Bikepacking Overnight: Cascade-Siskiyou Scenic Bikeway (Extended!)

There are some corners of Oregon I have explored less than others and with summer escaping altogether too quickly, I made a last minute decision to check out a new-to-me Cascade-Siskiyou scenic bikeway near Ashland. This tour had an immense range of geological diversity, wildlife, opportunities to jump in lakes, sweeping desert landscapes, fragrant ripe blackberries and thimbleberries, wooded alpine views, and tiny lodges with delicious food scattered throughout. It also had some soul crushing climbs and swooping huge descents. All in all, I would count this as an underrated gem of Oregon.

Violent volcanic landscape.

Sweet snack spot with southern Cascades views.

Sweet pee spot with southern Cascade views.

I don't know who this Banjo Bill is, but this was a very clean section of road.

With joy, I prepared myself for 9 miles of "wheeeee" (and some trepidation knowing it goes up that much on the other side).

A view into the Rogue Valley as I zoom down from over 5000 feet to about 1000 feet of elevation...

HAIRY FUZZY COWS!

Miles of roadside blackberries from Ashland up the east side of this route. So many blackberries. So distracting for a hungry cyclist. So many in my belly.

A quick rinse in Emigrant Lake before I attack the climb out of the Rogue Valley.

Late afternoon sun shines down on the desert-like views of the Rogue Valley as I climb slowly and painfully out. Spring... spring would have been a great time for this tour. I chose August. Nearly 100 degrees...

Little lending library in the middle of nowhere.

Exhausted, skin full of salt/sweat/grit, feeling slightly nauseous, and a long abandoned road manifests itself and leads to a magically flat wild camping spot just off the Pacific Crest Trail.

I had just enough energy and light to get my tent up in a protective cove of pine trees, throw some food together, and then I passed out. I woke up a few times and peered at the stars... it was a perfect summer night with clear skies. It's times like this that I love bike touring by myself. It took me a long time to feel comfortable sleeping under the stars by myself and while sometimes I still feel a little unsettled hoping no one sees me sneaking off the road to a wild camping spot, for the most part, I can relax and just enjoy my freedom.

The Green Springs Inn is a gem at the summit... mostly because it gave me an excuse to stop and buy a 2-day old pastry.

And, they have an outdoor water refill station!

The Hyatt Reservoir was quiet, peaceful, and full of all the birds (well, mostly geese). I spent a fair amount of my morning here just enjoying the peace and quiet.

Flowers and mullein.

And my favorite... bumblebees getting drunk on pollen (aka tiny flying yellow pandas).

After one last punchy climb, I made it to the Lake in the Woods resort. It's a lovely place to treat yourself to a leisurely lunch and a swim. I say leisurely because while the service is good, the kitchen is slow. It took me nearly 40 minutes to get by food, but boy was it good. 

A few tips for cycle tourists:

• Parking at sno-parks or trailheads is a great way to know your car will not get towed or will generally be fairly safe when off on a weekend tour. I started my adventure at the Great Meadow Sno-Park. 

• My route was about 88 miles with over 7000 hot sweaty feet of climbing... and the way I rode it put most of the climbing on the first day. Since the official scenic bikeway is only 50 miles, I did some research and extended it because even for a lazy bike tourer like me, 25 miles per day just isn't enough. 

• The most trafficked part of this route is Highway 140, which, at least for the part on this route, has beautiful huge smooth shoulders. The rest of the route is lower speed and less traffic, unless you happen to visit the area while a huge all ladies motorcycle campout is happening. Then you get to share the road with a lot of badass lady motorcyclists. Which was still pretty awesome because they were very respectful passing me. 

• There is plenty of wild camping on the west side of the route due to it being in National Forest Service, however the east side of the route tended towards being surprisingly populated and much of the National Monument is also a wildlife preserve. There are plenty of established campgrounds, cabins, and lodges to make this a less rustic experience than the one I had and those with a good eye for wild camping will find a nice spot just about anywhere. Except the section between Emigrant Lake and the intersection of Tyler Road. There is just about nothing there but steep cliffside.

