When work sent me to Salem, Oregon for a conference, I was excited for the chance to squeeze in a bike tour somewhere away from home. Spring sprung late this year, and I spent the better part of spring on a lovely road trip to California to explore Pinnacles National Park, the Channel Islands, Joshua Tree, and Death Valley. This was my first chance to load up my bike so I mapped a few potential routes and told myself I would figure it out later.
At this point in my bike touring life, I feel confident in my ability to pull off a last minute bike tour. Even the best of us, however, make rookie mistakes. Sometimes, Plan F is the one that reminds me of all the things I love about bike touring. My initial idea was to bike from the
Bigelow Hot Springs to Oakridge and back again... except that the wildfires last year shut down most of the
classic Aufderheide bikeway and its camping amenities. Then I thought, well maybe I'll just park at a sno-park and bike dirt roads to the Bigelow Hot Springs!? And that was the plan until I saw how low the snow line was on my way driving to the conference.
The best/worst way to plan a bike tour is to do so while frantically preparing to present at a work conference. I haphazardly threw together a
route from the Head of the Metolius to Cove Palisades and booked a site at Cove Palisades without doing much research about anything and called it good. (p.s. do NOT follow the route I mapped unless you love a good hike-a-bike... the actual route you should take is
THIS ONE!). Now, usually, I check out my Oregon gazetteer to make sure the roads I've mapped are actually roads, and not abandoned doubletrack or mountain bike trails. Nope, none of that caution for me!
So, with a 3:15 pm start time, I started out... after a few false starts and about 30 minutes lost to staring at my route mapped on RidewithGPS and Maps.Me, I had a lovely overnight bikepacking tour.
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| Somehow, despite being up at 5 am, being in a conference half the day, and driving to the trailhead... I managed to pack the essentials and have everything I needed for my tour. |
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| Note to self: GoogleMaps and RidewithGPS (which relies on GoogleMaps) is not so good at distinguishing between abandoned double-track and mountain bike routes and actual dirt roads. |
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| After a little troubleshooting, I made it to blissful dirt roads. With wild turkeys frolicking (not picture here). |
Because of the lack of research for this bike tour, I booked a pricey campsite at the Cove Palisades campground. At this time of year, most of the campground is closed with just a handful open to reservations. Since I had no idea what I might find along the way, I figured it was better safe than sorry. While I did not end up needing or wanting this campsite as I am sucker for cutting a day short for the perfect camping spot, I don't regret the peace of mind having the campsite booked gave me.
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| Perfect ridge top site, not a soul in site with views of Mt. Jefferson from my tent? Sold. |
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| Whiskey + camp set up = happy LeeAnn. |
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| Last rays of sunlight bask over Mt. Jefferson as I read my book and drift off to sleep. |
I slept like a rock and woke up to the chattering of birds and golden rays of morning sun. A few deer had visited me in my sleep, but I was oblivious until morning when I saw dozens of tracks. I reluctantly peeled myself out of bed and took my time enjoying the wildflowers and early morning light.
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| Just the cheeriest of all the wildflowers. |
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| Having a hard time motivating to break down camp. |
By 7:00 am, I was on the road. With summer-like temperatures and what seemed like me to be a lot of climbing (which, was not actually much climbing), I was happy for the crisp morning air as I left camp. Maybe it was the fact I had a full night's rest, but the way back seemed to fly back altogether too quickly and I was home by lunch.
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| Random paved section in the middle of all the dirt... just riding into the snow-capped mountains. |
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| Perfect mountain views on the way back. |
A few tips for cycle tourists:
- The route I finally went on was approximately like THIS ONE. Had I taken the time to look at a gazetteer prior the ride, I would not have booked the site at the Cove Palisades and instead used the campsites along the Metolius river before it dumps into Lake Billy Chinook.
- This is the perfect early season route for a first bikepacking trip. Just 20 miles each way, with adventure, views, and non-technical dirt roads. Just don't take the mangled up route I originally mapped and you'll be fine.
- There are seasonal streams along this route, however, if you go after spring, you will not want to rely on them. If you want to camp along the ridge like I did, be prepared to dry camp and know how far back your last water source was. I am a water camel, so was able to dry camp on just a liter of water for both dinner and breakfast, and then filtered water on my way out. It was not the best quality water, so have a good water filter on hand. My new favorite water filter is the Katadyn BeFree water filter. It's water flow is lovely, but you do have to be careful so as not to puncture the bladder.
- I will definitely be back to bikepack more in this area. These roads are open by April and they are just well used enough there is no deadfall, and just empty enough that you get to take the road for 95% of the ride.
