Day 6 - Oregon Redemption

Today was the opposite of yesterday.  John Day to Baker City, 85 miles, almost 5,000 feet of biking elevation gain, beautiful views, blue skies, smooth roads. What else can I say?

Our first stop was a photo op halfway to the Dixie Mt. Summit where there is a reconstruction of an Oregon Trail Covered Wagon.  Don is top right, I am lower right.  Our new friend from Israel, Phillippe, and I are supposedly simulating towing the wagon via bicycle instead of horse/oxen.  The Blue Mountains are in the background.  We did not move that wagon, by the way.

Here is Drew, modeling today's serving of blackberry cobbler a la mode that we had as a mid-morning snack at the Austin House Restaurant.  Yum!

To "earn" that cobbler, we rode to the summit of three peaks: Dixie Mountain, Tipton Mountain, and Small Mountain. None really seemed too small, but the views were incredible.  

 While down in the valleys, there were too many beautiful meadows to count.  We had been told by locals in John day to keep our eyes open for herds of elk.  Though we did not find any elk, there were scores of very happy cows.

 Here's Drew again, this time mugging for the camera, showing how great our lunch stop was at a gorgeous meadow, this one leading to our road along the Powder River that took us to Baker City.

 Signing off from the land of the Wallowa Mountain Range, the sight of which greeted us as we descended down toward Baker City.

Day 5 - Rain, Cold, and 116 Miles!

The day was predicted to have 20% chance of rain in an area known for its dry climate.  Partway into our first mountain pass climb, we were treated with a downpour and 41 degrees at the summit, followed by a 7-mile descent in increasingly pelting rain.  If you've ever been soaking wet and moving at 25 mph at that temp - imagine being in a convertible in a downpour with the roof down - that's how the day started.  Luckily, in the small town of Mitchell, we found a drive-through espresso stop with a covered shelter to give us warmth to continue on.  Here's Greg with a cup of goodness after the wet descent.

It continued to be so very cold and wet, there are not many pictures to share.  Here's a few from when the rain stopped at a beautiful entrance to a canyon carved by the John Day River.

Here's a pic of Don taking that picture (sorry - couldn't help but put this in).

The John Day River at the base of the canyon was as clear as glass.  Pretty impressive considering all the rock it had to move to carve a canyon.

Lastly - we stopped at the 100 mile mark to celebrate our first "century" ride of the year with this Selfie Shot.  Note we are both wearing the glasses we hoped would shelter our eyes from the sun when it came out today.  Note the sky.  Against many odds, we and our entire group made it into the small city of John Day, 116 miles from where we began in the morning.

Tomorrow - 3 climbs to make our way to Baker City, OR.  Please sing along with us:  "The sun'll come out, tomorrow!"

Day 4 - Kah Nee Ta to Prineville, OR - 60 miles and +3,000 Feet

We started the day with this view of horses, one fenced, one longing for the one within the fence, as we left the Warm Springs Native American Reservation,  There are hundreds of wild horses on the reservation, and perhaps the one behind the fence had been brought in to be broken for trail rides. One can only guess, but the free one wouldn't leave the side of the other, even with the approach of several cyclists at close range.

We rode on to several long climbs, the first between Warm Springs & Madras OR on a road we had traveled many times before by car on our way to Central Oregon. We looked back at the top, and there was Mt. Jefferson, partially obscured by clouds, against a foreground of cloud shadows.  Thx to Don for this shot.

Here's our group at the top of the climb.  New friends from NH, AZ, NV, NY, and 3 from Portland, Don, Drew & me from the Oregon shirt over.

Sorry - couldn't resist another mountain shot of Jefferson.  This time the view is over irrigated wheat fields off small country backroads on our way to Madras, OR.  We enjoyed this and many more quiet views as we rode on small two-lane roads after we left the highway.

I stopped on the descent toward Madras when I saw this valley and the expansive bridge over it. Quite a lovely sight, and I don't just mean those gorgeous clouds against the blue backdrop!

We forged on to our final destination today of Prineville, Oregon, a small town that now houses data centers for both Google and Apple, as well as growing a stellar crop of mint!

We are turning in early tonight, for tomorrow brings a ride of 117 miles and 5,000 feet of elevation gain from here to John Day, OR.  We load bags at 5:45 am and leave by 6 am!  That means breakfast at ???  This  blog may be abbreviated tomorrow.

Day 3: Up & Over, Down and Around - Welches to Kah Nee Ta

Breakfast at 6:30, the road up to Mt. Hood past Lolo Pass at 6:45.  This is a shot that should have been the top of Mount Hood.  It never appeared today to our group, but the roads stayed dry despite some showers at the top of our climb, so it was a good day in all.

