Cedar River bike trail is open from Renton to Landsburg

A short section of the Cedar River Trail that had been closed to bicycles while crews shored up a riverbank has been reopened.

Elk on Cedar River

Even though plenty of “Trail Closed” signs are still posted along the route, the trail is open.

Work crews had closed the half-mile section between 16916 Renton-Maple Valley Rd. S.E., to the trail’s intersection at 201^st Place Southeast in August while they worked to repair the shoreline of the Cedar River. The work continued longer than expected, and cyclists had to use a detour along Highway 169, aka Maple Valley Highway.

With the trail open, this would be a good weekend to explore the 17-mile trail between Renton and Landsburg.

Big leaf maples along the trail are turning bright yellow right now, and alders are forming a brightly colored archway over the trail up past Maple Valley.

The sockeye salmon are making their annual spawning runs up the river, and there are many vantage points from the old railroad trestles across the river or protected natural areas along the river.

I rolled up there on Thursday, and the odor of decaying salmon was pretty heavy in the air. I also scared up a half dozen elk browsing by the trailside about 4 miles past Maple Valley (photo above). Unfortunately, the hot-hoofed it out of there before I could get a decent photo.

The trail is 17 miles long, and roughly follows between Highway 169 and the Cedar River for the first 11 miles. The trail turns to hard-packed gravel at about 12 miles and follows the fast-flowing Cedar River through the woods to Landsburg for the remaining five miles.