WA State Route 10 (SR 10) is a remnant of the old U.S. Route 10 (US 10) in Kittitas County, traveling southeast along the Yakima River from WA SR 970 in Teanaway to US 97 northwest of Ellensburg. SR 10 was established in 1970 as the successor to US 10 after the completion of I-90 across the Snoqualmie Pass in 1968. The highway was previously part of State Road 3 from 1923 to 1937 and Primary State Highway 3 (PSH 3) until the 1964 highway renumbering. SR 10 begins at the intersection with SR 970 south of DeVere Field in the unincorporated community of Teanaway in Kittitas County, southeast of Cle Elum. The highway travels southeast, parallel to a portion of the Stampede Subdivision of the BNSF Railway through the Yakima River valley and crosses over the Teanaway River before its confluence with the Yakima River. SR 10 continues southeast through Bristol and Thorp before it ends at an intersection with US 97 northwest of Ellensburg. SR 10 follows the route of the Roslyn branch of the Northern Pacific Railway, built in the Yakima River valley by the late 1890s. A roadway was built in the valley and incorporated into the Inland Empire Highway in 1913 and the Southern Division of the Sunset Highway in 1919. The highway became part of State Road 3 in 1923, which was co-signed with US 10 and US 97 during the creation of the United States Numbered Highways in 1926. State Road 3 became PSH 3 during the creation of the primary and secondary state highways in 1937, still co-signed with US 10 and US 97 through the Yakima River valley. US 10 was temporarily re-aligned over Blewett Pass in the late 1930s, leaving US 97 alone in the Yakima River valley until US 10 was moved back to its original route in 1946 after US 2 was extended west from Idaho. During the 1964 highway renumbering, US 10 completely replaced PSH 3 as I-90 was being planned along its route. I-90 opened between Vantage and Snoqualmie Pass in November 1968 and SR 10 replaced US 10 when the state highways were codified in 1970. US 97 was moved onto former SR 131 between Thorp and Virden in 1975 leaving SR 10 without a concurrency and creating SR 970.
US 10 was the main route between Seattle and Spokane prior to the Interstate 90 being built. US 10 still exists not only at this location, but many places east of here. The Vantage Highway was previously US 10. The highway continued across the Columbia and continued up through the Frenchman Coulee. US 10 continued east and parallel to I-90 today as a frontage road. Theres a series of caches along the old US 10 that highlights the old highway. There are signs along I-90 that mark exits to join the Historic US 10.
In September 2002, a group of 19 concerned geocachers scheduled a meeting after hearing that the Washington State Parks was considering banning geocaches in the state park system. Out of this meeting, the Washington State Geocaching Association (WSGA) was "born" with its core values of promoting geocaching as a fun, family-oriented outdoor activity that increases awareness and appreciation of the environment and our parks and trails, provide opportunities for participants to enjoy geocaching and to socialize with other geocaches, educate park systems and land managers about geocaching and its benefits, increase awareness and support of the geocaching through interaction with other outdoor groups and the public, encourage low-impact geocaching and promote stewardship of our natural resources, and support "Cache In Trash Out" activities to help maintain parks and trail systems.
In 2022, the WSGA turns 20 years young. To celebrate this milestone, the WSGA is hosting a 20th-anniversary GeoTour. This GeoTour will give you the opportunity to travel to all corners of the Evergreen State while you search for 140 GeoTour caches. To make it easier to tackle such a large GeoTour, each of our 7 regional chapters will host a bite-sized GeoTour consisting of 20 GeoTour caches with the entire GeoTour consisting of 140 caches. To learn more about our GeoTour, please visit the GeoTour page on our website which you can find HERE. We hope that you enjoy getting back out on the road while touring around Washington State. If you have any questions about our GeoTour, you can reach out to us via the contact tab on our website.
GEOTOUR UPDATE
The WSGA's 20th Anniversary GeoTour will end on December
31, 2024, at
11:59pm PT.
You will only have until this date and time to find the
geocaches, post all of your logs for the digital souvenirs (if qualified), and
submit all of your passports of unique codes for the geocoins (if qualified).
There will be no exceptions.