Around 6am the owner of the lodge came by and wondered why someone was sleeping in his parking lot. After explaining I planned on biking with them today they were cool and even let me clean up in their bunkhouse.
We waited for another 6 people to meet at the lodge and he transported us and the bikes to the top of the mountain for the 26 miles trip down. The McKenzie River trail is regarded as one of the top ten mountain bike trails in the US. I was accustomed to easier trails throughout Michigan and by no means a biking expert, this was to be a rude awakening.
Here is a map of the 26 mile course
We started at the very top at Fish Lake
The other riders were all experienced and had traveled significant distances with their own bikes to do this trail. They had all the gear, while I had a rented bike, helmet and first aid kit. It started out pretty technical and opened up near “Clear Lake”
It then became absurd. The trail went through a volcanic minefield. I pretty much walked a bunch of this because I did not want to kill myself and because I could not stay on the bike anyway. At about the time it became excruciatingly frustrating, they paved it, and I was able to make it into the forest where a mile of snow awaited. See, we were the first trip down of the season.
We all split up after the start, meaning I was left to bring up the rear. I followed the river down the whole way, stopping at waterfalls and climbing over fallen trees
We all stopped at this beautiful blue pond for lunch
I continued on and trail became a little easier, but since I did not wear gloves, most of my palms had been ripped off from the logs and rocks banging my handlebars around. My rental bike really only had 2 or 3 out of 21 gears that seemed to work. I honestly don’t know how a bike can make it through that course more than a few times as it takes a serious beating the whole way. I was actually glad I did not have my own bike.
I stopped at this lake for a quick dip
At about mile 20 where the trial takes a hard curve west I jumped out onto the HWY to seek relief and head back to my car as I was behind schedule. The trial had already taken 6 hours! Back home I do 10 miles / hr on our trails. Here is defeated biker along the road
I took another shower back at the lodge and gathered my stuff. I continued North of Bend trying to make the Colombia River Gorge by the Dalles OR for the night. I passed this shot of Mt Washington on my way back to Freeway 97
I stopped for dinner in this historic little town, but I can’t for the life of me remember the name.
Here is a shot of Mt Hood as the sun was setting.
I ended up about 20 miles short of the river, stopping in Maupin OR, a place I had been to before for rafting with my bachelor party company. They were kind enough to let me camp on their property for a night.
Until Tomorrow,
Darren
