Some of the tribe at the top of the hill, ready to go! Views of Mount Hood. First water stop and a friend from the Texas ride. Kim on lunch! Scott; you do have a tent.
This blog will cover Sunday and Monday! You know how the days all run together!
Sunday morning and the tribe was up bright and early, ready to tackle the first hill. Today's ride was a short 29.7 miles to the little town of Welches. After the initial climb out of camp they meandered through gorgeous hills and valleys lined with tree farms and forests. They followed the Barlow Trail Road and then across Lolo Pass road. A couple of brave souls rode up Lolo Pass for a few extra miles. We spent the night at a school outside of Welches, so no beer here! The tribe was good to go, there is a small restaurant and bar across the street that had the tour on for us.
We got a visit this afternoon from our friends, Tom & Cheryl, on their way home from their property in Dufer. We will be riding through Dufer in a couple of days. Their property is up at tree line, and they are hoping to someday put in a bicycle camp there. The cycling in Oregon is amazing: they say if you can ride in this part of Oregon you can ride anywhere. We'll see how that plays out for the tribe! A couple of long days ahead.
We dined on a Greek vegetable salad, lemon chicken & basmati rice. Nana's rum cakes for dessert. It was a nice start to the ride: tomorrow will be a smidge tougher as they climb around Mount Hood. Looks like we may get some rain, but it's better climbing weather than really hot. Mount Hood still has a ton of snow on it, and the snowboard camps are still in full swing. Seems kind of odd for the middle of the summer! Jack and I spent a couple of days on Mount Hood this last winter, staying in our friends condo and snow shoeing. We had a great time!
Monday morning arrived, and the tribe gave new meaning to up and at 'em early. Too early. Breakfast is slated at 7:00 am. The tribe was digging in, literally, at 6:15. Ok you guys, I'm still on auto pilot at 6:15. Rushing me at that time of day is not a good thing. I have a routine, and my routine was rudely interupted. I got grumpy. By 7:00, normal breakfast time, the tribe was gone. A discussion with Ranger Tommy, and the breakfast time will be adjusted for the rest of the week to 6:30. Not a minute sooner. We'll see how that plays out.
Today's ride is a gorgeous climb through the Mt. Hood Wilderness, up to Government Camp, and over the other side to the Warm Springs Indian Reservation and then down to the small town of Maupin. Such a contrast in terrain today. We went from the lush Pacific Northwest to the dry, arid, rolling prairies of Eastern Oregon. The tribe crossed the Pacific Crest Trail for the first of many times on this trip. Mileage today was 57.6 miles, a few extra for the hearty souls that chose to ride up to Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood. Elevation today started at about 1300 ft and went up to 4000, then down and up and down and up.
The ride into Maupin was a fun, steep downhill of about 3 miles. Great way to end the day: unless you look at the fact that is the way out tomorrow. Hmmmm. Maupin is situated on the Deschutes River and is renowned for river rafting. The city park that we stayed at gave us a first hand view of the rafts traversing down the river, and the busses hauling the rafts and rafters back up river. A few of the tribe joined up with a raft tour. One of the tribe ended up in the river!
We dined on Curries and Yakisoba noodles tonight. The tribe turned in early: day 4 is a long, long day. We are already hearing grumbles of not enough training for this ride. Just wait, tribe.
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