Bikepacking Overnight: Strawberry Mountain Loop

Sometimes life presents unexpected opportunities that throw a wrench in the best laid plans. One of my greatest fears is to be stuck complacently on the hamster wheel of life. I have the illusion that I'm going to live a life less ordinary and that somehow, there will be that day when I find the perfect balance of meaningful work and life. When I need to make big decisions or talk myself in circles about the meaning of life, there is nothing better than a really long bike ride to mull it all over.

So I found myself for the third weekend in a row on a bike tour, this time in Eastern Oregon. I had already done various versions of the Old West Scenic Bikeway, but had yet to explore the Strawberry Mountains. After a little research, I decided to explore the Strawberry Mountains Scenic Road Tour and try to add on some hiking, since at 74 miles, it was a little short for a two-day bike tour. I may have been a little overambitious and nothing quite went as planned, but I had a lovely adventure and learned a lot about myself in the process.

Since I had prepped everything during the week, I bolted from work and made the three hour drive out to John Day to find somewhere to camp so I could get an early start on Saturday. Since it was the weekend before the Fourth of July, everywhere I passed as I got close to John Day was full. I figured that worst case scenario, I would grab a hotel, but made one last ditch effort at the Grant County Fairgrounds, which has $15 tent camping. As I pulled up, I realized there were hundreds of motorcycles and tents already set up. Turns out, I had accidentally crashed a BMW sponsored motorcycle rally. Whoops. It was already 8:30 pm, so I decided just wing it and stay. Everyone at the rally welcomed me with open arms and I had a lovely evening chatting around the bonfire.

Who knew the Grant County Fairground would be so popular!?

I ended up chatting with folks until almost midnight, with conversations ranging from "you're a pretty girl, I wouldn't be bike touring alone" (...uh sir, I'm nearly 40 and can take care of myself) to waxing philosophic in Spanish with a nice Mexican guy from Salt Lake City about the best Mexican food (huaraches!!!!).

The whiskey and camaraderie from the night before kept me up until nearly midnight, but that didn't stop me from waking up with the sun by 5:30 am. Since the rally was comprised of older folks (mostly over 50 years old), everyone was already stirring as well. I savored my coffee and made a hearty breakfast, then pedaled off to beat the heat of the day.

Prairie City is quaint and has an adorable main strip. If I didn't have such an ambitious schedule, it would have been a lovely place to stop for breakfast.

On quiet roads heading straight towards the Strawberry Mountains.

This was like a scene from The Birds, only better. All the little holes in the cliffside are bird homes and hundreds of birds were darting in and out of them. It was kinda surreal.

First burrito of a 3 burrito day... Indian spiced eggplant with quinoa, pepitas, and romaine.

There were SO MANY FLOWERS. Did I say that before? Purple flowering wild chives, indian paintbrush, daisies of all colors, lupine, yellow salcify, red colombine... and SO MANY BUTTERFLIES. That is all.

So I made it to the Big Creek Campground by 1:00 pm and set up camp shortly thereafter. I thought I would make it there by noon because it was only about a 40 mile ride and I had left so early. What I had failed to do was look at the elevation chart which showed that almost all the 4000+ feet of climbing on the route would happen in these 40 miles. I stubbornly decided I could still do another 13 miles to get to the trailhead with how long the days are this time of year. And yet again, I failed to look at the topography of those 13 miles. Turns out it was about 3 miles of gentle rolling hills and 10 miles of climbing straight up a gravel road. After battling the climb in my granny gear for 2 hours in the heat of the day, I gave up. It was over 80 degrees, exposed, and I was running on little sleep with a bit of a whiskey hangover. Lesson learned.

There are some easy "mountain bike" trails that leave straight from the campground and wind up the mountains towards the Roads End Trailhead. There are several hikes that leave from there, including a trail to summit Strawberry Mountain and a hike to some of the lakes.

Plan B: Cold dunk in the creek at the campground. Soooo good.

I got some quality journal and reading time after I took a swim, something I don't take nearly enough time for. By 7:00 pm, I was already fading and I thanked myself for not pushing too hard as coming down steep gravel while tired is how I dislocated my elbow in April. I decided to just let myself sleep and 11 hours later, I woke up 100% refreshed.

View from my tent... so cozy and warm while reading my book club book... also very conducive to sleeping!

Not all of the ride was stunning scenery, some of the ride went through an old burn.

A few tips for cycle tourists:

• Everything you need to know about this tour is available on the RidewithGPS Strawberry Mountain Scenic Road Tour write-up. There is plenty of camping, water, but you need to pack all your food in!

• This would make a great add-on to the Old West Scenic Bikeway!

• If I had to do it again, I would have done this as a 3 day tour, with the 3 hour drive from Bend + the first 40 miles on the first day, camped at Big Creek Campground, taken the full second day to do the gravel ride to the Roads End Trailhead and summited Strawberry Mountain, and then finished the loop and driven back to Bend on the third day.