The John Wayne Trail (also known as the John Wayne Pioneer Trail) has several sections. The section between North Bend, Washington, and Beverly, Washington, is the Iron Horse Trail, managed as Iron Horse State Park; this section is pretty much complete (with one or two short road detours to get around missing or unsafe railroad bridges). At Beverly, the trail crosses the Columbia River on an old railroad bridge and runs to Warden, Washington, managed by the Department of Natural Resources; this section has a few detours on roads to get around unfinished sections. From Warden to Tekoa, Washington, the trail is again managed as a state park, and is under construction. Since there is a significant mountain range in the middle of the state, there is some climbing involved, although it is a converted railroad so the grade is not steep. Also note that the trail is at least partly covered in snow in the winter (a section near Snoqualamie Pass is groomed as a cross-country ski trail in the winter).
On the western end, you can connect this trail with the Snoqualamie Valley and Tolt River Trails.
Categories: Gravel & Hilly & Over 50 Miles & Rural & Solitude & Some Road/Street Riding & Under Construction
Last Modified: April 29, 2007
(6 votes, average: 4 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 If you have a GPS trace of this trail, leave a comment below with your email address (which will not be published), and I'll contact you.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.
RSS
Do you have a GPS track for this route? I am planning on doing this route soon and would love to have an actual track to follow.
A group of us have three days to spend on the John Wayne Trail - we are looking for suggestions on the best way to do this and the best place to stay so we can do the the trail.
Any suggestions?
Thanks for your help.
Eric - sorry, I don’t have a GPS track. The western part of the route is pretty easy to follow, however. The eastern part is not all finished yet, and may be harder to follow.
Ron — I don’t have any suggestions for you, as I haven’t done the route as a tour. You might try the State Parks web site (linked in the text of the article) as I think it lists access points and camp sites.
–Jennifer
thank you
I have a couple things to add, as I have been researching this trail for some time. First, there is no good crossing point at the Beverly. The bridge is closed to all use and the Dam up from there is impassable due to some construction issues and 9/11.
Eric. From Rattlesnake Lake to the west side of Elensburg is very well marked with trail heads that are more frequent than in other places. After that and prior to the army west trail head, you are on city and county roads to find the trail head at the fairgrounds. Contact the state parks in Ellensburg to get a map and updated information. There are trail books out there and one was updated in the last year.
Ron. If you start at Rattle snake lake and depending on site seeing, you can make it to Ellensburg in three days. Day one, look at the lodging at the summit. day two, Cle Elum has lodging. Day three, A short ride to ellensburg where you’ll end. It really depends on where you live. Like I said there are books, but some not so accurate, contavt the parks.
Jennifer, feel free to send this to both with my email address, maybe a chance for ride partners.
Brian
Thanks for the update, Brian! I thought the Beverly bridge was open a couple of months ago when I was there, but maybe not. Definitely the dam is closed to all foot and vehicle traffic. I guess the only way to get across would be to go up to I-90 if the bridge at Beverly is closed — I can’t recall if there is a shoulder or sidewalk on the Columbia crossing at Vantage?
–Jennifer
Felix Kasza (who has commented on several other trails) emailed to me recently with these notes:
The Beverly bridge (if you refer to the Milwaukee railroad corridor bridge) is definitely closed. I-90 has a shoulder, and bikes are permitted on the bridge. The detour is only a few miles, and the eastern continuation of the trail is easy to pick up. A shame about the bridge, it is a beautiful one with gorgeous views. A detailed study regarding improvements to the JWT was recently completed (I have the PDF somewhere, hundreds of pages, if you are interested), and this bridge is apparently structurally sound — it mostly needs decking and railings.
He also sent a GPS trace, which I’ll be importing sometime soon.
If you want to get in touch with him, he let me know I can give his email address to site visitors. Leave a comment here with your email address (which will not be shown), and I’ll put you in touch.
–Jennifer
I recently rode the section of trail between Ewan and Malden. Very nice. There is one section a couple of miles long of private property along Rock Lake, but it’s so isolated that it seems like a minor concern, especially since you’re still very obviously on the rail bed the whole way. You’re supposed to get permits to ride this section of the trail (Warden to Idaho border), and the man to talk to is Ranger Mark Truit @ 509 646 9218. He manages Palouse Falls, the Columbia Plateau Trail and this section of the John Wayne.
Happy trails!
Josh
Thorp to South Cle Elum Ride Report:
The Washington St. Parks Dept map of the trail documents this one as 18.5 miles one way. Figured it would make a really nice one day ride up and back. Was mostly right, with some really wrong in there.
Parked at the Thorp Depot trailhead, geared up, and headed up the trail at 9:15 AM. Loose gravel trail surface. Has to get better up the trail, right? Wrong! I haven’t been in this good of shape since 16 years old, but I was having trouble managing 7 mph uphill, which was a barely discernable maybe 3/4% grade on the loose gravel surfaced trail. Positive experience was that I caught a young bobcat crossing the trail. When I said “here kitty, kitty”, it really went nuts and dove into the bushes. Made the 18.5 miles to S Cle Elum in 3 hours once photo stops were included. Scenery is very pretty up through the upper Yakima River Canyon and past the Teanaway river junction.
