 blocked trestles within a few miles.