Chidong Zhang's WA2MA Bike Trip

Interactive Map: Click on the map

Photos: At the bottom of the page

Videos: Beverly Bridge over Columbia River

Even before we started, we had two flats, one for Peter, one for me. Peter’s was an easy fix by replacing an inner tube. Mine was a different story. I had tubeless tires (no inner tubes, sealant inside the tire is supposed to fill small punctures). My leak was from the valve (see Equipment – Pump). Once the seal for the tire and rim was broken, I could not reseal it. It would need an air compressor to pump air quickly into the tire. The remedy was to put an inner tube as for the regular tire. I had an axel mount front rack that had to be taken off before the front wheel can be removed to fix the flat. After hassled with this, I decided to see if a local bike shop could help reseal my tubeless tire to make it less vulnerable to flats. We found one (Recycle Bicycle). It was Saturday, no mechanic worked in the shop to help us. I bought more inner tubes to be ready for more flats.

Because vibrations from the rough gravel surface bothered Peter a lot, the ride that day was mainly on paved roads (Vantage Highway to Vantage WA along the Yakimar River, and Huntzinger Rd after). Crossing the Columbia River through the Beverly Bridge was exciting. The bridge was built as part of PTCT. On the other side of the river are two small neighborhoods Beverly and Schwana. We found the only place with water and food at the Outpost Grocery gas station at Schwana. We treated ourselves with ice cream. Three fellows came to chat with us. They gave us tips about the trail and an alternative road ahead. We took a picture together and moved on. At the end of the day we camped at the Lenice Lake campsite.

We didn’t see the lake. The campsite is truly in the middle of nowhere but there is a vault toilet. I have never experienced such quietness (except the sound from wind gusts) and the wilderness. Great sunset. The landscape was lit by the bright full moon at night. I was in heaven.