Caught lunch snack at the Cle Elum Depot, which they have done a really nice restoration job on, and have some great Milwaukee Road memorabilia in. Then to round the ride up to an even 40 miles , rode up towards Easton for a mile and 1/2 to see if the trail got any better (it didn’t).
So headed back down to the car for an additional 20 miles of gravel swishing off of the front tire. Finally got off the saddle at 4:15 PM.
I would rate this one as only a 3.5 because of trail surface conditions.
The ride up from the bottom had the best scenic views (as typically they do). A light is needed in Tunnel 47, that or crash into some significant sluff off of the insides of the tunnel. The next two or three weeks should be super scenic with the leaves turning color, but would recommend it as a one-way only trip.
I took lots of pictures if anyone is interested in seeing them.
Regards
Jeff King
Did another marathon ride on the John Wayne Trail again this last Saturday, 11/3/07, this time between South Cle Elum and Stampede Pass Road and back, for a total of 43 miles. As reported for the last ride between Thorp and South Cle Elum, the roadbed is loose gravel, with quite a bit of 1&1/2″ rock on it, so makes some slow and tiresome riding. Fall colors of the trees were really nice. Cle Elum to Easton is a fairly boring ride, lots of gravel and not much else but some cute yard art in one backyard to look at. From Easton west is another story. The newly built bridges over the upper Yakima river are well done, and the views of the river are gorgeous. The Easton Tunnel # 48 is short enough that a headlight isn’t required. The Whittier Tunnel # 49 is just long enough that a headlight is desirable so that you can see the roadbed through the west end of it. The road bed actually gets a lot better west of Tall Timber Lane which is almost to Easton. This stretch rates a 4.5 just because of the scenery from Lake Easton up to Stampede Pass road.
Happy trails!
Jeff
Did another portion of the JWT again on Friday, 11/16. Not quite a marathon ride, but there is no snow to ski on yet, so figured the mountain bike would do. Rode from Kittitas to Thorp and back for a 27 mile ride. That is a bit short for me, but have come down with a cold and still have a backache from helping sonny move last weekend. This portion of the trail is nearly flat, only a few small rises to get onto overpasses or the trestle crossing the Yakima River, which has a nice concrete deck. Lots of loose and this time wet gravel to ride on and not a lot to look at other than the CWU campus in Ellensburg until you get west of town, and then the one trestle/bridge crossing the Yakima. There are no restrooms at the Kittitas trailhead. All adds up to only a 3.5 rating.
Did another rather awesome ride on the JWT this last Friday, 11/23/07 from Kittitas, through Army West, and up through the Boylston tunnel and back for a total of 22 miles. Got to Kittitas that morning, it was 18 degrees. Headed east on the trail. Fortunately it had been used by some power line crews servicing the high-tension line that parallels it, so had a nearly dry track to run most of the way to West Army. There is a sign at Prater Road that says no access further, detour on the JWT. I ignored because I wanted to ride as much of the original trail as possible. The trestle over I-90 just east of the Windy BPA substation is definitely closed to all traffic. However, I was able to duck under a gate still going east up to some cell towers, then follow the maintenance path under the power lines continuing east towards the substation. Problem was, there is an irrigation ditch preventing easy path forward. Was able to detour NE and find a cattle/game path that forded the dry ditch, and then get onto the east ditch bank road down the the substation, cross under I-90, and then proceed to West Army. From West Army, the trail surface was hard frozen sand with frozen horse hoof prints in it for 5 miles up to the tunnel. Had a tough time holding 4 mph uphill in the 1&1/2″ of snow. The ride through the 2000′ curved tunnel was worth it. Take a good headlight and watch out for the coconut to basketball size rocks sluffing off the sides in the center of the tunnel where it isn’t concrete lined. Got to the other side and saw an additional 12 or so miles of snow, which I judged unpassable on bicycle, so turned around and headed back to Kittitas. Once out of the tunnel cut, was able to cut over to the BPA power line maintenance road which had dry track, ride back to West Army, and then out Boylston Road, to Prater, then to Parke Creek all the way back into Kittitas. At least it warmed up to 24 by the end of the ride. Great late fall ride.
Happy trails to all.
Jeff King
A friend and I have done the complete ride from North Bend to Beverley Bridge area in three different days (North Bend-Easton and back, Easton to Ellensburg and back, Ellensburg to Beverley Bridge then to Vantage. We did this during October and November. Our plan is to do the rest of the John Wayne Trail (Beverley-Tekoa) during Spring break (April 5-12). We plan to take touring equipment on mountain bikes for the trip. I am looking for GPS coordinates for that part of the trail so if anyone knows how we can download the old Milwaukie railroad trail (to Tekoa or Idaho border) coordinates (map) loaded onto GPS unit, please let me know. Also, please contact me if you are interested in joining three of us on that exploratory ride in April. Our website of pictures and GPS coordinates for North Bend-Beverley bridge is on our website.
