Greetings. I'm casting about, trying to get ideas for next summer's tour(s). The John Wayne/Iron Horse Trail in Washington State sounds intriguing.

I would be touring on a Surly LHT with racks and panniers. Would I be able to do this trail? I have Schwalbe 32s on it. I could go with something a little wider if it were called for by the trail surface. Any advice?

I also have an old Specialized Stumpjumper (no suspension). I could take this, although it's not as comfortable. The handlebars are much lower than the saddle. I suppose I could find a taller stem and change this.

What dates would be best? I'm a teacher so my window would be from mid-June to mid-August

Any advice?

Thanks!

its' good all the way to ellensburg, then gets considerably more sandy and disconnected as it approaches and passes the columbia river. ride it to the columbia is my suggestion.

Falcon Press's Mountain bike Washington book has an excellent, detailed writeup of conditions along the iron horse trail.

it's nice, good riding.

I've ridden the bits to ellensburg on 700x32s and 700x35 road 'slicks'. a schwalbe marathon type of tyre would treat you fine.

I've ridden it from Rattlesnake Lake Trailhead to Ellensbug on an old roadified MTB with 1.5" Armadillos. I dropped the front pressure to 35lbs and ran the rear at 65lbs. My friend used a Trek 520 with 32mm Bontrager road tires. We both found it just fine, although he had to get off and walk his bike over the trestles because the surface is too loose. The trail surface itself is packed gravel in most places, with some exposed pit-run in others. That means boulders ranging in size from 1' drain rock to canteloupe size. The big stuff is buried tho, and actually only sticks up like Euro cobblestones. Not bad at all.

You'll need a good headlight for going thru the 2 mile tunnel under the pass. It's pitch black in there and without a decent light, you can easily run into the walls.

The up grade going to the pass is only about 2%. It's an extremely scenic ride. If you want some ride shots, here's a link to our clubride that day: https://seattlebiketours.org/members/...se_071507.html

I've ony done from the Rattlesnake trailhead to the tunnel and through it. I did it on an old mtn bike with an elastomer suspension fork it was pretty rough overall - next time I'll take my new mtn bike with better fork. I'm sure you could do it fine on a wide-tired touring bike, but you'd get pretty beat up - it's not a smooth path.

I have heard it's basically Okay through Ellensberg, but beyond gets very spotty with a lot of detours around private land and the like.

- Mark