Washington State Route 903

On Tuesday, July 1, 2025, we drove Washington State Route 903 from Cle Elum to the lake.

State route No. 903:

A state highway to be known as state route number 903 is established as follows:

Beginning at a junction with state route number 970 in the vicinity of Cle Elum, thence northwesterly by way of Cle Elum and Roslyn to the National Forest boundary in the vicinity of Lake Cle Elum.

Highway 903 starts at this junction with SR 970 at the east end of Cle Elum. We're on the line of the old Sunset Highway and US 10, but it's built up so 970 can cross the railroad tracks and connect with I-90. This is a (squished) delta junction, with a lower bypass of this intersection, but WSDOT lists this upper part as the main route and not the bypass, so I started here.


Detour signs were still up for construction on a new roundabout in Cle Elum, but it opened the day before our drive, so we rolled right through. We leave town and come to the halfway point of 903 just before we get to Roslyn.


903 zig-zags through Roslyn and passes through Ronald, two old coal mining towns (along with Cle Elum). Off to the sides, fancy new developments have sprung up, for those who want to live ten feet from their neighbors, but in the mountains. Slowly we ascend into the woods. Near the south end of Lake Cle Elum, in the community of Lakedale, Highway 903 ends at a seemingly random location. It's at the national forest boundary, but there are just as many homes on the national forest side of the line than south of it.

I have been up this road plenty of times before and never once have I previously stopped at the south end of the lake. Lots of good backpacking up that way, but not on this trip. Instead, we went to the windy beach.