Fierce Winds and a Finish at the OR/WA Border

Tuesday, June 11:

After Shaniko was a whole lot of goddamn nothing until the OR/WA border.  About 5 miles outside of town we ran into a 5 mile or so section of the road that was only open in one direction at a time due to repaving.  That was actually a nice surprise since it was a pretty sketchy road to ride on (hwy 97).  The one way only, low speed traffic (due to a pace vehicle) made it much safer and we just pulled off the road whenever a cluster of cars came by.

After that is was back to dirt and gravel roads through rolling scrub and farmland.  The wind was absolutely insane in this section and got worse and worse as we approached the Columbia river gorge,  which separates OR and WA.  Dante was knocked off balance by the wind and fell once.  Kaden and I both had to stop about a half dozen times to avoid getting blown over but managed not to fall.  

There were also some insanely steep, but mercifully short climbs in the last miles of this section.  Dante and I had to walk on a few of them but Kaden powered up every last one.

Farmland and a friendly dog:

Just one of many dusty rollers:

Mt Hood in the distance:

Approaching the Columbia River gorge:

2,000 ft, 5 to 7 percent grade that we had to pedal down due to the wind:

At the end of the route we headed 3 miles east to Biggs Junction. The official Oregon Outback route ends 2 miles west at Deschutes River Campground but we were basically out of food and there is none available there, so we opted to head the other way for food and a motel room.

At the finish, after 8 days and 370 miles of riding:

This was probably the most rewarding ride I have done.  Riding with my sons added a whole different dimension to the journey and it was very rewarding seeing them face and overcome the assorted challenges that come with a multi-day ride like this. 

On the last day we discussed the possibility of riding the Western Express Bike Route together, so who knows, maybe we will tackle that in another year or two.

Hills and more hills

We are already back home but I figure I should add posts covering our last two days.

Monday, June 10:

Leaving Ashwood we had a really tough climb. The canyon it was in was pretty hot already despite us getting an early start.

Hot, steep climb:

Near the top the climbed transitioned to rolling hills. We had our only minor bike issue in the section. My rear tire kept going soft. I initially kept just re-inflatating it every mile or so but that got old real quick and I finally decided to deal with it properly. Its always kind of unnerving tearing things apart far from a town, so I tend to put it off if I can. The issue was that the tubeless sealant had dried out and pressure was leaking from around the valve. I ended up just throwing in a spare tube and we were moving again in about 10 minutes.

Kaden waiting for me to complete my repair:

About 20 miles into the day we reached the tiny town of Antelope and another wonderful bicyclist rest area:

Antelope has a bit of weird history. Back in the 80s a cult called the Rajneeshpuram took over the town. There is a Netflix documentary about it called Wild Wild County.

After spending an hour or so at the bike rest stop we had another long, steep climb. This one was a bit easier though since it was paved.

View from the top, looking back toward Antelope:

About 20 miles of rolling hills to the ghost town of Shaniko followed. After a meal at the cafe and spending some time hunting around for the best option for the night we ended up camping at the RV park.

Approaching Shaniko:

Campsite for the night:

A Perfect Day of Riding

Sunday, June 9

We got started somewhat late to avoid some potential rain that didn't arrive. The first 10 or so miles was a very gentle climb through a rural area. The remainder of a 2,000 ft climb into national forest started after that. It was relatively steep but the scenery was fantastic and the temperature perfect.

After that was an equally long descent on dirt roads, the bottom half being private rural ranch land.

Kaden was riding like a new man, with no complaints about seat comfort. He had used info from the  bike shop across the street from our hotel on how to treat his saddle sores during the rest day. I also had him try the new saddle we picked up (brooks cambium c17 carved) then mine (Selle anatomica titanico x). The way he smiled and commented after trying mine I knew it was going to be his for the rest of the ride. It's not my favorite but I can get by on the other one.

Pictures from the day appear below.

