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Riding on the Iron Horse State Park Trail
This is an 82-mile gravel and original
ballast trail (will be 113 miles when completed) with
endpoints at North Bend and Vantage.
It has the potential of being a fantastic trail;
however, the short portion we rode was extremely
rough and rocky. We were there on a "too" day -- it
was too hot, too dusty and the trail was too
rocky.
Don't let this discourage you from riding it if you
are traveling through the area.
If we have the opportunity, we'll
certainly ride it again. After all, we saw only
a couple of miles of this very long trail; we may have
happened on an unusually rough section.
It's the kind of trail we like.
The area is remote enough
to allow the feeling of being away
from the hassle of everyday life,
there are beautiful sights that
you couldn't see from the highway -- this trail will
be great someday.
Additional information: An e-mail
message from Tony and Pat Sowers, who live in Oregon,
said: "We rode a few
miles of (the Iron Horse Trail) on the East side of
the cascades on the original ballast (round
rocks). It was doable, particularly if you
stay in the previous track of
others (about 12 inches wide). Speed is
limited by the rough surface, in spite of
suspension.
Later in the trip, we got onto it at
the summit of the Cascades, rode West
through a two mile tunnel, and down
the grade to the Seattle environs. It
was rough through the tunnel and for
about half the distance, then the
ballast shifted to crushed rock and
became much more pleasant. Being a
railroad grade, and going downhill,
none of it was particularly challenging
and it was a tour through beautiful
mountains with NO cars!"
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