• If you plan on camping at Hyatt Reservoir, make sure to check the BLM website. As of August 2019, there was no running water.  

Bikepacking Overnight: The Havana Nights Edition

Life has been a whirlwind of trying to squeeze the most out of my summer days and trying to grow a consulting company while working full time. There has been a lot of running straight from Point A to Point B to Point C and then collapsing. Lather, rinse, repeat. This year, it seems like I have not spent nearly enough time on my beloved Kung Fu Panda and we have been blessed with no wildfires... so I promised myself I would get out before my community's good luck ends.

My friend Nicole, who came to my bike touring talk last year and adventured over the McKenzie Pass for her first bike tour with me, is also a latin dance fanatic. She and her husband host a now famous private Havana Nights party at their property located between Tumalo and Sisters. The night promises magic under the stars well past midnight on a gorgeous lit outdoor dance floor. Dancing and teaching salsa is one of my passions that I have let come and go throughout my adult life, but these days, has been feeding my soul more and more. As luck would have it, I had the weekend mostly free and so I decided to ride my bike to the party, camp out overnight, and then finish the ride to Sisters to meet up with another friend to go huckleberry picking.

The route I mapped was a combination of quiet paved roads and good quality dirt roads and is a lovely way to ride from Bend to Sisters. There are constant views of the Cascade mountains and as you leave Bend, the traffic becomes basically non-existent. To maintain the privacy of where my own abode is as well as my friend's, I'll just provide the map from the center of Bend to Sisters Coffee Company.

Love the empty dirt roads between Bend and Tumalo Reservoir.

Lush green by the Tumalo Reservoir.

The historic Tumalo dam... circa 1915 according to the sign!

The magic fairy house set in the woods with views of the Three Sisters and twinkly lights that illuminate the night.

There is also a pond with a pagoda.

The pagoda made for an excellent "camping" spot. I didn't even need my sleeping pad because they had a futon set up in there. Probably in my top 5 bike touring camping spots ever.

Morning views from my "bed."

Taking a minute to soak in the views before heading the rest of the way to Sisters!

Brisk air, empty dirt roads, mountain views.

Selfie in the morning light with the nearly full moon!

A few tips for cycle tourists:

• Sisters has a great little $5 hiker/biker spot at the Creekside Campground that is walking distance from all the amenities of town. A little further out of town off the historic highway 242 is the Cold Springs Campground if you prefer a quieter setting. I also highly recommend Sisters Coffee Company for great coffee, breakfasts, and bicycle parking out front. 

• The moral of the story is that no matter how busy life gets, there are always ways to sneak in a sub-24 overnighter. This was just 25 miles total and made for a perfect break!

Bikepacking Overnight: McKenzie Pass 6.0 (Ladies' Ride... Again!)

Bike touring from Sisters over the McKenzie pass and back again is a tradition that is six years strong now. It is the quintessential bike tour and my favorite way to lure unsuspecting folks new to bike touring into the cult of bike touring. In the sweet spot at the end of May through mid-June, there is a certain camaraderie when the road is closed, but especially amongst the folks loaded up with camping gear... a knowing look, a wave, a dinging of a bell, or a joyful "yeeeeaaaaah" sums it all up. We were blessed with perfect weather with clear blue skies this year and after a few drinks at The Bite in Tumalo, I feel pretty content. I don't have anything to add that hasn't been said before, so feel free to check out the ride from 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, and I'll just let the photos speak for themselves.

Marmot enjoying the views and leftovers from cyclists at Windy Point.

The crew: we had alumni from our first and second years of our bike touring presentation at The Gear Fix as well as Mandy, who rocked her first bike tour ever!

First flat of the trip.

We made great time and got to camp early, so we did a 10-mile beer and firewood run to the McKenzie Bridge store.

We got back in time for the perfect early evening hammock happy hour.

Firewood. Check. Kindling. Check.

Ani and I like to up the food game each year. This time, I carried a full size cast iron skillet so I could make cheese pupusas from scratch topped with stewed lamb, arugula, and green onion.

