The way points of this bicycle route:
Head east on University Way.
Turn left.
Turn right.
Turn left.
A good alternate east-west route, but we'll go straight ahead here.
Turn right.
Turn left.
Head back to Ellensburg via Brick Mill Road, Look Road and Brick Road for a short 10 mile loop. For the full route jog left then right to continue on Naneum Road.
Head back into Elllensburg via Rader road, a short jog north on Wilson Creek Road, Alford Road, Look Road and Brick Road for a 15 mile loop. To continue on the full route proceed straight ahead.
This is ranch country. On a couple of occasions I've been held up by livestock being herded on the road in this area.
Skinny tires turn around here. Fat tires can keep heading up the Naneum canyon logging road, but keep a lookout for logging trucks and rattlesnakes! (More news soon - things are going on here since the Spring 2008 dedication of the brand new Naneum Ridge State Forest.)
Turn right.
Turn left.
Turn right.
Alford Road bends to the left and turns into Look Road. Just stay on the pavement.
With the (non-chip sealed, as of April 2008) smooth road surface, long downhill grade, and typical tailwind from the Kittitas Valley's prevailing NW winds, this is a good stretch of road (Look Road North End to Sanders Road) on which to fantasize that you are Lance Armstrong turning in a masterful time-trial performance!
Turn left and follow Sanders Road as it goes around a bend to the right and up a very short hill becoming Brick Road in the process.
Turn right and merge into traffic on Vantage Highway headed west.
Welcome to Bikely, take a step by step tour of this path:
Press Start Tour - then use the navigation buttons below to move along the path.
These are some of my more freqeuently used default rides in the Kittitas Valley. The roads are good, traffic is low, and the routes tend to give a reasonably good mix of headwinds, tailwinds and crosswinds in the typically NW Kittitas Valley winds. There are cutoffs for a 10 and 15 mile loop and a number of other options as well. Some of the words from my cycling log on these routes are beautiful, gorgeous, relaxing, wonderful, calm, nice, easy, fast, great. From Ellensburg to mouth of Naneum Canyon is a gradual climb of about 1000 ft - not a huge amount of terrain, but you can turn it into a workout. This Kittitas Valley loop ride starts and ends in Ellensburg at the corner of University Way and Walnut.
Tagged with: Low traffic, Rural, Scenic