Sam Hartt
The JWT is my favorite bike ride — my boyfriend and I start from the trailhead at Rattlesnake Lake (exit 32 off 90-E) and climb up 20 miles to the tunnel. We go through that, and then go until the odometers hit 50 and camp in the woods. The next day, straight downhill home, so fun! I hope one day to make it more of a tour than an overnight, but it’s a great escape.
A few of my friends will be running the John Wayne Pioneer Trail from North Bend to Vantage (you read that right). 108 miles on foot. There will be some mountain bikers on the course though, so all the fun won’t be ultrarunner exclusive. :-)
I’m looking at riding from Rattlesnake Lake to the Snoq. Summit in the coming weeks. Any suggestions as to where to stay at the Summit?
o-o>
The summit is fairly built up (ski area). I’m not sure if there is a lodge you can stay in or not. There are a couple of commercial camp grounds around there, about 10 miles east of the summit — or at least, I’ve seen signs for them.
I’m not sure whether the trail is ridable right now, though. There was a lot of snow this winter, and I don’t think they plow the trail. Up until April 1st, I believe they are still grooming about 10 miles around the summit as a cross-country ski trail, which should give you some idea of what you are up against.
Good luck!
Jennifer
I am planning a bike ride from Rattlesnake Lake to Vantage. How is the trail on this entire distance?
Jennifer (and others), thanks for the Iron Horse info! This is the best I’ve found. I’m planning on biking the ‘good bits’ twixt Seattle and the Idaho border w/ a pal in late May, so I’ll be tuning in to check on any updated trail conditions, etc. (And perhaps I can in turn leave some interesting tidbits for others. -)
Well; ski season is essentially over, so time to get back onto the saddle and start riding. Today, 4/12, rode the JWT from Huntzinger Road above Wanapum dam west up to the Boyleston tunnel and back, for a total of 32 miles. Took just a bit over 7 hours because of really bad trail conditions. Lots of loose sand, and lots of really big sharp basalt rocks sluffed off the sides of the cuts through the hills. Going up the 16 miles it was tough to maintain 5 mph when riding, then 2 & 1/2 walking through the rock. Hit the first rock outcropping hard with intent to ride through it, then remembered that I’d forgotten my tire levers and spare tube. Lot of good the tire pump would have been with a cut tire/tube!. This one made the Thorp to S CleElum look like a great ride. Rate it about a 2, but that much only because of the great views of the Columbia early in the trip heading up.
Happy trails in ‘08. :))
Jeff
Comment number 7 to this thread stated that you had been given a GPS trace of this trail. Is that accessible anywhere?
Also, in comment 13, Sam Hartt stated he had a GPS log posted on his web site. Website address?
Paul — I will put you in contact with Felix (comment #7) to get his GPS trace.
Regarding comment #13, if you click on Sam’s name at the top of the comment, it is a link to his web site.
Regards,
Jennifer
Since the river can’t be crossed at Beverly, do folks recommend heading north on Wanapum Road to get to the I-90 crossing at Vantage? Or is there a nicer way? It doesn’t look there are too many roads in that area to choose from.
You are definitely correct that there are not many roads in that area! I think Wanapum Road would indeed be your best bet. The only other alternative I can think of would be to ride along more of I-90, which seems like not much fun to me.
–Jennifer
RE: Julie R question # 23.
Yes, you proceed from East Army another 3 miles on the RR bed east to Huntzinger Road. Then that results in about 8 mile of asphalt road north to Vantage, then about 1.5 miles across the I-90 bridge, then about 9 miles south back down Washington SR 243 to between Beverly and Crab Creek where you can pick up the rail road bed again. That is all that there is.
“biker” Jeff
We did a test drive using our slicks on Rattlesnake TH to past Garcia until we hit snow using our slicks on old hybrid “comfort” bikes. Tires were fine. Any idea of how they would be Hyak to ellensburg? We’re wondering if we should bring bigger treadier tires to change to just in case?
oops just realized there are some very detailed reports of trail conditions. But still would love opinions of Hyak to Ellensburg with slicks. (Or maybe I don’t!?!)
East Ellensburg to Columbia River section. I rode this section last Sunday (May 3) and it is one tough bit of trail! For a ways out of Eburg there is evidence of occasional maintenance traffic on the trail which serves to compact and dissipate some of the gravel and leave a somewhat firm, but still slow surface. However, once about 10km out of town the trail has seen nothing heftier than a horse’s hooves (which pock the surface and make for a bumpy ride) and it is very soft, except for later sections where it cuts through lava flows and the trail is covered with fist-sized rocks. I averaged 17.5kph (and I was not taking it easy) for the 57km to the river, 3:15 total. The plan to ride back the same way was abandoned when I realized that it would take at least 5 hours to slog back through the soft surface and its uphill grade with tired legs (and not enough daylight hours). Instead I returned by riding 13km north along the river to Vantage and up the old Vantage Hiway. Even the paved road back to Ellensburg was hard given the steady climb for about 12 miles and ever present headwinds. Nonetheless, the E. Eburg - Columbia River section has some nice views and a series of interesting interpretive signage…just make sure you plan to ride down towards the river. Also, there is potable water at Army West to refill bottles, but no other besides in Ellensburg and in Vantage.