Day 7 - Intiat to Ellensburg... beautiful, hilly and windy

84 miles, 4931 up

We rode Hwy 97 and alternate 97 most of the day, with a few side roads along the way - there were wide shoulders and the drivers were considerate, so it wasn't too bad.

The smoke we've been experiencing is from the "Wolverine fire," at the far end of Lake Chelan. The lake is beautiful!

We stopped in Cashmere, home to Aplets and Cotlets Confections and went on a tour of the factory.

We enjoyed many samples before we left!

A little road side snack before starting up Blewett pass, about 24 miles.

The traffic seemed come in small groups.

As we reached the top of Blewett Pass, the winds picked up and shifted around, sometimes a head wind, sometimes from the side, sometimes from behind...

We soon found out these are "windy parts!" When we went over the summit, we expected a 16 mile "coast" into Ellensburg... Instead, we found we were having to pedal to make headway downhill and we had to put jackets on because it was chilly... for a while. After descending a ways, the winds calmed and we warmed up. As we crested a second peak, a wind farm came into sight.

Over the peak, the wind was from behind and it was an amazing ride into town - riding along in the mid-twenties, barely pedaling! Wahooooo!