The way points of this bicycle route:
Proceed east on University Way.
Turn left.
Who was Ronald and why should I judge him? Turn right.
There is a small nature preserve with short walking trails accessible from the parking lot here.
Turn right.
Number 6 Road is the only "official" North/South route across I-90 between Ellensburg and Kittitas. But there are agricultural tunnels under I-90 at Bull Road and Denmark Road. These are narrow and dark (after coming out of full sun), occasionally have debris or standing water in the bottoms, and suffer the occasional teenage driver plowing through them at a reckless speed. I use them, but with caution.
Thrall is, now, essentially a name on the map - no town, no stores. There's a bit of evidence of a former community in the form of a few buildings that have seen better days 1/4 mile west on Canyon Road. Turn left.
Turn right.
Bear right, staying on Badger Pocket Road.
The military reservation boundary is beyond this point, so both skinny tires and fat tires have to turn around here.
Bear right, leaving Badger Pocket Road.
Jog right, then left, to head north on Prater Road.
Cross I-90 on the overpass.
Turn left.
You could turn here and use Hemingston Road and Clerf Road to avoid the town of Kittitas, but why forgo all that charm and ambiance?
Cross Clark Street bearing slightly left.
There's a small grocery store in Kittitas where you can suck down a bottle of Yoo-Hoo if you need some fuel to fight the (typically) NW Kittitas Valley winds for the rest of your ride back into Ellensburg. Turn right on Main Street.
Turn right.
Turn left, following the main roadway.
Turn left.
Turn left.
Turn right.
Just past Pfenning Road, a very short rise in the road - OBEY the stop sign at this dangerous intersection (it's tempting to run it because of the rise). Turn left on Brick Road.
Bear right merging onto and heading west on University Way.
Maybe it's time to badger the (deep) pockets in your community for better bicycle infrastructure!
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.
The road to nowhere - but then who could resist the charm of a place called "Badger Pocket"? A lot of cyclists in the Kittitas Valley love a ride into Badger Pocket. I've done it a number of times, but it's not really one of my favorites. Plus, I feel cheated - I've never once seen a badger in Badger Pocket! The ride ends at the boundary of the Yakima Firing Range military reservation, but the ride is through a mostly bucolic landscape. This Kittitas Valley loop ride starts and ends in Ellensburg at the corner of University Way and Walnut and passes through Thrall and Kittitas.
Tagged with: Low traffic, Rural, Scenic
