White_birch

Probably northern half, from Custer on up. If all goes as planned, we'll be coming from south from Nebraska through Hot Springs, then Wind Cave NP and then Custer SP and Needles Highway to Custer. That sounds more interesting than doing the southern part of the Mickelson Trail.

Seattle Forrest

Absolutely! And I'd do the PCT next spring too if it was legal.

indyfabz

Send me a PM if you want some intel. I rode south from the Englewood trailhead to the end in Edgemont. I then rode to Hot Springs and then Custer via Wind Cave N.P. and Custer S.P. Note that Needles Highway is technically SD 87 between SD 89 and U.S. 16A, which would take you out of the way if you are going to Custer. And going counterclockwise from U.S. 16A/SD 87 to SD 89 down to Custer requires some nasty climbing. Here's the loop I did from/to Custer that included Needles:

BH-NEEDLES LOOP - Custer County, SD

You'd be going in the opposite direction. More miles of climbing with steeper grades.

Watch out for bison in Wind Cave and Custer:

woodway

I think this is right-on. In my opinion Rep. Schmick took the easy way out by inserting the language the way he did and it was very short-sighted. I'm so thankful that the language was screwed up and the issues were brought into public light. This public cross-state right-of-way is a rare resource that could never be assembled again if it was given away. There are more ways to fix the funding problems than relying on 100% government funding - volunteer efforts, grants, etc.

BTW, I meant to post an additional blog link...the guy who wrote the entertaining blog on his cross-state ride (that I linked to above) posted a follow-up riding out to the site of the cow creek trestle. Worth the read:

26InchSlicks: Crossing Washington On The JWPT - Cow Creek Revisit

toddles

The thing is -- and I agree with folks in here that losing a 'potential' cross state trail would be a bummer -- there are plenty of rural roads in Central Washington that I'd have no problem riding on if it were snatched from us. I realize I sound like an urbanite or suburbanite, but I'd be more upset here where there is so much more contention for space.

CliffordK

I'm not sure. I see quite a few urban developments, but rural bicycle infrastructure is rare around here. Most of it is hunting for existing roads to share with traffic.

I was up on the McKenzie Pass last February. Closed to cars. Not a single sign about bicycles being either allowed or prohibited, but they were just rather expected to be up on the mountain. I passed a few ODOT vehicles, and I imagine they were watching out for me. They closed a gate in front of me that I would encounter during a fast descent, and I saw a stick with a flag on it placed in the middle of the road about 100 yards before the gate. Not a big sign, but enough to notify of a change ahead.

The state is working on getting more involved with cycling, and TravelOregon and RideOregon have a website dedicated to cycling in the state.
Oregon's Cycling Resource - Ride Oregon Ride

Washington is apparently doing much of the same thing.
WSDOT - Maps of Local Bicycle Paths and Accessible Trails

But, the Washington site is much less developed.

Unfortunately, I don't even see reference to the John Wayne trail or the Columbia Plateau trail.

Oregon did have a most interesting 7 bikes for 7 wonders promotion last year.

As with many governments, there is a big struggle with balancing the needs of mountain bikes with other trail users.

I don't want to predict what the future will bring. 200 years ago, there was absolutely nothing out here. Now there are 7 million people in Washington, it is still rapidly going up.

200 years ago there weren't any mountain bikes. 100 years ago, a few bikes built for some sort of road. The MTBs for recreation started hitting the market 30 years ago or so. (new design based on old balloon and suspension technology). Have they peaked yet? the FAT bikes are a newer development of the idea.

I hate to imagine how populations and recreation will change over the next few centuries. Yeah, it may not be popular now, but it is barely passable too. I don't expect huge changes in the near future, but even the early MTB adopters are now having children and grandchildren. Some are retiring. Things will change. And the state and country at least needs to be ready for the changes.

scozim 

The Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes was a settlement from the superfund clean up of the Kellogg area. My understanding is the state did little to develop it. It is maintained by the state of Idaho and Coeur d'Alene tribe. A non-profit group also helps with maintenance also.

The Iron Horse trail from Ellensburg to North Bend is heavily used and, thus maintained by the state. As with most political things in this state the eastern most portion lf the trail is what's been neglected. Closing that portion and giving it back to the landowners is a farce, and I grew up in the area where Rep. Schmick is from. Frankly, I doubt very few of those farmers/landowners will do any maintenance of this land (abandoned rail road bed) including spraying of noxious weeds, etc. Heck, when this was a railroad was it even their land or the railroads?

gugie 

Just seeing this thread now as I'm catching up with @Black wallnut who I know from a woodworking forum a ways back. Small world, it would seem! Having had the pleasure of riding the trail from North Bend to Ellensburg, I have dreams of riding again out to trails end someday.

My 2cents is that even if the trail east of Ellensburg isn't in great shape for bike riding, that can change over time. I live adjacent to the Fanno Creek Trail that starts on the outskirts of Portland and is nominally 15 miles long. I say nominally because there are sections that aren't completely connected, although there is a plan to do so. When some money becomes available, a sections gets completed. That should be the model here, just keep making progress.

Midgen21

I have been digging around trying to find updates on this. Not a lot of luck.

Here are some alternative links to read about the story.

