Riding or hiking across Washington state just got easier with new bridge over Columbia River

The Columbia River has long divided the two halves of Washington's cross-state Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail. Now, a rebuilt rail trestle over the river south of Vantage connects the two sides making it easier for cyclists, horse riders and hikers to undertake a spectacular east-west journey.

The Palouse to Cascades Trail stretches for 285 miles from the outskirts of North Bend, Washington, to the Idaho border, including a 2.5 mile tunnel under the Cascade Crest. Fred Wert of Winthrop has traversed the full length once and biked and walked it in sections many times. He sometimes calls it the “invisible trail” because it is not well known.

“I try to tell people this is a secret way to get across the state,” Wert said. “One of the beauties of it, it’s away from everything else in general. It’s open year-round. It goes from the deep forest to the wheatlands of the Palouse. It’s a challenging, but fascinating journey to take.”