In Summary
“Bike for the Cure 2024” (May 25 – May 30) is a 300 bicycle ride, across Washington State on the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail , from the Eastern Slopes of the Cascade Mountains to the Idaho border. The ride ends in Spokane, WA at the 39th Annual Convention (May 30 – June 1). In 1967, Marjorie Guthrie, the widow of famed folksinger Woody Guthrie, founded the Committee to Combat Huntington’s Disease, which in 1983 became the Huntington’s Disease Society of America. The mission of HDSA is to improve the lives of everyone affected by HD and their families. As in the prior 23 rides, the purpose of the ride is to heighten public awareness of Huntington’s Disease and to raise funds for family services and research towards a cure.
Historic Notes on the Route
Similar to many other “rails to trails,” the Palouse to Cascades Trail follows the historic Chicago – Milwaukee – St. Paul – Pacific Railroad, which was nicknamed the “Milwaukee Road.” It was previously known as the John Wayne Pioneer Trail/Iron Horse State Park. It stretches from the Western Slope of the Cascades Mountains to the Idaho border, through evergreen forests, dark tunnels, over high trestles , spectacular rivers and across open farmland and high desert.
Trail begins at Cedar Falls, near North Bend). Trail continues SE through Lake Easton, then on to South Cle Elum.
In 1909 the Chicago Milwaukee and Puget Sound railway chose Cle Elum as a division point between the Coast and Columbia divisions on its future transcontinental line. Homes, maintenance shops, workers’ bunkers and a train station depot. The depot houses a museum of railroad artifacts, and the bunkhouse is now a B & B.
Ellensburg is the biggest town along the Trail. It is site of Central Washingtjon University
The Palouse is a distinct geographic region of the Northwestern US. It encompasses parts of Northcentral Idaho, Southeast Washington, and Northeast Oregon. IT is a major agricultural area, primarily producing wheat and legumes, temperate grasslands, savanna, shrublands, gently rolling hills covered with wheat fields.
South Cle Elum
Ellensburg
Vantage
Othello
Ralston
Rosalia
Tekoa