John Wayne Trail irreplaceable asset for Eastern Washington, advocates say reader comments | The Spokesman-Review

John Wayne Pioneer Trail | fernwehnw

Road trip to save our state?s longest trail: Three meetings this month | Seattle Bike Blog

I'm still trying to find updates from the meetings that were held.

The WABikes folks are supposed to be actively participating in this 'conversation', but I don't see much on their Facebook page about it
https://www.facebook.com/BikeWA/

Edit:
I stand somewhat corrected. WABikes does mention that 'protecting resources like the John Wayne Trail' is part of the 2016 legislative agenda. This sounds like politician double speak to me.
2016 Washington Bikes Legislative AgendaWashington Bikes

Midgen21

This is a somewhat related story about the Forest Service cutting back on Forest Road Service Maintenance in the Mount Baker and Snoqualmie Forest areas. These forest roads are frequented by hikers, bikers, campers, etc...

Plan narrows scope of U.S. Forest Service road maintenance | HeraldNet.com - Local News

CliffordK

Decommissioning roads is not necessarily bad, especially of some of the old road beds are maintained as multi-use trails.

Cars don't have to be the only way to get into a forest.

Midgen21

If forest roads are not maintained, it would only be a matter of time.. even as little as a year or two in this area, for them to become unusable for anything but a goat...

They would become overgrown, washed out, etc... within one or two seasons.

LesterOfPuppets

Yep, gravel riders would need to be like MTBers and do volunteer maintenance. Barring major landslide it doesn't take much, though. Small crew with chainsaw, rakes, pics, shovels can roll through a couple times a year.

CliffordK

I've hiked and ridden horses on several decommissioned roads. Washouts and slides might happen in some places, but usually aren't the major problems.

Deer and animals will follow the easy paths somewhat, and do help maintain a pathway, but trees and overgrowth will take over if not maintained. But, as Lester mentions, it doesn't take a lot to trim some brush and maintain a wide enough path to walk/ride.

Most of the roads I've been on haven't been impacted by a lack of bridges, but that is an issue with some trail reconstruction projects, as is the case with the JWT.

And, of course, there is a difference between personally maintaining a few miles of trails, and a team effort to maintain a few hundred miles worth of trails.

Midgen21

In a bit of good news, funding has been obtained to finish the Whitehorse Trail between Arlington and Darrington

Work to begin on another 9.5 miles of Whitehorse Trail | HeraldNet.com - Local News

Seattle Forrest

The Forest Service is out of money and cannot maintain all the roads it has.

They've been working on this decommissioning plan for years. The public has had plenty of opportunity to comment on which roads should be closed and which should be maintained. Public comment has been taken into serious consideration. The roads that are being decommissioned are the ones that are least-frequently used for outdoor recreation (eg by hikers, climbers, hunters, etc).

Many of these roads will become trails, like the trail to Otter Creek Falls in the Middle Fork Snoqualmie Valley, which used to be a logging road.

There are a lot of benefits to closing roads that don't get much use. A lot of the area in question borders on Wilderness, and residents have been asking for the Alpine Lakes Wilderness to grow for a very long time. That can only happen after the roads have been decommissioned.

Seattle Forrest

I hope this comment isn't too political but the Forest Service spends so much on fighting wildfires that it has to cut back on everything else it does. Including road maintenance.

CliffordK

By the mid 90's, the forrest service essentially cut and sold all of their available old growth forests. Then hit a huge production gap as younger trees grow back.


Forest Service Timber Harvests: Not What They Used To Be | PERC ? The Property and Environment Research Center

Perhaps also feeling some stress from considering the forests as multi-use resources too.

As far as roads, they provide both natural fire blocks, as well as a good way to get ground people and equipment to and from the fires. But, on a long term basis, perhaps one doesn't have to continuously maintain all of the logging roads.

Seattle Forrest

We're not really talking about the John Wayne trail anymore, but this is obviously an interesting topic to a lot of people here. Here's a quote from midgen's article:
It may not be obvious to everyone: decommissioning a road means pulling out culverts, creating berms, and other things. In some cases a road has to be repaired before it can be decommissioned, so the machinery can travel to do its job. Still a savings in the long term. Definitely an improvement for the environment, and the benefits of decommissioning are seen as ecological, not financial; as land manager USFS has a stake in this.

As far as I know the John Wayne Trail is not managed by USFS. The portions I've ridden have all been under the state park umbrella.

CliffordK

Perhaps one should review the inventory of roads planned for closure / decommissioning for possible bike trails. However, I would imagine most of them are fairly isolated and not going anywhere.

But, there may be things that a cyclist would consider that the forest service might not. For example, I've been hunting for good routes from Eugene to McKenzie bridge that bypass HWY 126. I'm probably a bit more than 50% off of the highway, but there are a few critical places where the roads just don't quite connect, as well as a critical bridge that had the decking removed.

Actually, I'd be most pleased if a couple of miles of new road would be built. Perhaps I could trade 100 miles of old logging roads for those couple of critical connections.

woodway

Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance has been working with various agencies and recreation groups on road to trail conversions. They take a lot of time and they are expensive to pull off, but the results can be really good. The Hansen Ridge trail on the I-90 corridor east of Seattle is a good example of what can be accomplished: https://www.evergreenmtb.org/trails/hansen-ridge. Evergreen is working on a couple other road to trail projects in the same area.