Ani and Michelle rock the switchbacks.

It was HOT.

Glamour shotz.

By accident... no seriously... we all packed a rainbow of wind layers.

We had a lovely shower at the end of our ride at Sisters Middle School.

Bikepacking Overnight: Sutton Mountain Spray Loop

My Memorial Day weekend bike tour plans were thwarted by rain. Yep, here in the desert. Rain. It has been a long, gray, wet spring and so I scrambled to salvage my plans for the weekend after when it promised to be hot and sunny. The silver lining from all the rain is that there were wildflowers everywhere (rather than fill this post with the gajillion wildflower photos I took, you can see them here). Eastern Oregon is a treasure trove of empty roads and during the springtime, it explodes lush and green. So even though we managed a day ride on a lovely route around the Painted Hills, I was just itching to ride out here, so I frantically moved some of the flex time I had at work around to make it happen.

I don't think I would change a single thing about this bike route or where I camped other than to have brought my hammock for lazy afternoon reading. This loop from Sutton Mountain through Spray along the John Day and back again was a gem. There are so many roads that cut through canyons that it is really easy to make half a dozen overnight trips out this way and I'm looking forward to coming back next spring.

The noon hour started out sunny, and as I descended towards the John Day river, a dark cloud awaited. Thunder cracked and I even saw a little lightening, and then just an hour later, the rain and storm passed.

There was a very muddy dirt road down to a flat area next to this reservoir overlooking the basin. If it had been dry, and if I hadn't only been riding for just an hour, this would have made a fine camping spot. 

The Shelton Wayside county park has all the amenities, water spigots, pit toilets, trash cans, recycling cans, and wood for $5 an armload. With 40+ sites, it was a little eerie being the ONLY person there on a Friday night.

Dinnertime and reading my book club book.

Perfect little site tucked next to the creek. 

Morning light on the red columbine next to my campsite... okay fine, just ONE wildflower photo.

This one doesn't count as a wildflower photo because my bike is in it, right?

Winlock road is the dirt road of my dreams. Beautifully graded and not dusty at all from the thunderstorm.

Sweeping views.

This little farm had some curious friends, goats, and an emu.

As I descended back down to the John Day river, the day had gotten up to nearly 90 degrees. I rolled into Spray and took refuge in the tiny cafe/grocery for a late lunch and grabbed a few cold beers to go. This is a favorite spot for local fisherman to swing by after the fish stop biting and motorcyclists enjoying the open road, all of whom were super nice and we exchanged pleasantries prior to heading back into the sweltering afternoon heat. My goal was to get to camp early, jump in the river, and spend the afternoon finishing my book club book sitting in the shade near the river, and that is exactly what I did.

Campsite overlooking the John Day.

I made a Corgi friend! He was very fluffy and friendly.

Morning light from inside my tent.

The slow climb back to the car.

Drinking in the last views before ending my day.

A few tips for cycle tourists:

• My original route was actually a bit longer than this and went through some additional dirt roads to Monument, but since my partner was about to leave for a month long work trip, I decided to cut the route short. This would make a lovely overnighter, but I stretched it out into two nights to recharge my batteries. 

• The Sutton Mountain TH parking area is a great safe spot to stash your car for bike tours out this way. It's a bit hard to find, so coming from Mitchell, you have to peel your eyes for a tiny dirt driveway in the middle of some bushes right after milepost 15. There is a gate to keep the cows in, but this is protected wilderness area, so just make sure to close the gate after you. The Mitchell city park has parking next to the pit toilets that would also be fine. 

• If you are going to camp at any of the BLM recreation areas on the John Day, pack in your own water as there are no water spigots! I loaded up in Spray because the John Day contains a ton of agricultural runoff and I wouldn't consider it safe to drink even filtered. 

• This loop runs through a lot of farm and ranching land that is fenced off. While there are definitely wild camping opportunities, there were also plenty of established camping options that were quiet and just lovely.

• There is camping at the Shelton Wayside county park, Spray riverfront park, Muleshoe recreation area, and Service Creek.