Waaazzup:

Dante in front of an old school house:

Shooting cans with a slingshot during a break at an informal campsite that we found during the climb:

The boys dropping me:

Lunch at another informal campsite at the top of the pass:

One of the four stream crossings on the way down:

We ended the day at Ashwood after about 10 miles of some pretty rough dirt road that was punctured by endless short, steep climbs.

One of the town residents has set up a rest stop stocked with water soda, Gatorade, ice cream, and chips specifically for people riding through on the Oregon Outback cycle route. Payment is on honor system basis.

Break at the rest area upon reaching town:

Free camping area behind Ashwood's Grange Hall:

Recovery Day

Saturday, June 8

The title pretty much says it all. The only thing I have to share is this picture of our next 2 plus days of food:

This is not quite all of our food. We also have a small block of cheddar cheese and a small jar of sunflower butter.

Prineville Reservoir State Park

Friday, June 7

Since Kaden was obviously having a pretty miserable time I decided that he needed to decide whether to continue or not. As soon as he was up and out of his tent I asked him if he wanted to continue riding another day to Prineville where we would take a recovery day and get him a different saddle, or if he wanted a taxi ride there for an early motel check-in and us figuring out how to get him home after Dante and I caught up.  He immediately said that he wanted to keep going.

One thing that factored into his decision was that we were going to transition from dirt to much smoother paved roads just 16 miles into the day.

Along with the paved road we started getting some trees back. One of the seasonal creeks that our gpx map said not to rely on was flowing and our first relatively long stop was to collect and filter some water from it.  From Fort Rock to the Prineville reservoir is 70 miles without any reliable water sources and we were into conservation mode at this point, so this was a nice find. 

Since the embankment was somewhat steep and rocky for me I had Dante go down to collect the water.  He set off a rattlesnake on the way down and he handled it fine.  I couldn't see it from where I was but he said it was about 5 feet away from him.

Shortly after the water stop we had a steep 900 foot climb up to the reservoir.

Prineville reservoir is a state park. The area is really stunning and should probably be a national park. 

Break at the first of about six campgrounds, where we had lunch and drank a lot more water:

Random additional pictures taken along the way:

We checked into an Econolodge in downtown Prineville for two nights of rest. Luckily the bike shop I had called ahead of time to buy a new saddle for Kaden was just across the street and I picked it up right away since they were going to be closed for the weekend.

The Red Sauce Forest and nosebleeds

Thursday, June 6

We left Fort Rock without visiting its namesake geological feature. The day was expected to be over 90 degrees and we agreed to put on some miles early, break for the hot part of the day, then put in some additional miles in the evening. However, since the heat never really showed up we ended up riding more or less straight  through.

This is kind of random but Tanya asked me to include some photos of me, so here is my first, bad one: 

After leaving Fort Rock we climbed back into forest. Since Dante is going to miss his weekly indoor Rock climbing session this coming weekend he insisted on climbing the pile of rocks below.  Being 20 miles from the nearest town and who knows how far from the nearest hospital made me a bit nervous about it but I let him have at it.

About 20 miles of this red, sandy road followed. Among people who ride this route this is known as the "red sauce forest". When dry it is somewhat hard to ride due to the extra resistance when your tires sink into it. When wet it is pretty much unrideable. Thankfully it was dry for us.  

We took an about 45 minute break at Sand Spring (below). Since Kaden has started developing some saddle sores this was just one of many breaks during the second half of the day.

We ended the day at some sort of road maintenance site at the intersection of highways 20 and 27.  It was just a big, dirt lot with huge piles of gravel but it was the only land nearby that was not private.  Despite how sad it looks it ended up being a really good site for stargazing. Dante and I chose to just sleep outside and watch the stars. The milky way band was visible directly above us. It was also relatively quiet, with little noise from the highway.

Kaden was not as happy.  It was a very dry, deserty site and shortly after getting into his tent he had a huge nosebleed.  It was followed by another similarly large one about 15 minutes later. We went through almost every piece of gauze, wipe, etc. in our first aid kits. 