Today we climbed 5,000 feet over a route of about 66 miles, and were treated to some shots of forest land with clouds sitting upon the treetops, as well as crystal clear streams consisting of snowmelt.  See below.

We reached our highest point on Mt. Hood at Government Camp.  It was 42 degrees and we were damp from the exertion of the climb, which made our descent down the mountain a very chilly one.  Before the descent, I had to record the Zone which we were traveling in:

Plus, for all you gardeners out there, the beautiful purple alpine Lupine that grew all along the roadside:

We were transported to another climate zone after moving from western to the eastern side of the Cascades. Our destination was the Kah Nee Ta Resort on the reservation of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs 

Upon entering the reservation, we saw a group of wild horses grazing off the road.  My I-phone skills being what they are, the horses are somewhat in the distance.

Lastly we climbed and then descended our way into the area of the resort, where we were treated to beautiful rolling hills and red rock.

Tomorrow:  a "Working Rest Day".  60 miles from Kah Nee Ta to Prineville, OR.

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Day 2 - St. Helens to Welches, OR - 75 miles

We started the day riding along a busy Highway 30 down to St. Johns, where we crossed the beautiful St. Johns bridge into the neighborhood of the same name.  Meandering through Portland streets, we finally came upon the beautiful Columbia River, which we followed closely for around 16 miles, looking for osprey, jumping salmon, and Mt. Hood.  Though we saw the Cascade foothills, Mt. Hood remained shy, staying behind the clouds.

Leaving the river, we started climbing into the foothills toward Mount Hood.  The meandering two lane roads around Sandy, OR provided views of the many trees and shrubs growing in nurseries in the area that were beautiful, but again no views of Mt. Hood.

After a great milkshake & burger lunch at Calamaty Jane's, we rode the flanks of Mt. Hood to our final destination of Welches, OR, where we checked in to the Resort at the Mountain.  Have we seen the Mountain yet?  No - but there's still hope.  Whether we saw the top of the mountain or not, today was a glorious day of riding those 75 miles.

Our dinner spot, the Zig Zag Inn in Zig Zag, was a visual treat.  Upon entering, we saw this view of all the chandeliers made of various antlers, not to be outdone by the moose antlers in the center. 

Leaving the restaurant to be transported to the hotel for the night, we were surprised to find it raining quite steadily with temps feeling like they are in the low 50's.

Tomorrow we tackle riding Highway 26 toward the upper regions of Mt. Hood.  We are retiring tonight, hoping for a break in the rain and a glimpse of the mountain peak for our new friends who have traveled so far on their first trip to the NW.

We Are Ready to Ride!

Here's our riding group+ support staff in our new matching America by Bike jerseys as we begin our first true day of riding from Astoria to St. Helens, Oregon.  Check out those smiling faces.  The sun is shining!

This stop was to record the lovely forests that covered much of the hills along the roadsides as we traveled from the coast inland to the east.  Drew, Greg and Holly.

Support vehicles surround the rest stop pavilion at the Gnat Creek Fish Hatchery.  See the giant salmon that the little hatchlings will turn into?  We can only hope!

Coming down the long downhill (after a very long climb UPhill out of Clatskanie, OR), we were treated to this sight of the bridge and paper mills at Longview, WA. Look closely and you will see Mt. St. Helens with its flat top in the background.


Tomorrow we will journey along the edge of the Columbia River out to the base of Mt. Hood in Welches, OR.  They are predicting rain.  Will it obscure our views of Mt. Hood?   Tune in tomorrow.........

Day 0 In Astoria

 

Looking out from our Holiday Inn at the Astoria Bridge, we see the mighty Columbia River which separates Oregon from Washington.  We are within  biking distance to the mouth of the river, where it empties into the Pacific.

Greg and Don as we near the Pacific, the Astoria Bridge a faint shadow between the two.

Greg, Holly and Don with one of the howitzers that defended our shores from the Japanese during WWII.  We are at Ft. Stevens, the only place in the continental US that was fired upon when a Japanese submarine fired 17 shells at the fort.  No damage - lucky for us and for the bike paths that lead us back through the park.

Drew Gardner, our fourth Portland rider, was riding an earlier loop than we were - sorry he is not in today's pics.  We three decided to make a stop at the Pig N Pancake first before this trip to the beach.

Tomorrow - all 44 in our group begin Day 1.  We have riders from all over the continental US, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Taiwan and Israel.