& Yakima
The road east over Snoqualmie Pass opens into a different Washington — wide valleys, sagebrush hills, and skies that go on forever.
Cle Elum sits at the eastern foot of the Cascade Range in Kittitas County, roughly 80 miles east of Seattle via I-90. Once a coal-mining and railroad town, it now serves as a gateway between the lush, rain-soaked western slopes of the Cascades and the high desert plateau of central Washington — a landscape defined by ponderosa pine, sagebrush steppe, and panoramic valley views that stretch to the horizon.
The drive south from Cle Elum toward Yakima follows the Yakima River through a canyon carved during the last ice age. The valley floor opens wide into one of the most productive agricultural regions in the country — apples, hops, wine grapes — framed by basalt ridgelines and the occasional snow-capped peak of the southern Cascades to the west.
From Seattle, take I-90 East over Snoqualmie Pass (elevation 3,022 ft) — one of the most dramatic highway transitions in Washington. The pass typically opens year-round but expect chains in winter. Cle Elum is at Exit 84, about 80 miles east. Continue south on US-97 toward Yakima through the river canyon.
April is a sweet spot — the high passes are clear but snow still dusts the peaks, orchard blossoms carpet the valley floor, and the sagebrush hillsides flush green before summer turns them golden. Wildflowers appear along the canyon roads. Temperatures are mild, crowds are minimal, and the light on the basalt is extraordinary.