South Bend to Kelso

Tuesday 14th May 2013

The reason I wanted to stay in South Bend was to take the Willipa trail which stretches from South Bend to Chehalis. The trail starts off very promising but quickly degrades into an unpaved and unridable (on road bikes) surface. Perhaps the first and last six miles are paved - the other 40+ miles are not.

Fortunately the trail follows highway 6 which is very ridable. There are also several side roads that parallel highway 6 which are very pleasant such as LeBam road below.

Lebam road - quiet and scenic

We did have a couple of issues though. First we took a side road that, after some miles and a lot of climbing, suddenly became unpaved. It would have been nice if they had told us this before we had committed so much effort. I would have stayed on highway 6 if I had known.

Once we navigated this treacherous stretch of 'road' I got back on the Willipa trail for a couple of miles only to reach a partially demolished trestle bridge and a trail closed sign. Again, putting the sign earlier when we still had an option to avoid the closed area would have been much more intelligent but apparantly that's too much to ask.

I decided to walk over the trestle bridge despite it being closed. I had no problem with it but Amber was unhappy. We got to the other side without falling through and suddenly the trail was paved again. We were not impressed with the Willipa trail which is a shame because it was supposed to be one of the highlights of the vacation.

Kelso is a sucky city to ride in with almost no allowances for bicycles.

Rode 101 miles.