The repeated nature of it and the amount of blood had me thinking through options if they didn't stop. Luckily I had cell service at that point and was able to get some pointers on how to deal with it. Kaden ended up sleeping with rolls of gauze shoved up both nostrils to keep the dry air out and to absorb any additional blood. Surprisingly he actually managed to get a solid night of sleep that way.

Desert landscapes and loud, drunk ranchers

Wednesday, June 5

The day started in high elevation woodland and ended in an area that is basically desert.  The trees all disappeared about 10 miles before we reached the tiny town of Silver Lake. We spent a few hours there.  After stuffing ourselves at the cafe we got did our laundry and got showers at an rv park.  Lastly, we visited the two small stores in town to restock on food.

I managed to embarrass myself a bit at the second store. The first had almost nothing, with its shelves being about 75% empty. The second was fully stocked and I commented to the cashier about how the fist place looked really sad in comparison and she said, "yep, that's my parent's place."  Luckily, she didn't seem at all bothered by my comment.  She also explained that the difference was due to her store being corporate owned vs her parent's being privately owned, and the difficulty getting things delivered there.

After Silver Lake there was about 25 miles of scrubland before our destination of Fort Rock, another tiny town. We set up for the night on a patch of grass behind The Waterin Hole Tavern after a meal there. The location was suggested by the owner but ended up being really bad. As soon as it got dark an approximately million lumen overhead light came on. In addition there were a couple of picnic tables nearby, just outside the bar door, which is apparently where everyone in town continues partying after the tavern closes at 9. After listening to drunken town gossip and trash talk for about 30 minutes we pulled up our tent stakes and carried our tents, with everything inside, to the very back corner of the rv park on the same lot, as far away from the noise and light as we could get.

Starting the day just north of Thompson Lake:

Dante just before he laid down and went to sleep on a bench in the laundromat in Silver Lake:

The boys in front of some old farm shack:

Kaden photographing the road to Fort Rock and the distant ridge we had to ride over:

Fort Rock, the geological formation, with some of the town of the same name in front of it:

Finishing the OC&E

Tuesday, June 4.

I didn't take a whole lot of photos on day 2. The trail was really tough (rocky, steep) in this section. It seemed like one boy or the other was always close to losing it.

Once the OC&E rail trail ended things got a lot easier. Instead of rocky 6 ft wide trail we were suddenly on typical dirt and gravel roads.

We ended at Thompson Lake, just off route, after about 41 miles. 

Lake Thompson has a wonderful campground that is in a great location for night sky viewing. We managed to find a site that had some firewood left by a previous camper and a generous neighboring camper gave us some kindling.

Kaden crashed early but Dante and I stayed up until midnight just talking and watching the night sky.

Through the land of cow pies and gopher holes

Monday, June 3

Our first day of riding was from Klammath Falls to...sorry, I don't exactly know. It was 66.3 miles from our starting point, and about 15 miles north of the town of Beatty.  We camped about 10 feet inside the first section of national forrest we came across about 30 minutes after it got dark. Anything before that would have meant stealth camping somewhere on private land or city/county land.  We followed the OC&E trail the entire day, briefly stopping for dinner at a convenience store in Sprague Lake. Some pictures appear below.

Kaden and Dante near the start of the OC&E trail:

As you can see, the day started out with the threat of rain. We waited in the motel until 9 a.m. before starting to avoid some light drizzle.

Stop near a river:

Navigating some minor impediments:

By this rest area (below) along the trail I was hurting and was thinking that this trip may be over in another day or so. The motel we stayed at had an ackward set of three stairs leading up to the bottom floor rooms and I managed to trip on them and go face down on them, twisting my left shoulder and right ankle. At the time the shoulder felt like the bigger problem but the issue ended up being the ankle, and by the time we hit this stop I was limping badly. Fortunately, it didn't affect my riding and a couple aspirin from the store in Beatty and a night of sleep fixed it.

The area between Sprague Lake and Beatty was a really mixed experience. There was some nice scenery but much of the trail was covered with grass, gopher holes and cow patties. On top of that there were gates about every half mile.

Shortly after this we headed uphill into the forrest. I didn't get any images of that because we were racing the darkness and the boys were getting cranky.